A comment was made the other day that we did this through my own personal “sheer force of will”. While flattering (I think…), it couldn’t be further from the truth. So let’s take a minute to acknowledge and thank all (well, at least some) of the people who played a part in launching The Brickyard Collaborative.
First, Jaimie Figueroa. I’d met Jaime a few times during his campaign for City Council, and he started talking about putting together some sort of technology incubator for Lynn. That’s a conversation I’ll always have, anywhere, any time. Jaime got me in touch with Joe Mulligan of MassDEV, who then suggested I talk to Al Wilson of Beyond Walls and his team, as well as Kevin Moforte of EforAll. Joe made an introduction to Charlie Gaeta and Jeff Weeden of LHAND – nothing gets done in this city without these guys.
In the meantime, I had a few friends who wanted to help – Jaime’s friend Lisa Wallace, and Jo Beth Williams rolled up sleeves and helped put together our first event – the Stakeholder’s Meeting. They drafted a few friends of their own to help out – Hannah Colbert and Emily Jodoin. Here’s the video we put together for that:
Behind the scenes, Brian Field, Councillor at Large, was doing what he could to open a few doors for us. Michael Satterwhite, Attorney and School Committee member, got us our Non-profit 501c3 papers done.
Somewhere along the line, Tia Cole joined us. Tia is a force of nature in the North Shore art community, and has connected us to countless people and groups who are forming a true “collaborative” effort in Lynn, Salem, Peabody, Beverly, and beyond.
Gini Mazman, of The Haven Project and Land of a Thousand Hills took us under her wing, and gave us a place to host a couple of our pop-up events. Her staff, Eric, Freddy and all the rest have been an amazing help and support. At one of these events, Mitch Ahern joined us in the project to put together a unique resource – a full co-op print studio with letterpress, intaglio, silkscreen and other processes. Also joining us at one of the events was Amanda Markell and Kyle Bannon, ex of Lowell Makes, now living in Salem, and eager to build a makerspace for their new home. Casey McNulty, of Lynn, was eager to create an educational program for coding and electronics for the kids in the area.
People come and go. We had an initial Board, which we promised wouldn’t have a lot of work since we really didn’t have an operation going yet. As the tasks for the Board grew, people moved out and in, and our base of volunteers changed into our base of members. You can meet some of them here: Meet the Maker. Yeah, there are a whole lot of others – some I won’t mention here because they simply don’t really want the spotlight – they just enjoy doing what they’re doing and enjoy seeing their stuff getting used.
There are a handful of people who are lurking in the background. Friends, people who’ve contributed gear and funds, morale and advice. They are happy to be behind the curtain, and just see what we’re accomplishing.
As soon as I started this post, I knew I’d leave people out… but I’m trying not to. Of course, there’s Teresa, my wife and partner, who’s watched this madness from the beginning and offered the best advice I’ve gotten from anybody, anywhere, and now has her own space there and is managing our gallery.
Oh, right – one guy who’s been cheering us on from Ireland – John Peto:
Force of will? Early on I was telling a friend about this, and she described it as rolling a snowball down a hill. You push a little, it gets bigger, the hill gets steeper, and it becomes easier to push. Then it starts rolling by itself. Pretty soon, you’re not pushing anymore, your just tying to keep up, and once it gets big enough you’re just trying to keep from getting in it’s way.
We called this a “Collaborative”, and that’s exactly what it is. Our deepest thanks to all who’ve got us this far, named above and unnamed, and know you’ll always be a part of The Brickyard Collaborative!
Ted
“Keep making stuff. Take care of people, play nice and clean up after yourselves.”
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