When Peterborough native Roy Schlieben moved back to his hometown nearly a decade ago, he joined a committee exploring the idea of opening a makerspace there. He’d seen the impact one could have on a community, as his brother-in-law started his business in one of the original such spaces in Somerville, Mass.
The idea for what would become MAxT Makerspace was conceived, as it reads on the organization’s website, “in basements, event halls and board rooms” by community volunteers throughout 2014-2015. The idea was simple, it goes on: people in the region were creative and talented but needed affordable resources. A rural makerspace has to be very open to the community and understanding specific needs.
In the Peterborough area, there is a wealth of artists as well as retirees.
Artist April Claggett watches a demonstration of the printing press at the MAxT Makerspace.
At that time, a group known as the Monadnock Makers formed to host events and workshops, visit other spaces, and conduct surveys to learn more.
That’s when Schlieben reached out to Arts Alive! Executive director, Jessica Gelter, for help.
“We intended to become a nonprofit eventually but we knew it would take a long, long time to set up,” said Schlieben. “We thought a fiscal sponsorship might be a step in that direction.”
Jessica Gelter & Roy Schlieben present to arts leaders from across New England at NEFA’s CCX conference in Montpelier, VT - sharing experience and expertise about fiscal sponsorship.
Arts Alive!’s Fiscal Sponsorship and Incubator Program is for groups, individual artists and one-time project coordinators seeking to start a nonprofit arts or culture-oriented organization in the Monadnock Region.
Arts Alive! works with artists to achieve 501(c)3 status for collecting tax deductible donations and applying for grants that require it.
“We were off and running,” said Schlieben. “It was pretty invigorating for us. It turned something we thought would be a multi-year process into literally a month.”
A board was formed and Schlieben was appointed MaxT Makerspace’s executive director.
After a couple more months, the organization achieved nonprofit status, and after a year signed a lease on a space and began collecting donations as an independent nonprofit.
“When you have that (fiscal) sponsorship, suddenly you’re a legitimate organization, not just a group of people,” said Schlieben. “You can start thinking about how to proceed in a more systematic way and start planning what (your organization) will look like. The fiscal sponsorship provided the impetus.”
A makerspace is a collaborative work space tailor-made for the community who will use it: they are for making, learning, exploring and sharing, normally for entrepreneurs but really a makerspace is for everyone to use.
MAxT Makerspace, which was founded in 2016, grew from having four members its first year to well over 100 and moved from a 1,600- to an 8,000-square-foot space on Vose Farm Road in 2018. Below are some images of the space:
Part of the current space at MAxT is dedicated to sewing, screen printing and weaving endeavors. There are also sections for work on electronics, jewelry-making and textiles.
Additional areas are equipped with a laser/vinyl cutter, printing press and 3D printer for artists. Plus, the makerspace provides 1,000 square feet of open office space with additional offices for members to rent. A wood and metal work/welding shop was also added.
MAxT Makerspace also offers an array of activities, including a “repair cafe,” which is a fix-it club modeled after another in New York City. Continuing education workshops focus on different shop areas, and a business accelerator program provides mentorship, space and resources for startups who are then able to launch products on-site or in their own space. All mentors and workshop leaders are volunteers. Additional services include a workforce training program in welding for high school students and adults that helps them earn nationwide certification.
MAxT Makerspace is financed by memberships - it is $40 a month for a basic membership, studio rentals, and workshop fees. It also gets a boost from sponsorships.
Some rural makerspaces fill a gap in the community. When they started, the gap was accessible tools and workspace. Then in 2019, Sharon Arts Center, a prominent arts education center with a 40+ year history in the region, shut its doors.
Roy Schlieben sits front and center at an Arts Alive! facilitated meeting about the closure of the Sharon Arts Center and Gallery/Store. Roy and MAxT Makerspace took on a pivotal role in rebuilding the artistic community that was displaced by these closures.
Arts Alive! worked together with MAxT Makerspace to determine how to face this arts community upheaval by organizing community forums and helping find a suitable location.
MAxT Makerspace developed a pop up arts education program called Sharing Arts, to facilitate the continuation of community arts education classes and opportunities for creatives to connect through their art forms. It provides opportunities for anyone interested in the arts to teach, learn, access tools and equipment and display work—a similar structure to the makerspace itself. This program has utilized spaces from back yards to libraries to the Makerspace as the physical infrastructure for a new home for displaced Sharon Arts artists is developed.
In 2021, the first part of this infrastructure will open - the Sharing Arts Community Ceramics Center will open this fall at Dublin Village Park. The center will provide affordable access to pottery equipment and a space to take classes with some of the region’s most accomplished ceramicists.
MAxT organizes Peterborough’s night market - an evening event on the streets of downtown Peterborough celebrating makers, performers, and musicians - and of course community.
Arts Alive! and MAxT Makerspace worked together to ensure this resource for the Monadnock region arts community.
Other ways Arts Alive! Has been an advocate is by helping the makerspace launch a night market in Peterborough’s Depot Square; and by highlighting its events in the calendar.
“Arts Alive! has been a supporter,” said Schlieben. “The real benefit for us has been the relationship with an established arts organization that really cares about early-stage arts organizations in the community even though our formal relationship with them ended after a couple months. Whenever I need advice or I need to find connections to resources in the community, which extends to a 20-mile radius in the Monadnock Region, I can go to Arts Alive! and they are willing to help. That’s hard to find.”
To learn more or get involved at the MAxT Makerspace in Peterborough become a member or try out a class.