Last October, Spark Makerspace opened at 86 Golden St. in downtown New London. The project was spearheaded by social entrepreneurs Hannah Gant and George Ryan, and the space joins many across the country cultivating creativity in various media. According to their website, Spark members pay a monthly fee for access to a full woodshop, commercial kitchen, 3D printers, Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine and laser cutter, robotics lab, screenprinting equipment and much more. Spark’s community also extends to its shared office, meeting, classroom and retail space at 13 Golden St.
Spark emphasizes collaboration and cooperation within the New London community, hoping to engage artists, thinkers, inventors and anyone with the desire to create. As a community-run workshop and learning center, they also provide classes led by members and encourage members to share skills through engaging with various events. Instead of highlighting the space as an incubator solely for STEM fields, Spark encourages participation in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) skills and products.
Inclusion of the arts is a vital aspect of Spark’s mission and the mission of makerspaces across the country. Makerspaces, also known as hackerspaces, have evolved with technology and accessibility to machines and equipment. Employing DIY (do it yourself) ethic, makerspaces have become a sort of subculture. Verbs such as “tinker” give an idea of the type of work being done in these spaces. DIY ethic preaches self-sufficiency and completing work without the help of a paid expert. Makerspaces fill in the rest of the equation, providing community spaces that are hubs of knowledge sharing and opportunities to learn from peers.
According to Wikipedia, “Central to the [DIY] ethic is the empowerment of individuals and communities, encouraging the employment of alternative approaches when faced with bureaucratic or societal obstacles to achieving their objectives.” Locating the space in the heart of downtown New London makes creativity visible in the community. It also makes me wonder, however, about how we allot creativity to certain spaces.
Makerspaces create an intersection between traditionally feminine practices–crafting, DIY projects, things one might find on Pinterest–and traditionally masculine practices–inventing, operating machinery, participating in STEM fields. Overlapping all these aspects of creativity and eliminating an authoritative figure serves to blur the lines between these types of practices, hopefully opening them up to a wider audience. Gant, who played a large role in Spark’s creation, also serves as an example of the business and entrepreneurial opportunities available in this line of work, another field that has historically been dominated by men.
In a sense, every college campus should function as a type of makerspace, where inspiration comes from individuals, not solely professors or instructors. Cultivation of creativity should happen inside and outside the classroom, and creativity should exist across disciplines and not be isolated to the arts. In my near four years here, I have felt that classes are not only for learning from professors, but from peers as well.
That said, the College and Spark are collaborating on an event this coming Saturday, as a part of the 15th Biennial Symposium on Arts and Technology held by the Ammerman Center. The symposium will be held Feb. 25, 26 and 27 and includes events at the College and in the New London community. The community event on Saturday is an experimental sound show and will be held at 86 Golden St. •
