Although it can be easily overlooked, the Makers Studio at Mount Royal University allows the community to interact in unique ways 一 like Mad Max Ride YYC. For this event, the studio produced everything from costumes to attachable features on bikes.
The Makers Studio can be found at Mount Royal University’s Riddell Library and is open to the public. Kerry Harmer, a maker studio specialist, also notes that it is the only free facility of its kind.
Offering many different resources to anyone from the community gives this maker space a unique opportunity for people to use new technology. The Makers Studio is also known as a tidy space, making products that don’t produce a lot of waste.
“We’re a clean maker space, so we don’t make a lot of dirt. We’re not using things that have oils, or we’re not using saws that creates a lot of sawdust,” says Harmer.
The materials used at the Makers Studio are mainly things like plastic, glass, fabric and wood, says Harmer. People are also able to bring their own material for their projects. For example, at the Mad Max event, participants brought tubing to make things like flagpoles.
“We didn’t provide any materials for the [Mad Max] workshop, all the materials were provided, either by the organizers of the Mad Max ride, or by the people who were coming to create the objects,” says Harmer. ”A lot of people were making their costumes using the sewing machine.”
Mad Max Ride YYC is a community group that rode to the Beakerhead spectacle on Sept. 21, 2019. This ride was the second event they did this year to promote active transport as a way of being more environmentally conscious.
The participants of Mad Max Ride YYC pose for a group shot on Sept. 21, 2019. The ride to the Beakerhead spectacle was a way of promoting a more environmentally friendly form of transportation. Photo by Christian Kindrachuk
“We wanted to create a festival that was living the action as opposed to protesting against things, so that we’re actually demonstrating how we could live in the future by using active transport,” says Solita Work, who helps to organize rides with the group.
Harmer say the Makers Studio helps bring the community together through these types of events which further broadens Calgary’s sense of community.
“I think it’s just part of what the [Makers Studio] does and we see that everyday within our own community,” says Harmer. “They’re building a community around a curiosity around technology and creativity. And that’s what we’re seeing here.”
If you want to participate in the next Mad Max event, check out their Facebook page.
How MRU’s Makers Studio is being utilized within Calgary’s community from MRU Journalism on Vimeo.
Editor: Cassandra Woods | cwoods@cjournal.ca