​Creative Entrepreneurs Financial Empowerment Program

​"The Power is In Your Hands"

​Our comprehensive financial health program is designed specifically for creative professionals who are ready to challenge their beliefs about capitalism, money, and business while taking control of their economic destiny. Whether you realize it or not, you're already an investor and asset manager—investing your time, money, resources, and soul into your creative projects. We help you overcome the negative associations and stereotypes that often exist between artists and capitalism, shifting from scarcity thinking to recognizing that money is simply a tool for power and freedom. Through this fundamental mindset transformation, you'll discover that you can be more than one thing: an artist who is also an entrepreneur, investor, and business owner who operates with integrity and purpose.

​By combining this essential mindset shift with practical financial skills—including budgeting, cash flow analysis, and ethical entrepreneurship—we create a pathway for creatives to build sustainable careers that support both their immediate needs and long-term legacy. You'll learn to view your creative work as a business venture that deserves proper financial infrastructure, enabling you to access better healthcare, education, travel, and the security to pursue your passion projects. Join a community of like-minded creative entrepreneurs who understand that embracing business acumen and financial literacy isn't selling out—it's the foundation that makes true creative freedom and lasting impact possible.

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​Arthur W. Thomas III brings extensive experience using innovative methods and strategic partnerships to solve complex problems for organizations and communities. Having a knack for entrepreneurship, he launched his first business in middle school, and retail business in college. After graduating from Cornell University, He gained an formidable background in finance working for top investment banks and a hedge fund, and then extended his expertise to real estate and community development, where he has consulted for personal investment companies and partnered with the City of Newark on significant redevelopment projects. Driven by a commitment to his hometown, Mr. Thomas actively collaborated on multifamily residences.

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His dedication to social impact is evident in his co-founding of the Divine Grace Foundation (DGF) with his wife Dr. Jennifer Pierre Thomas. DGF empowers marginalized communities through education, entrepreneurship, health, and workforce development both domestically and internationally.
Holding a Master's degree from Yale Divinity School, Mr. Thomas integrates ethical considerations and community empowerment strategies into his work. He serves on the boards of several organizations, including ClimateHaven, Inexplicably Bound, University of Bridgeport’s Innovation Center, and the Glendower Group CDC. As an Associate Minister at Christian Tabernacle Baptist Church, his faith informs his passion for combating racism and inequity in communities of color.

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Arthur's innovative spirit led him to The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, where as Director of Mission Investments and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, he designed and launched NHE3, a multi-million-dollar collaborative initiative fostering entrepreneurship and innovation in the region. Now focused on full-time entrepreneurship, he leverages his expertise and network to support individuals and organizations while remaining dedicated to his mission. Outside of his professional endeavors, Mr. Thomas enjoys travel, reading, shopping, socializing, family time, learning, playing pool, dancing, and providing support to those in need.

Collective CT is an eight-month cultural accelerator powered by the Cultural Innovation Lab at Yale in partnership with the State of Connecticut and MOC Innovations. Designed as a free “mini-MBA for artists,” the program equips Connecticut creators with training, mentorship, and infrastructure usually reserved for startups in STEM. All sessions are open to the public, making Collective CT both an accelerator for artists and a statewide forum for reimagining cultural innovation: treating artists as founders, ideas as infrastructure, and culture as a driver of economic and civic vitality.