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MASSIVE ACHIEVEMENT George Brown College Fosters Innovative On March 11, 2005, the insightful and controversial exhibition Massive Change: the Future of Global Design opens at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). The exhibition is part of the Massive Change project, the result of a groundbreaking collaboration between Canada's internationally acclaimed design guru Bruce Mau, and the students of the Institute without Boundaries (IwB), an innovative partnership between George Brown College and Bruce Mau Design (BMD). Two years of intensive research and design work inside the BMD studio by fourteen specially selected students in George Brown's IwB program have culminated in an array of outcomes, including the massive 15,000-square-foot installation, which premiered at the Vancouver Art Gallery on October 2, 2004. "The Institute without Boundaries (IwB) program was devised around a problem-based learning model. By immersing students in a public project, we are creating a new breed of designer. This is state-of-the-art, the cutting edge in holistic learning," said Luigi Ferrara, Director of George Brown's School of Design. Graduates of the one-year postgraduate program receive a joint certificate from George Brown College and Bruce Mau Design. Each year the IwB enrolls a small interdisciplinary team of students with diverse backgrounds and interests. The program graduated six students in its inaugural year, and eight in 2004. "Two key trends in education are mentorship and self-directed learning," says Greg Van Alstyne, who directed the IwB program in its first two years. "Here, we do the two in tandem. Our aim is to create a new breed of designer who can envision a wider range of possibilities." Britt Welter-Nolan, a graduate of the IwB, explains how it differed from her previous educational experiences. "We work on public projects for real clients. We are given the same responsibilities as employees in the BMD studio. This is a different calibre of work from what a student might submit to a professor. At the IwB, students are empowered to take over their whole education and consider themselves as stakeholders." As one benchmark of its success, alumni of the program have already secured positions in such distinguished places as the multinational product-design consultancy Frog Design, and Ashoka, a global organization that supports social entrepreneurs around the world. The assignment for the first two IwB teams was to create Massive Change: The Future of Global Design, an ambitious public project that includes a book with Phaidon Press, a speakers' series, an evolving Web site, and an international exhibition. The exhibition, commissioned and organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery, opens at the Art Gallery of Ontario on March 11, 2005, and tours the world through 2007. The IwB and its Massive Change exhibition have won rave reviews from an impressive array of education, design and business leaders. "The idea for the Institute came from my first visit to George Brown College," says Bruce Mau. "I spoke with students who were working on a student newspaper they had created entirely on their own. They said 'We had to learn everything', and I could see the enthusiasm and zeal they had from working on a real project. Collaborating with George Brown College to nurture designers of the future in the IwB has been a fantastic experience for all of us." Design business, design culture and design thinking are the key areas of focus at the School of Design at George Brown College. The School of Design offers certificate, diploma, and postgraduate certificate programs in a broad range of design learning. The Institute without Boundaries postgraduate certificate is a unique public-private collaboration with the Bruce Mau Design Studio. For further information, see www.gbrownc.on.ca/design.
About George Brown CollegeToronto’s George Brown College has established a reputation for equipping students with the skills, industry experience and credentials to pursue the careers of their choice. From its two main campuses located across the downtown core, George Brown offers 148 full-time and 1,600 continuing education programs across a wide variety of professions to a student body of approximately 63,000 (including those enrolled in full-time, part-time and continuing education programs). Students can earn diplomas, post-graduate certificates, industry accreditations, apprenticeships and four-year bachelor degrees. -30- For more information, please contact: Paul Zanettos Return to: News Releases - George Brown College View also: Latest News at George Brown College Upcoming Events at George Brown College
Revised:
May 28, 2009
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