NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

New York based experimental knowledge lab, The Un-School of Disruptive Design, is planning to bring its flagship fellowship program for creative rebels and change agents to Mexico City in November. The fellowship, set for November 1-7, is a weeklong educative adventure, combining training in creative leadership, social innovation, disruptive design and applied sustainability. Responding to a successful first run of the program in NY this June, as well as demonstrated demand from an international community (applicants from 24 countries across 6 continents), the Un-School team is excited to see this roving fellowship continue to bring together emerging leaders from diverse professional backgrounds and nationalities in different cities around the world.

Brainchild of TED speaker and sustainability provocateur Dr. Leyla Acaroglu, The Un-School pairs leading mentors (such as author of the Misfit Economy, Alexa Clay, and Acaroglu herself) with actively aspiring world-changers for an incredible week of workshops, classes, educative experiences and real-world design challenges.

Described by New York’s cohort of fellows as a “hugely rewarding”, “reinvigorating” and “immensely inspiring” week of experiences, the Mexico City fellowship program will be run in English and will curate a diverse set of 16 fellows for this brain-activating study tour and cultural exchange. With the goal of being both accessible and equitable, Un-school, will again provide two full scholarships as well as several partial scholarships specifically for Mexican residents. The Un-School is an independent, unfunded startup, determined to contribute to the growing arena of mainstream education disruptors.

The founder says:

“In order to gain the mental tools needed to address the big messy problems of the world, we need messy learning environments– not the sterile ones that so many institutions are hell-bent on providing. In designing this experience based program, I started with the question ‘How can I inspire activation through transformative experiences that ‘transfer’ rather than just ‘translate’ knowledge to young on-the-cusp-leaders?’ So far, the answer has been experimenting with experiences through an experimental knowledge lab!”

Applications for the Mexico Fellowship are open now until July 24th. The application, as well as full information for the program can be found on the Un-school’s website: http://bit.ly/UnschoolMX

Images, more information and interviews, please contact Heidi Sloane: Heidi@disruptdesign.co

About the Program: The Un-School fellowship program is designed for emerging leaders who want to expand their mental toolsets, develop strong connections with likeminded people and activate their leadership skills. This opportunity is for the misfits and mavericks of positive change, the curious and / or for those that are perhaps a little ‘stuck’ in their current positions. We take people from a wide variety of professional backgrounds and provide an immersive and highly engaging (cerebrally and personally) environment for activating change!

Quotes from NYC Fellows about their experience:

“The design process reinvigorated me, visualizing systems integration reminded me of the solutions, and peer-to-peer collaboration reinstalled a sense of trust, vulnerability, and cohesion that completely redefined the possible.” – Jason Sandsman, New York

“I have come away from the fellowship with masses of inspiration and some smart tools for leveraging sustainable systemic change in my current and future projects.” – Bec McMaster, New Zealand

“The Un-School fellowship is not only a program to put methods and ideas into your brain, but also a unique program that makes you believe in the power of disruptive design and sustainability by your heart, and especially in yourself to make change. There were so many scattered ideas in my mind until the week of fellowship program. It’s been only three weeks since I came back to my country and have already started prototyping my solo idea, which came to during one of the mentor workshops. No matter what your interest area is, you can find something for yourself in these mentor sessions which were perfectly organized by Leyla and her team”. – Nihan Ozturk, Istanbul

“At the Un-School fellowship I learned to understand what I need to accomplish in my work in finding an alternative to the education system I want to create. Things I will always remember from my experience at the fellowship are: toolkit, mentors, traders, partners, process, products, games, systems and experiences” – Marcela Zetina Manrique, Mexico City

“The Un-School fellowship in NYC was an incredible experience. I met so many inspiring people, from the mentors, to the Un-School team, to the other fellows. I’m excited to take everything I learned and get out there and create change!” – Jenn Court, Canada