Yes, folks, our first major grant just came in! We’d been asked to attend an event out at the Umbrella Community Arts Center in Concord (which some of us remember as The Emerson Umbrella from back in the ’80s, an effort by several “hippie artists” that was, for us, an inspiration for what a community can achieve in the arts!), by the people at Mass Development, and we were told it was good news, but they couldn’t tell us how good.
Well, it was the best.
We were awarded the full amount of our proposal – $56,000 – to “… secure and buildout a space… to establish a facility for the Brickyard Collaborative, including providing financial stability strengthening our position negotiating with potential landlords, site design and buildout.” This program is aimed squarely at efforts in “Gateway Cities” to start makerspaces and co-working spaces, and we hit a bullseye.
This is the Mass Development Collaborative Workspace program, the same one that we launched a Patronicity campaign for this summer with matching donations and were able to leverage those, along with the donated work and equipment we already own, to meet their 50/50 matching requirement. That is to say, this was all possible because or your support.
We’ve been spending the last month or so planning out our next steps, and thanks to this grant, it’s time to put those into action. As soon as we get the contracts and information on accessing the funds, we’ll be signing a lease on a space we’ve been working on, and then the fun starts. Stay tuned, it’s going to be a great ride!
Thanks again for your support!
Ted
Keep making stuff. Take care of people, play nice and clean up after yourselves.
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