Tech Valley Center of Gravity

[kevinphayes]

One model we'll be looking at closely is Troy's Tech Valley Center of Gravity:

http://www.techvalleycenterofgravity.com/

The Tech Valley Center of Gravity is a federation of makers, hackers, crafters, and artists who share camaraderie, space, and resources to do our tinkering. We have a permanent makerspace, several satellite locations, and a community of local individuals and organizations to share and support them. We are based in downtown Troy, NY, and sponsor events all over the New York State Capital Region.

 

Our primary goal is to build a community around the idea of doing for ourselves, rather than just passively consuming, and learning how the arts, crafts, and technologies that surround us every day work, along the way. We also aim to create a network of contacts for small business and start-ups in the Capital Region to connect with local leaders, like-minded businesses and individuals, and tools and resources they might not otherwise have access to.

 

We offer presentations that are free and open to the public, and for our members, we offer access to the makerspace and its tools, classes and workshops on a myriad of topics from electronics to chainmaille to welding, and the opportunity to network with folks with the same interests, needs and goals.

 

We met the leader of this effort, Laban Coblentz, at the mini-conference the Erie Canalway people put on a few months ago. We intend to do a conference call with him at some point fairly soon, picking his brain and seeing what they've done to get as far as they have.

Their wiki is a nice example of what they do and how they do it:

http://www.techvalleycenterofgravity.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page