October proved to be a good month for MakeICT to make some public appearances. First, we were invited to the North End Urban Arts Festival. We set up our booth right in the middle of other artists and makers, and we had a fun time. We didn’t bring our entire repertoire, but we did have plenty of tools and supplies for making catapults, brush-bots, and LED throwies. It turned out to be a very popular event – it’s great to see such an awesome community turnout.
We also had a significant showing at the Off the Grid – a pedal powered concert and eco-fest at the Bartlett Arboretum. Looking for evidence of creative collisions in Wichita? Try this. Catherine and I met at a board meeting for Bike Walk Wichita. She was spreading the news of the Off the Grid event and was really excited about building bike generators. I let her know that MakeICT probably had several members with relevant knowledge, and that they’d probably help if she ran into problems. We exchanged email addresses, and shortly after I started a new thread on the MakeICT forums.
Our makers loved the idea, and the conversation blew up from there. Catherine explained what she was working with, and several people chimed in with comments, advice, and questions. It wasn’t long before people were agreeing to meet at MakeICT to start building and experimenting. We ended up with 3 adult bike generators (one of which is a tandem) and 2 kid-sized generators for a separate activity. There was a lot of learning as we went, but it all worked out in the end.
More photos from the concert are available in our Facebook album and also in the Wichita Business Journal.
If you’ve been keeping up with us over the years, you know how much we love Halloween. This year we did something new – a Halloween Makeup workshop. We learned how to make comic-book style pop-art characters, zombies, fake blood, and wounds/scars. For more pictures, visit our Facebook page.
And because I’m sure some of you have been wondering what happens “behind the scenes” at MakeICT, our hard-working board members and a handful of others have been diligently searching and shopping for potential new locations for the makerspace. We’ve been connecting with community members and making a list of pros and cons. We want to make sure we’ve evaluated all of our options fully, so we can be sure that we make the right decision when the time comes. We’ve also been working hard lately to make sure we have a clear vision of the future that’s in line with our mission statement. We’re looking for more ways that we can better serve our community!