Quotes to chew on
With all the buzz about the maker movement, its hard not to pay attention. All buzz aside, there are real, tangible benefits to exploring, tinkering, creating, inventing, and making. Here are few thoughts that inform and inspire. Enjoy!
“A tinkering disposition is something that tells you that the world is knowable; you can find out something about the world by yourself and you don’t have to be an expert in any one discipline to start.” Luigi Anzivino, Tinkering Studio at Exploratorium museum.
“…building rockets in the backyard, tinkering, playing with things. That created the interest and motivation to pursue science.” Dale Dougherty, editor of Make Magazine and founder of Maker Faire
“We as educators try to make our lectures engaging, but when we allow people to make something, it’s completely transformative. You don’t have to fight for kids’ attention when making.” Kylie Peppler, an assistant professor of learning sciences at IU, Bloomington, and the head of the Make to Learn Initiative
“Tinkering is the way that real science happens, in all its messy glory,” says Sylvia Martinez, co-author of the new book Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom.
“If you don’t get a chance to fail, if you don’t get a chance to try things and not get them right the first time, and you keep on doing it until you do get that specific kind of success, then you become so risk-averse that you in fact get an allergy to trying new things. “ Adam Savage, Mythbusters
Fight boredom. MAKE something!
The maker movement is catching on across the country. From maker faires to innovation programs, education enhancements and DIY forums – there’s a whole lot of making going on!
Here’s a piece from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that show the momentum in the movement. Enjoy!
DIY Month at LFPL
Summer. Glorious time for making.
As you consider what DIY projects you have next on the list, get a leg up this July with even more options during Louisville Free Public Library’s DIY month.
Courses of all kinds – from knitting to starting a business, crafts to publishing – for makers a’plenty! Get all the details right here. 
Maker Movement Infographic
Check out the new products, technology and innovations from the maker movement in this infographic. Even catch a glimpse of the startups born from makers. Where do YOU fit? maker_movement_infographic
Intel’s Maker Cities
Intel has adopted six “Maker Cities” across the US to encourage education, small-scale product design, development, and manufacturing efforts. The pilot program includes Santa Clara, CA and the surrounding Silicon Valley region; Folsom, CA; the Portland, OR Metro area; Chandler, AZ; Austin, TX; and the Albuquerque, NM Metro area. “We celebrate the maker in all of us and recognize the maker community as America’s future leaders,” said Carlos Contreras, Intel’s US Education Director.
Come see some of our very own future American leaders in the maker space at the Louisville Mini Maker Faire on September 27, 2014.
Call to Makers – Join the 2015 Louisville Mini Maker Faire!
Makers of ALL stripes are invited to be a part of this year’s Louisville mini Maker Faire. The 3rd annual Louisville Mini Maker Faire is Saturday, September 19, 2015.
Promotion is well under way and many are stepping up to sponsor, volunteer and more. Louisville is for making. Come get your make on!
Makers from science, technology and engineering; arts and crafts; food, beverages and greentech; and many other disciplines are encouraged to join us! Exhibits include a display of skills and creations in 3D printing, robotics, drones, engineering, and artistry.
Apply here. The Call for Makers is open through August 31, 2015.
Louisville Mini Maker Faire returns!
We are excited to announce that Louisville Mini Maker Faire will once again host its street festival of makers!
After our inaugural event last fall, we return to the 800 & 900 blocks of East Market Street in downtown Louisville. Many of our amazing makers from last year return for the 2014 faire and we’ll have even more new experiences that amaze, amuse and delight.
Why a “mini” maker faire? Mini maker faires are smaller versions of the awesome, full-size maker faires like the original in San Mateo, California, featuring over 900 makers! Compared to these super size events, ours seems a bit on the small side. However, Louisville Mini Maker Faire is BIG on opportunity to engage in lots of demonstrations, hands-on making and interactive experiences.
Help us make our second annual “mini” maker faire even bigger – mark your calendars today and spread the word on Facebook, Google+, Twitter and more!
Stay tuned for more information and ways to get involved.
C-J: “Like NuLu Fest, Maker Faire catches on”
Written by Emily Hagedorn, The Courier Journal … view full story and video.
Laura Neutz Holmes thinks back on the first NuLu Fest.
It was small with 30 vendors. Rain poured down, ending the event after just six hours.
“And now look at it,” said the NuLu Business Association vice president. “What street fair has a roller coaster in the middle of the street?”
The fifth annual NuLu Fest took over East Market Street Saturday, and this year, it doubled to two blocks — the second of which contained the inaugural Louisville Mini Maker Faire.
And part of the Maker Faire was The Device, which safely propelled riders along rails that curved up into the air.
“It was like pretty fast,” said Noah Rosario, 8, of St. Matthews. “I was pretty excited.”
Maker Faire organizers wanted to do something “to celebrate makers of all kinds,” said co-founder Elizabeth Rounsavall. And they decided to join with NuLu Fest because it’s the official after-party to IdeaFestival and had the experience of running a festival.
And like NuLu Fest — though much quicker — it has surpassed organizers’ expectations. They thought 30 vendors might take part, but in fact, 85 signed on, in addition to the 80 vendors who signed on through NuLu Fest, she said.
“When we first started talking to people, we got a lot of, ‘What is a Maker Faire?’” Rounsavall said. “But it just reached a tipping point of people calling us and saying, ‘I want in.’”
Maker Faires take place around the world and are sponsored by Make magazine, whose founder Dale Dougherty is a Louisville native.
NuLu Fest had food, retail booths and music, including Sam “Shake” Anderson, The Debauchees and The Pass.
More than 10,000 people were expected to attend.
“(The first NuLu Fest) was quaint,” said Joe Phillips, a manager at Cake Flour on East Market, which has been involved in NuLu Fest since the beginning. “It now feels more like an inner-city festival should.”
Schedule of Events!
We’ve collected all the fantastic workshops and other events at the Maker Faire into a single schedule so you can plan your schedule. Subject to change, but this is the best guess for now!
Mini Maker Faire rocks the morning shows!
On Tuesday, several of your intrepid organizers and many of our awesome makers got out of bed early to publicize the Louisville Mini Maker Faire on the WDRB and WHAS morning shows.
First, we went down to Market Street at the crack of midnight to hang out with Keith Kaiser of WDRB for a few hours. Turns out he plays the drums and sat in for an impromptu streetside concert with the Smoke Shop Kids, powered by SoularGIG. Then we met Teddie Mower of the Bluegrass Bioneers as well as Hannah and Danielle of the Kentucky Science Center showing off the Makey Makey. (Even Lynn Quire of Good Garbage makes a rare cameo during that last segment!)
Then we hustled across town to WHAS for a segment on Great Day Live. We wanted to pack as many makers as we could into that segment, and boy did we deliver – the producers looked kind of frightened, actually. The station manager tells us that so far it’s the highest rated segment of the week!
Meet all these Makers – and many many more – this Saturday at the Maker Faire!