Our Patronicity campaign is going strong – but you may be wondering, “Why does The Brickyard need to expand if they’re doing so much already?”
Good question.
It’s kind of like your first car. It wasn’t much to look at, but it ran (mostly). It got you to where you needed to go. The heat was a little sketchy, and AC was out of the question, but it never left you on the side of the road. (Well, there was that once…). And the memories! You saw the world in that car.
The Brickyard Collaborative’s home is 3600 square feet tucked in the corner of a warehouse, and as far as “warehouse chic” goes, it’s pretty cool. It comes with loading docks, 14′ ceilings and neighbors with fork trucks… but not AC or heat, and some pretty thready power and, well, no water except for the bathrooms across the hall.
This is our 3D printer farm, the one that helped to print 4000 pieces of PPE that went directly into the hands of the folks here in Lynn who needed it most:
We’ve got gear that’s sitting unused, simply because we don’t have the room or the power to run it.
Oh, we’re not complaining. We love our shop, just like we loved our first car! …but imagine what we could do with an actual shop with adequate power, rooms and ventilation! (Maybe with working ceiling lights, even…)
We’re working on getting a space that has about twice the area, wired for the equipment we have to run, and with AC and heat. …not to mention, a more central location. It’s a big step from, “It is what it is…” to “Hey look! It’s a real makerspace!” Your donation gives us the ability to fit out the space properly, make it far more usable, and if we are awarded the MassDEV grant, your dollars will be doubled.
There’s not much more time left – barely a week to get these Matching Funds together for our MassDEV Collaborative Workspace grant deadline, but we know we can do it with your help! Please donate if you can, and we can see what the future will bring. Here’s the link: The Brickyard 2020 on Patronicity
Be safe, play nice and clean up after yourselves!