Since the first time we gathered to discuss how a makerspace in Wichita might work, we’ve struggled with the chicken-and-egg problem. Which comes first: the members or the makerspace? The members provide money for the ‘space, but the ‘space is the reason for people to become members. A catch-22.

Two years ago, our founding members helped to solve this problem by bootstrapping MakeICT with our personal funds, and that’s what put us in our current home on West Douglas. We’ve hit the capacity of the space and our growth has stagnated. Once again, we found ourselves with the same problem. We know what the community wants/needs, but we didn’t have the means to provide it…

Enter the Knight Foundation Fund of the Wichita Community Foundation, with their a very generous gift: $100,000.

We’ll use this to acquire premium, professional-grade equipment and tools – technologies that wouldn’t otherwise be available to the average person. We’ll develop high-quality instructional strategies and find ways to help our community share their knowledge with others. Lastly, we’ll be able to provide a comfortable space where the atmosphere is conducive to interacting, brainstorming, and meeting new people with different ideas and backgrounds – where creative collisions are a common occurrence, and ideas can blossom into real-life manifestations.

This support has shown us that people believe in our mission, our community, and our efforts. We’ll be working hard to be an even greater resource, and we’ll be looking for ways to connect with other individuals and entities to be an effective organization. Interested in being a part of MakeICT? You can become a member today by joining online, connect with others on our online forum, or connect in person during one of our public events. Our next open hack night will be December 1st at 7pm.

With a full heart and eager anticipation of the work ahead of us,

Dominic Canare, President <dom@makeict.org>

🙂