Thursday, August 28, 2008

Making the Impossible Possible (Pittsburgh)

The title of this entry is a rip-off from Bill Strickland's new book. (I haven't read it yet but I will pick up a copy today.) I first saw this guy in Boston, he was the keynote speaker at the HOW Design Conference and he delivered a very inspirational message. He wanted to change the world, and over the past 40 years he has.

I was so impressed by this guy that I thought I would give him a call and request a meeting and a tour of his facilities. Wow! Never thought that would work, but it did. On Tuesday, my friend Mark Burdette and I traveled to Pittsburgh, met Bill and toured the facility. This guy is not just a visionary, but he has brought vision to life and has developed a proven model for positive social change. His model is first class, his financial backing is first class, his staff is first class, and his facilities are first class! I just hope some of his mojo, wisdom, or excess vision rubbed off on me while I was there.

This guy is the bomb, the real deal. One of Bill's beliefs is- "do one hip thing every day". Bill has surrounded himself with art, jazz and photography and believes the arts are the gateway to the human imagination. One of the products of Bill's work is MCG Jazz, a studio and concert facility that have produced over 1200 concerts and won multiple Grammy Awards.

I pulled a lot of this stuff off of Bill's brochure, but you have to make a point to check him out on your own:

www.manchesterbidwell.org
www.manchesterguild.org
www.mcgjazz.org

No comments: