Maker Works' September and October calendar has filled up fast with workshops for adults and kids. In October, Halloween-themed projects are sure to get you in the spirit of the holiday! Our Guest Instructors are experts in their fields and a lot of fun. You do not have to be a member in order to take any class or workshop at Maker Works!

Travis Good, writer for MAKE Magazine's blog, featured Maker Works last week! Travis has traveled the country visiting maker and hacker spaces, and has been to around 50 different ones. We were fortunate to be on his path when he and his daughter came to check out the University of Michigan. The article discusses the process and hard work Tom Root, Dale Grover and their families put in to open Maker Works. Thank you, Travis, for writing a really nice article!

Maker Works has a bunch of 1-day, 4-week and 8-week Skill Development Classes taught by amazing Guest Instructors this summer. These classes feature the Wood studio and the Craft studio. A few of them are great for kids ages 12 years and up! And you don't have to be a member to take the classes! Stay tuned for more project-based classes to be added as the summer goes along such as mosaic workshops and glass bead-making workshops.

Last Saturday was Maker Works' official Grand Opening party! Though we've been open for 9 months, we thought it was about time to host a party. And it was a total success, and a blast to have the studios packed full of members and future members. Tools were demoed, robots were operated, projects were displayed and so much more...

Maker Works is thrilled to announce the 3 artists selected for the summer Maker Works Residency! Currently, we have a handful of artists working in the studios as monthly and yearly members. The Maker Works Residency was intended to give 3 selected artists the time to experiment with new tools and technology they may not have access to in their own studios. And all for free!

Maker Works recently started hosting another maker group: The Michigan RepRap Users Group. During their meet-ups, they work on their rapid prototyping machines and share knowledge and projects. They meet the 3rd Saturday of every other month from 12pm-4pm: This Saturday March 17, then May

Tomorrow marks the BIG Day for FIRST Robotics students: Their first event of the season! Chris Butler, Lead Mentor for Pioneer High School, is a veteran of the FIRST program, having been involved since he was in sixth grade!

Skyline High School is newly constructed in Ann Arbor so they have only had a FIRST Robotics team for 3 years. Though judging how busy Saturdays have been at Maker Works, one would assume that the Skyline team has been around for much longer! Quentin Weir is their lead mentor and started participating in 2010.

Maker Works is about to hit 100 memberships! We need 2 new memberships to then log in our 100th member! Classes, projects and progress: As we like to say, Maker Works is a prototype, constantly being edited and tweaked based on small accomplishments and small errors. Tonight in the studios is a great example of the past 6 months' successes and why we are excited about logging in our 100th member!