Operating Hours: Tues: 5pm-9pm / Wed: CLOSED / Thurs-Sat: 10am-9pm / Sun: 10am-6pm / Mon: CLOSED
MakerspaceCT
Community Workshop & Skills Development Center in Hartford, Connecticut
MakerspaceCT is a program of McEIVR, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Our mission is to positively impact lives by enabling access, innovation, and education. Our vision uses making as a vehicle to lift up individuals and communities.
MakerspaceCT is a skills development center for makers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs, members and students. Since 2019, we have offered our community unparalleled support and resources to learn and create. The 28,000 square foot workshop in the iconic G. Fox Building in downtown Hartford is a place for residents, students, hobbyists, aspiring innovators, manufacturers, and entrepreneurs to access the tools, technology, resources and educational opportunities they need to succeed in the state’s manufacturing and technology workforce.
The ten individual workshops we provide are equipped with cutting-edge hardware and software, offering virtual reality equipment and programming to support education-to-career pathways. Our professional and instructional staff are versed in digital fabrication and design processes, making us uniquely suited to provide innovative, outcomes-based programs. We have meaningful collaborations with schools and universities in the STEM disciplines and connect program graduates with local manufacturers.
We administer the following key programs:
- Engineering Primer Program (established in 2022) – our premier 10-week job training program that covers multiple areas of engineering and manufacturing;
- MAKE’n’ABLE (established in 2022)- an 8-week program for high school students on the principles of computer aided design and 3D printing. The students produce 3D printed prosthetic limbs and mechanical hands that are donated to amputees in need;
- Summer STEM (established in 2021)- a multi-week technology and arts based summer day camp program. Each week has a unique “hands on” curriculum that includes a take home product;
- OSHA10 safety training (established Winter 2023);
- Membership based shared workshop (established in April 2019); and
- MakerBattle (established in 2021)- an annual robot combat competition for all ages.
MakerspaceCT is committed to providing accessible programming that reflects the community and times in which we operate. As the effects of the coronavirus pandemic continue to devastate America’s health, economy, and workforce, a comprehensive recovery will be slower for marginalized students who are less likely to receive the tailored education and training required to secure and sustain successful careers in the technology and manufacturing sectors. The remedy lies in our work on-the-ground to address the systemic gaps through a content rich, curriculum-based instruction that fosters academic mastery across a range of technology and manufacturing subjects, with cross-cutting skills, critical thinking, and collaboration.