Woven Community Development Association is proposing to create a Maker Space for the residents of Rochester and surrounding communities. The definition of a maker space while not easily defined is essentially Do-It-Yourself spaces where people can gather to create, invent, and learn. We want to created a community-operated workspace for people with common interests; a space where tools can be shared, space is available to create, and the artist and innovator has the potential to create a business.
Objective:
Our mission is to support and promote the teaching, learning and practice of fabrication. We will accomplish this by creating a public space that enables anyone and everyone to participate in the “Maker Movement” a revolution bringing fine motor skills and creative, critical thinking back to our communities. By providing the tools and open space to share with the community of makers in the City of Rochester the Woven Makers Space can be used for learning new tools and programs, provide tooling for an individual’s project that cannot be done at home, provide a
place for people who share the same passion to meet and work on community projects, and even where schools and teams can meet to practice and learn technology.
Goals:
• Shared fabrication tools and equipment such as those in electronics,, woodworking, jewelry and metalsmithing, welding, precision machining, fiber arts, screen printing and more.
• A range of affordable, publicly-accessible classes offered by local artisans and craftsmen focusing on either creating a final product the student can take home after the class or general training for specific tools.
• Affordable monthly memberships that include access to our facility.
• Space and equipment rentals to monthly members interested in having access to equipment without having to invest in capital equipment and long-term space leases.
• On-site material and project storage allowing members to create and store projects without the hassle of handling material and storage logistics.
• Host and promote related events with the goal of encouraging maker communities, shared spaces & culture.
Project Outline:
We are asking the City of Rochester to lease the former Robbins Auto Parts Building on Hanson St to the Woven Community Development Association as an incubator space for craftspeople and artisans in our community or use as a Maker Space.
Phase 1 - start will a handful of craftspeople and artisans who are interest in a shared space and are willing to teach the use of their tools and share their expertise.
Phase 2 - provide space for businesses to rent cubicle space and conference room space - a business hub for local professionals. In phase two we hope to add to the skillset and tool sets to have more options available to the community
Phase 3 - create a kid’s maker space with access to arts and crafts material, recycled materials, and tools needed to allow for creativity or project based learning.