We officially opened LA Makerspace on Jan. 1st, 2013. Below is a record of how we started it.
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Ever since my husband opened Crashspace in Los Angeles and my son was born, I’ve wanted a permanent kid friendly hackerspace in LA. I want a place that I can hangout and work on fun projects with people of all ages and backgrounds. I want the space to include everything from gardening to electronics to laser cutting to music to fine art. I WANT ALL THINGS. I wrote some ideas down here.
I’m making progress and connecting with like-minded souls from around Los Angeles that host pop-up maker events, are science teachers and work with kids in after-school programs.
- May 6th 2012 we held our first public event to discuss our vision and brainstorm ways to fund it and make it a sustainable and affordable space for the DIYers of LA.
- May 9th 2012 I attended the first advisory board meeting for Caine’s Arcade Foundation. There’s some possible synergy there.
- May 14th 2012 was our first working group meeting to discuss the physical space. 15 enthusiasts came out from all different backgrounds: teachers, parents, startup techies, filmmakers, etc. Meeting notes are here.
- May 19-20th 2012 Tara attended Maker Faire and hungout with kids making cool stuff and observing which projects kids of various ages gravitate towards. Blog post is here.
- May 30th 2012 was our second working group meeting. Meeting notes are here.
- June 11th 2012: Working Group Meeting #3.
- June 17th 2012: Get a demo of the equipment at Crashspace.
- June 23rd 2012 we hosted a Youth Hack Jam at Wildwood School. It was a huge success. You can read about it here.
- June 25th 2012: Working Group Meeting #4.
- We released our new website LA Makerspace and Twitter @lamakerspace.
- July 17th 2012: Working Group Meeting #5.
- July 28th 2012: Scratch Programming Class for 4-11 year olds + parents
- July 29th 2012: eTextiles event for Ladies in Tech
- July 29th 2012: We signed the paperwork for Fiscal Sponsorship and to start work on our 501c3!!! Thanks Home and Community!
- July 31st 2012: Working Group Meetup #6 at the Natural History Museum.
- August 11th 2012: Arduino class at Crashspace instructed by 11 year old QuinTechKnow
- Sept. 8th 2012: The Chemistry of Food Event at 24th Street Theatre
- Sept. 26th 2012: Some of our Scratch Kids were filmed for a documentary by the Producers of Waiting for Superman
- Sept. 27th 2012: Erin, a Scratch coder, was on a Coder Dojo panel at Sony discussing kids that code and game
- Oct. 3rd 2012: Exactly 5 months after I published this blog post, we finalized the lease details at LA Mart for LA Makerspace
- Oct. 21st 2012: Light Up Your Night: DIY LED Lanterns
- Oct. 27th 2012: Master Makeup Effects with Brian Hillard & KNB Special Effects (The Walking Dead & Transformers!!)
- Oct.28th 2012: Halloween Open House including Master Makeup Effects, Wig Styling/Decorating and a Contest!
- January 2013: Successfully raised money on Kickstarter
- February 2013: Officially moved into LA Mart in Downtown LA
- September 2013 – Moved out of LA Mart in Downtown LA
- January 2014 – started working with LA Public Library (LAPL) to move into the building where the Pio Pico library is housed in Koreatown
- Fall 2014 – named LA Public Library’s primary STEAM service provider.
- March 2015: Elected new Board Members
- July 2015 – formed partnership with UCLA IMLab and started running workshops at their space in DTLA / Chinatown
- Head to lamakerspace.org to learn more!