Milenko Matanovic founded the Pomegranate Centre (Issaquah WA, USA) in 1986, believing that magic happens when art, creative thinking, and community join forces. Since then, he has worked with hundreds of communities across the country and abroad; collaborated with communities to build more than 50 gathering places; spoken at more universities, community gatherings and conferences than he can remember; and trained hundreds of remarkable individuals in the Pomegranate Center model of community building. He has been honored with the Home Shelter Award, Legacy Leadership Award from the Center for Ethical Leadership, an honorary professorship at the University of Vladivostok, Russia (it’s a long story), and other awards.

Connecting art with community building and everyday life is just one of the ways Milenko uses his creativity to prepare communities for the future. By combining his talents as a thinker, educator and artist, Milenko hopes to create a world where neither nature nor human talents are wasted. He lives to help communities become wiser by working together to find new and creative ways to push good ideas into action.