Atlanta Maker Faire Moving to Downtown Decatur
Decatur Metro | June 4, 2014 | 10:31 am
This was referenced in the latest Decatur Focus and it reminded me that I never posted this release!
Atlanta: Get ready to invent, create and inspire. Organizers just announced the dates for the 2014 Maker Faire in Atlanta and it’s official. The weekend of October 4 and 5, 2014, will see the largest and grandest Maker Faire Atlanta has ever hosted.
Maker Faire Atlanta will take place over two days this year, up from just one day in years past. Last year’s event saw more than 10,000 people from all over the Southeast come to show, tell, learn and invent. The organizers of this year’s Faire expect at least 15,000 people in attendance. Also new this year, the Faire will be hosted by the City of Decatur and will take place in downtown Decatur on North McDonough Street and in the large parking area surrounding the Callaway Building. This is the first year that Decatur has played host to the Faire.
The enormous growth of the Faire has afforded the event a new title and increased notoriety this year. Attendants of last year’s Faire will remember that it was called Atlanta Mini Maker Faire. Once a Mini Maker Faire reaches 10,000 participant attendance, it has the option to become a “featured faire.” The perks of this upgrade include exclusive coverage by MAKE Magazine, featured placement on the Maker Faire website, and a new moniker: Maker Faire Atlanta. Atlanta has reached this milestone and now joins the ranks of other featured faires in cities like Rome, Paris, Detroit and Kansas City. Unlike these other featured faires, however, Atlanta’s event is completely free to attend, thanks to donations from Atlanta-area companies and organizations. Maker Faire Atlanta will be the only featured faire to offer completely free attendance.
If you weren’t able to attend last year, here’s what you need to know about the Maker Faire. The goal of the event is to bring together creators, innovators, tinkerers, hobbyists and amateur enthusiasts to learn, share, experiment and expand upon a great tradition of making in the South. This free, all-ages weekend highlights “Makers” from Atlanta and all over the U.S. who range from tech enthusiasts and crafters to homesteaders and backyard scientists. The Maker Movement is here and these passionate individuals are responsible for the revolution.
Last year’s Faire hosted more than 125 Makers who shared their inventions, creations and ideas in a hands-on learning environment. The 2013 Atlanta Mini Maker Faire included speakers, workshops and exhibits on topics such as robotics, green tech, electric vehicles, vintage computing, textile arts, robot battles, home fabrication and much more.
Part of the mission of the Maker Faire is to educate the next generation of innovators by giving kids increased access to design tools and resources. With renewed emphasis on STEAM (Science, Technology, Arts, Engineering and Mathematics) learning in schools and after-school programs all over the country, the Maker Movement provides the perfect framework and support system for continued involvement in project-based, experimental learning.
For more information about Maker Faire Atlanta, how to be a featured Maker at the Faire, or how to volunteer, visit the event website http://makerfaireatl.com/ or contact [email protected] . Call for entries will open on May 19, 2014.
Decatur Makers (decaturmakers.org) is working closely with the Maker Faire folks and we’re very excited to have this event in town!
If you haven’t heard of us, Decatur Makers is a startup nonprofit that’s working to create a space where both kids and adults can explore electronics, robotics, and programming as well as more traditional activities such as metalworking, woodworking, and arts and crafts. If anyone is interested in learning more about the Makerspace that’s coming to your own backyard, feel free to follow up by email to [email protected] .
“STEAM” education, aka “basically everything but the humanities, okay? History is for suckers!”
Really? Here’s this notice about a terrific event moving to our city and the first post is a complaint about a lack of humanities at what is essentially a science festival? Do you complain that there’s no beer at the whine festival, too? Do people now scour these posts with the sole intention of finding something to complain about?
Good grief.
It’s not only a science and technology festival–not everything “makers” make uses high tech or requires a power source.
That is very true. Makers Faires and the maker movement are so wonderfully “small d” democratic that it is nearly impossible to explain them in one or two sentences.
“Do people now scour these posts with the sole intention of finding something to complain about?”
YES. Duh.
Specifically the term “STEAM” in an educational context, is an empty buzzword. First it was “math and science” then it was “STEM” and now it’s “STEAM” because the arts got mad.
I’m just waiting for it to become “SHRIMP” or something.
Good for the Maker Faire. I’ll likely go. I just find the term and concept of “STEAM” to be either so broad as to be meaningless or to be “yeah well, screw the humanities”, neither of which are particularly great.
Just make it SHTEAM and it covers everything.
If you really want to play buzzword bingo, you may be happy (or sad) to know that “STREAM” is a thing. STEM + “Arts” = STEAM (actually the A typically includes both Arts and Design and is sometimes even interpreted as Architecture depending on the source of grant funds). But I have also seem the emergence of STREAM = STEAM + Reading and wRiting (ironic capitalization included). So now do we have everyone covered yet?
And, at the risk of being on topic, Maker Faire Atlanta being a Featured Fair is actually a big deal. How many other times can we say Atlanta is ahead of Austin, Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles*? And in something that actually attracts creative inventive people no less? It’ll be a great event to have here in Decatur.
* Was going to include DC but the whitehouse recently announced they’re having a Maker Faire on June 18…
Re White House announcing that they’re doing one: copycats!
“Do people now scour these posts with the sole intention of finding something to complain about?”
You’re not from around here, are you?
Pshaw, we’ve got the GA Ren Faire by the airport. Ah, the Ren Faire.
I am very much a humanities person, but I don’t think this excludes humanities. Many of the arts require one to know about handling solid or liquid materials. I take a fabric dyeing class every summer, and I must know some chemistry for that. I use chemical surfactants, dyes, bleaches, fixatives, indigo, resists, etc. etc.
I think Wacky might have been trying to make a clever quip. Piling on and criticizing the critic isn’t productive. I love seeing things made. What would y’all like to see?
I’m excited. The Mini Maker Faire last year at GA Tech belied it’s “mini” moniker and was a blast.
Has there been a Porlandia bit about one of these yet?
If one were to have attended the maker faire last year, one would have seen many examples of humanities-related creative endeavors in action. My daughter spent an hour+ learning to paint silk scarves at a booth hosted by the Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance. And there is is a lot of culture and history behind these techniques. Don’t knock it until you try it. I thought humanities people were about open minds and the power of inquisition?
Or do arts and crafts (the “A” in STEAM) not count as humanities?
History by itself is useless if it has no impact on future actions. Makers are all about “doing stuff.” And history can seriously inform that.
Maybe Wacky knew that. My point is that this is not a nerd fest. It is a creativity fest, with a strong dose of technical skill in many diverse areas tossed in.
I think this sounds like the coolest thing ever….