News
It’s official – we’re finally done moving into our new home! The move went very smoothly, with Barb coordinating the packing and loading at the old space and Tom coordinating the unloading at the new space. Members and volunteers contributed a lot of help through the whole process, and we were especially thankful for the trucks and Jeff’s trailer.
The new makerspace is beginning to take shape. In this short time, the woodshop has been framed and sheet rock has been hung. New tools and equipment are arriving, and the floor plan is being finalized. It feels good, especially now that we have officially hit over 100 members!
Past Events
Workshops
Woodcarving with Roy
Roy Hosie has been warmly received by the MakeICT community. In April, Roy brought his passion for woodcarving to the makerspace. He taught attendees basic tools and techniques, and they had an opportunity to carve their own wooden owls. Thanks, Roy! Here’s a photo of Rodney’s owl:
devICT – Hacking the real world with node.js
Wanna turn on a light by pressing a button on a webpage? Well you can do that! Seth put together a live coding demonstration of exactly this for this month’s devICT talk. The Johnny-Five module for node combined with Firmata for the Arduino makes this an extremely easy task. See for yourself by watching the recorded screencast!
Other events
Painting the makerspace
I have to admit that I was apprehensive about painting the walls gray when Jess first pitched the idea, but I have to say, it really worked out quite nicely. There is still much more wall space to paint, but we had a slew of volunteers help us patch holes, sand, and paint the front half of the building. Now that the paint has dried, I can see that it really is a good fit.
STEM Night at McLean Elementary
We try our best not to miss an opportunity to help promote creativity and STEM in our community. McLean Elementary invited us back for their annual STEM night, and like before, it was a lot of fun! Barb and James S. always come prepared with hands-on activities, and they’re always well-received! See you next year, McLean!
Open House / ICT ArtDOG
We hosted an Open House in conjunction with the ICT ArtDOG campaign, which is a 24-hour fundraiser for local arts-based nonprofits. In total, $1,178,100.00 was raised for Wichita-area, art-based nonprofits. Of that, $1,830.91 is just for MakeICT. This was such a fun event, and we had a packed house for the entire evening. It only worked because of EVERYBODY who helped out. The culture we’re fostering is all about collaboration, and this event is a great model of what that means. Special thanks need to go to:
- April for planning the event, herding the cats, and making sure it was a classy event
- Dustin for the countless hours and all the effort he’s put into the makerspace leading up to this event
- Jess and her volunteers for the paint job and the future gallery space
- Matt Pogue for supplying the paint, Scott Cooper for helping Jess with the gallery wall
- Burt and Mike for the incredible progress they are making in the woodshop
- Gina and Gordon for their marketing efforts
- Jeff for helping out with a million different things around the place (and Sarah for loaning him to us)
- Matt for printing up t-shirts
- The Sound Scientist (Chris Cenatiempo and his drummer, Nathan) for the music
- Il Vicino, The Spice Merchant, Monica’s Bundt Cake, Cero’s, The Donut Whole, and Wal-Mart for the refreshments
- All of our volunteer demonstrators and regulars hanging out, chatting people up, keeping up refreshments, and just generally being awesome people (Michelle, Kim, Seth, Sean, James, Tom, Kip, Anna, Mike, Roy,
- Clark, Dustin, Matt, Kayla, Karl, April, Gina, Savannah, Scott, Bryan, Gavin, Dean)
- Jens for giving awesome tours
- Jens and Evan for finding the building and negotiating the lease
- ALL of our supporters, whether our Open House / ArtDOG was your first time supporting, you’re a long time member, or you’re helping by spreading the word about our nonprofit makerspace
- The WCF for the ArtDOG campaign and their financial support
- I know I’m leaving people off, and I’m sorry if I missed you.
And of course, thanks to everyone who came out to see us and continue to spread the word!
Upcoming Events
May 9 – 2nd Saturday Workshop: Basic Electronics
This is a no math approach to basic electronics. Attendees will leave with a touch light the made themselves. This class is rated for absolute beginners (teens or older), and topics will include:
- Voltage vs current
- Resistors
- Capacitors
- Inductors
- Diodes and LEDs
- Transistors
May 29 – June 6 – Riverfest
Going to Riverfest this year? Be sure to look for the MakeICT booth for fun, hands-on activities!
June events
- Wearable electronics
- KC Maker Faire
Open Hack Nights
Don’t forget, every other Monday is Open Hack Night! We open our doors to the public and invite people to bring a project, bring a friend, or just bring themselves. There’s always something interesting going on!
Photo credits: Charlie Fair, Rodney Groshans, MakeICT