The Hive (The Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity)

What The Hive (The Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity) does

The Hive (The Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity) is an academic design center established around 2016 and operated within The Claremont Colleges consortium in Claremont, California. It serves students, staff, and faculty across seven member institutions—Pomona College, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Scripps College, Pitzer College, Claremont Graduate University, and Keck Graduate Institute—by providing human-centered design education, hands-on workshops, makerspace access, and grant and fellowship programs.

The center's core offering combines a human-centered design methodology with a physical makerspace equipped for prototyping and making. Programs are delivered through curricular courses, skill-share offerings, design challenges, and roughly 35 events per semester, alongside a portfolio of grant mechanisms (Student Creativity Grants, Faculty Course Grants, Summer Design Fellowship, Design Innovation Internship Grant). Community reach is amplified through a monthly "Buzz" newsletter, a podcast, Instagram and LinkedIn channels, and a "Bring The Hive To You" Mobile Hive program that extends services to regional partners.

The Hive does not operate as a commercial entity. It is funded institutionally by The Claremont Colleges and serves its internal community free of charge, with no disclosed pricing, no external investors, and no commercial revenue stream. Distribution is primarily direct on-site at its 130 East 7th Street location, supplemented by the Mobile Hive program for off-campus partner engagement.

Name

The Hive (The Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity)

Legal name

The Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity

Website

https://creativity.claremont.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Hive is an academic design center within The Claremont Colleges consortium that delivers human-centered design courses, workshops, makerspace access, and grant programs to students, staff, and faculty across seven member institutions in Claremont, California.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education Creative Design Services

akta.pro primary industry

Makerspace, Innovation Lab & Fab Lab Operations (Tools, Safety, Programming) (EDAEAGAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Makerspaces & Fab Labs (Open Build Studios) (EDAMADAC), Academic Enrichment Camps (General Studies) (EDAMALAB)

Keywords

• Design education programs
• Human-centered design courses
• Higher education services
• Maker space facilities
• Student creativity grants

Headquarters

HQ city

Claremont

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Institutional Funding: The center operates as an institutional resource funded by The Claremont Colleges. Revenue is generated indirectly through educational services, grants, and fellowship programs rather than direct customer payments.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Hive is an academic design center that provides human-centered design education, hands-on workshops, makerspace access, and grant/fellowship programs to students, staff, and faculty of The Claremont Colleges. It teaches design thinking methodologies, supports creative projects through funding, and operates a physical makerspace for prototyping and making. All offerings are provided free of charge as an institutional resource of the Claremont Colleges consortium.

Product overview

The Hive is a design center serving the students, staff, and faculty of the Claremont Colleges. It operates as a single unified program providing human-centered design education through curricular courses, hands-on workshops, makerspace access, and various grant and fellowship programs. The center also communicates with its community through a monthly newsletter and podcast.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Human-Centered Design Courses Curricular courses teaching human-centered design methodologies for students of The Claremont Colleges.
• Workshops + Events Hands-on workshops and events for skill-sharing and collaborative making, held throughout the academic semester.
• Makerspace Physical makerspace providing tools and equipment for prototyping, making, and hands-on design work for Claremont Colleges students, staff, and faculty.
• Faculty Course Grants Grants provided to faculty to incorporate design thinking and human-centered design methods into their courses.
• Student Creativity Grants Grants supporting student-led creative projects and innovations at The Claremont Colleges.
• Summer Design Fellowship Program Summer fellowship for students to engage in design innovation projects at The Hive.
• Design Innovation Internship Grant Grants to support students undertaking design-focused internships with external organizations.

Quantifiable outcome

• 35+ events hosted per semester providing hands-on learning opportunities
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• The Claremont Colleges ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Hive serves as a design center serving all seven institutions of The Claremont Colleges: Pomona College, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Scripps College, Pitzer College, Claremont Graduate University, and Keck Graduate Institute. The consortium provides institutional support and student access across all member schools.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• MIT Media Lab: Larger, research-focused interdisciplinary lab at MIT that combines makerspace-style fabrication with design research. Overlaps with The Hive's human-centered design and physical prototyping mandate, but at a much larger scale and research orientation.
• ArtCenter College of Design: Specialized design college with a strong emphasis on hands-on studio practice and prototyping. Overlaps with The Hive's makerspace and design-thinking focus, though it is a standalone accredited school rather than a shared consortium resource.
• Carnegie Mellon Design program: Interdisciplinary design school within CMU combining design thinking, engineering, and human-centered research. Shares The Hive's cross-disciplinary and design-thinking mandate at a larger scale and as a degree-granting program.
• Rhode Island School of Design (RISD): Dedicated design and fine arts college offering curricular design education across multiple disciplines. Comparable to The Hive on pedagogy and creative-confidence messaging, but operates as a standalone degree-granting institution rather than a consortium resource.

Direct peers

• IDEO: Pioneering design and innovation consultancy that helped popularize human-centered design methodology. Shares The Hive's core methodology and pedagogy, but operates as a commercial firm rather than an academic center.
• Harvard i-lab (Innovation Lab): University-wide innovation center hosting workshops, maker programs, and entrepreneurship resources for all Harvard students. Directly comparable to The Hive as a shared design/innovation hub serving an entire academic community.
• Stanford d.school (Hasso Plattner Institute of Design): University-based design thinking and innovation center offering curricular courses, workshops, and fellowship programs. Operates as a shared resource within Stanford, very similar in structure to The Hive's consortium-wide model at Claremont.
• Northwestern Segal Design Institute: University-wide design institute offering courses, makerspaces, and interdisciplinary design programs to all Northwestern students. Functions as a similarly-positioned shared design center across a single institution.

Others

• Maker Media (Make: Magazine / Maker Faire): Ecosystem and media organization that promotes the maker movement and operates Maker Faire events. Comparable to The Hive on the makerspace/community-building dimension, but functions as a media/community platform rather than an educational operator.
• Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum: Design-focused museum that runs public education programs, workshops, and maker-style activations. Adjacent to The Hive's mission of cultivating design literacy, but as a museum rather than a university-based academic center.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/thehiveclaremont
• Instagraminstagram.com/hive_5c

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Hive (The Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity)