Hi, my name is Allison. If your story is anything like mine, you went to the YuKonstruct Kick-Off in January, enjoyed some pizza, checked out the cool projects, and maybe you even attended the follow-up planning session on January 28th. But by now you’ve started to wonder what’s going on and what can you do to help, right?
Is this Makerspace really going to get off the ground? Well that balloon sure did, but I wanted to find out more on the progress of YuKonstruct itself, so I attended a team meeting this week and, as it turns out, there’s A LOT going on! (and a lot of people too!)
Fifteen builders met for 2.5 hours (as they have been doing weekly since the kick-off) and I was impressed by their skills, energy, and dedication to this project.
Here’s a recap:
Space Team
The most exciting development is the fact that the space team has found a possible venue. It’s a cool, industrial space, easily accessible, and has lots of room. It will need some work to meet makers’ needs, but that’s going to be half the fun. And this is just one of many suitable options we’ve been scouting.
Even if this one doesn’t work out the space team is confident they’ll find us a great home.
Org(anization) Team
The bulk of this meeting focused on building a sophisticated and exhaustive budget line-by-line. The core team has been looking into the real costs for a start-up like this and they have done a lot of research into how other Makerspaces are run.
The full business plan is almost done, so stay tuned for more!
Outreach Team
The outreach team is working hard to get a blog up and running to keep everyone informed. They also invited me to share my story with you.
Support Team
The support team is helping build tools to support the team’s efforts. For example, one of the things they’re researching are the ways to allow member access and ensure security too.
**So now that you’re up to date, how can YOU help?**
Membership Survey
The outreach team will be sending out a survey to get a better idea of how many potential members are out there and what sort of memberships they might be interested in (monthly, annual, day passes, 24 hour access, etc). Please fill it out!
Once the core team has a better picture of the level of interest and the sort of memberships Yukoners want, they will start signing members up. The more who sign up in advance, the easier it will be to get YuKonstruct up and running. More info soon.
Sponsorship
Looking at the numbers, it’s pretty clear that a Makerspace can’t easily be supported by membership fees alone.
Lucky for us, several companies have already come forward to pledge sponsorship and the donation of products and services (in-kind). If you have a connection with anyone who might be willing to donate funds, services or equipment, please send an email to: ben@yukonstruct.com
Let’s keep the momentum going
Some fun events are in the works to keep people interested and engaged. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to hear about all the upcoming activities and then spread the word!
I hope you’re as excited about this as I am! You should reach out and get involved. I’m sure glad I did.
Cheers,
Allison (maker and wannabe YuKonstruct member)
