Whitman College is participating for the first time in Global Entrepreneurship Week this week in partnership with Walla Walla Community College, Walla Walla University and the Walla Walla Valley Chamber of Commerce in a problem solving contest called “Pain in the Glass,” with the winner to be announced at a reception tonight.

The week celebrates innovation among entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. It aims to inspire creative thinkers and to connect them to mentors, collaborators and investors in order to develop their ideas into creative business solutions.

The flagship event, the Pain in the Glass contest, asks budding entrepreneurs to solve a communitywide issue of glass recycling through creative entrepreneurism, according to a news release from Whitman.

A second collaborative event, ARTrepreneurship, uses the medium of art to tell the story of local entrepreneurs. Artists’ works will be displayed during the reception, and one piece will be presented a People’s Choice award.

The reception is free and open to the public. It starts at 6 p.m. at Whitman’s Reid Campus Center.