Bozeman Magazine

John Bielenberg, founder of Project M, CCA Secret Project and co-founder of Future and Common, will present "The Secret Project to Think Wrong and Change the World" on Thursday, November 2, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in Jabs Hall 111 on the Montana State University campus. The lecture is free and open to the public. In his presentation, Bielenberg will discuss the creative process and how “thinking wrong” will help solve big challenges and drive positive change in the world. John Bielenberg is a designer, entrepreneur, and imaginative advocate for a better world. He delights in helping people find the courage and sense of humor to bring their stories, ideas, and ingenuity out into the world. Bielenberg has won more than 250 design awards in his career, including the 2013 AIGA Gold Medal for leadership in the design for good movement. He became an AIGA Fellow in 2008. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has acquired six of his design projects, and staged a solo exhibition of his work in 2000. In 2009, John was awarded the Washington University Skandalaris Award for Design Entrepreneurship and went on to receive an honorary doctorate degree from Maryland Institute College of Art. He was also awarded the 2011 NASAD Citation for outstanding work and overall impact in the fields of art and design, as an author, educator, social activist, and designer. He teaches at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. In 2003, John created Project M, an immersive program designed to inspire and educate young designers, writers, photographers, and filmmakers by proving that their work—especially their wrongest thinking—can have significant impact on communities. Project M has developed projects in Alabama, Baltimore, Connecticut, Costa Rica, Detroit, Germany, Ghana, Iceland, Kansas, Maine, Minneapolis, New Orleans and Oklahoma. For more information about the lecture, contact Linda Ward at 994-1995 or lward@montana.edu.