Displaying items tagged: West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology

GRAND RAPIDS — West Michigan workforce development leaders say Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s latest budget proposal should include a greater focus on short-term training programs and community organizations currently excluded from state-funded talent initiatives.

A major statewide survey of nonprofit organizations highlights significant and persistent racial gaps in the sector as roughly three-quarters of Michigan nonprofits remain white-led.

GRAND RAPIDS — The West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology, a nonprofit focused on increasing social and economic opportunities in the region, is launching a new tech education pathway within its Adult Career Training Program. 

Art collecting is often seen as only accessible to people willing to invest substantial funds, and an activity generally reserved for the extremely wealthy.

GRAND RAPIDS — Filling a seat and collecting a paycheck aren’t enough for the new generation of nonprofit employees.

Nonprofit education organization West Michigan Center for Arts + Technology (WMCAT) today announced a plan to move its headquarters to the emerging Bridge Street corridor.

Businesses and nonprofits all around Grand Rapids are turning to Kirk Eklund and the West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology (WMCAT) for new solutions to age-old problems. Eklund doesn’t have all the answers himself, however. Instead, he helps businesses approach the challenge from a different angle with human-centered design. Using empathy, experimentation and storytelling, the solutions can often be found in the people you’re designing for, Eklund says. He spoke with MiBiz about how the philosophy informs his approach to problem solving.