Medford Happenings Episode 62 MedForge

AI-generated transcript — the recording is the record.

[John Petrella]: Hello everyone and welcome to Method Happenings, a show for and about the City of Method and I am John Petrella and the purpose of this program is to give Method citizens facts and information to help you make informed choices and to discover city services or businesses you may not have been aware of. Our guest today is Trey Winter, executive director, Medforge Community Makerspace. Welcome, Trey.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: We're honored that you came to visit us today. Thank you, John. I'm really having fun so far. I really appreciate being here. We appreciate you being here.

[John Petrella]: So right away, right off the bat, tell us, who's Trey Winter? Tell us a little bit about yourself.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Trey Winter is a good old Southern boy from Medford, Tennessee. Yeah, was raised in barbecue and blues and moved across the country a little bit, lived in Bozeman, Montana for a bit. I came to this area for a job. I was actually hired at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, which is on the Harvard campus. Worked there for a while, and I had huge dogs, and I will be honest with you, I moved to Medford because it's a place where I could actually afford to live and have, you know, big dogs and stuff like that. And for a long time, I just saw this place as a place I lived. But in the last few years, it's really become my home. I've really enjoyed the community that we've built up here. And I've made some of the best friends of my life in Medford. And I just consider this place home now.

[John Petrella]: That's good to hear. That really is. You know, I've got to ask you a question now, because I'm a fan of barbecue.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Oh yeah.

[John Petrella]: So let me ask you a question, and I want you to be honest.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Oh, I'll be brutally honest with you.

[John Petrella]: That's what I want.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: All right.

[John Petrella]: I barbecue around here, you know, this area, Boston, Medford, wherever, compared to where you came from.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Oh, it's adorable. You're adorable. I mean, I've had some that's not bad. Most of it I've made myself. But no, there are different styles and there's different things that you like. And what I will say is that back where I'm from, it's just so everywhere that you can get a barbecue sandwich, you can get super full, have a great meal. for very little money, whereas here, it's more like, oh, let me give you this bespoke barbecue rib with some micro greens. And so it's a little bit of a different vibe, but you appreciate different places for different things. The seafood in Medford, not great, not great. But up here, it's awesome. So like every place has got strengths and weaknesses. And if you want a good barbecue, I'll invite you over sometime.

[John Petrella]: Sounds good. I might take you up on that. Um, all right, so let's get into what you're here for. Right. Um, what inspired you, uh, to start a local maker space?

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Right. So that's a great question. I, um, used to make more things with my hands. And like I said, I worked at the observatory here and I was on the computer all the time and never, and I stopped actually doing stuff and making things myself. I just was always online, always doing computer stuff. And for my 40th birthday, which was a little while ago, I saw that there was a class at a place called Artisan's Asylum. Intro to Welding. Teach yourself how to weld. I was like, you know what? I'm going to do that for my birthday. That's going to be my birthday present to myself. Just get my hands dirty, do something. And I had the best time. And I really enjoyed being really bad at something and then seeing the improvement and seeing myself getting better and better. That's one of my core philosophies in life. The first step of being good at anything is being bad at that thing and then not giving up, right? And that's the way it was with me in welding. So I joined Artisans Asylum. I had a good community there. I liked it a lot. And then COVID happened and they moved away. They're now in Austin and their prices went up. And during COVID, I built myself a little workshop in my backyard that meets all codes. Just saying. It's okay. You can edit that out. But I built a workshop, but it wasn't as enjoyable for me doing stuff on my own. So I had all this big collection of tools. A lot of those tools I would use maybe once or twice a year and then they would sit there and gather dust. Tried to go back to artisans, but since it wasn't local, It just didn't have that community feel to me anymore. And so I just started thinking about it and actually at Medford Brewing Company, which is kind of like our neighborhood living room. I started to talk to several other artists and makers and stuff and they all needed a place to do stuff. They were all working out of like on their kitchen tables and things like that. They were all crowded, they all needed more equipment, and they didn't have a home. And I found out that this wasn't just the need I had, this was a community need. And so that started me on a year of research. I went to makerspaces in different parts of the country, went to several here, went to some in New Hampshire, went to one in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to try to see how makerspaces actually work. see what makes them work, see what makes them fail, and to see if it was viable to make one here. And so after taking a Makerspace operations bootcamp at that Makerspace in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I decided that I was going to give this a go. I thought that we had enough people that were interested. And that was October of last year, where it was me and 12 people I knew kind of interested in it. Now, a year later, we have a mailing list of 286 people in Medford. We are getting sponsorships from great places like Needham Bank, Tufts and Cummings Properties to support us. And we also have just this groundswell of community support we were at the harvest your energy festival and the Halloween craft and funfair this last weekend. Yeah, and Neither one of those was work because we were just talking with our local community. Yeah, we enjoyed it, but they enjoyed Talking with us, too

[John Petrella]: I want to stop you for a second. Can you just give us the name of your makerspace? Because I want to get that in.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Yeah. So the name of the place is Medforge Community Makerspace. And that name is very intentional. Medforge is, of course, a play on Medford. But I always think that when I think of a forge, I think of a place where you work. It's hard work and you sweat, and anything worth doing takes a lot of hard work and sweats, right? So that's what Medforge is about. It's about doing the good work and about doing whatever work you want to. And then the community part, community is really at the center of what we do. A makerspace provides tools that you can use. You don't have to buy them all yourself. You can use these expensive tools that you couldn't afford that can fit in your home.

[John Petrella]: supply the tools. I just want to make sure people are aware. So if I come to do something with you, I don't have to buy the tools.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: No, we would ask you to bring the materials you might want, but we would provide the tools. Now let me be clear, we are still in the phase where we're looking for an operational space. We are pre-launched. We're doing a lot of different programming, which we'll talk about later. But one of the things that I really think is special, at least to me about Makerspaces, is that those tools, those materials, the classes to learn about this stuff. That's like all the set dressing. The main story is when you have this place where people can be creative, can kind of let loose, can work together, the community that builds up around that is just amazing. And we've already found that even though we don't have a space. We've got a team of about 20 people working hard on a bunch of projects and they're having the time of their lives, even though they're working really hard.

[John Petrella]: So just think about what it's going to be like when you do get a space.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: When we actually have an operational space.

[John Petrella]: Yeah. That's pretty incredible. That's a great story. Thank you. It really is. It's a great story. All right. So you don't have a space. You've been working with the city for a home to make a space.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: um what can you tell us um about how that's going and uh i mean you got to be facing some challenges trying to get a space in medford what is getting real estate in medford challenging uh yeah sort of a little bit especially if we really to make it economically viable so we are a non-profit we're not looking to extract any money from medford with everything that comes in straight into the community uh but We do need a 10,000 square foot space really to keep the operations going. And that is challenging in this environment, especially with all the rezoning stuff that's going on. A lot of people are just holding on to these warehouses that would be perfect for us, waiting for a condo developer to buy them out. So bad, isn't it? There are so many empty spaces that'd be perfect.

[John Petrella]: I know.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: I'm not going to mention any of them because that would get me in trouble with some people, but you can just drive around Mystic Ave and parts of any part of Medford and you'll see an empty space. So we are working with the city and especially the Department of Development Planning and Sustainability. They've been a really good partner to us. And we worked with them and some other partners, including Ware Street Workplaces, which is working on renovating a building on Riverside Avenue, 400 Riverside. And they've also been a great partner. So we worked together to write a $1.3 million grant to mass development to renovate a vacant warehouse space that Ware Street has control over and turn that from an empty warehouse that's not doing anything right now into a functional community center. So we hear about that sometime this month, which is great. Hopefully you get some good news. I'm really hoping so. But even if we don't, we're working with a lot of other partners in programming and other ways.

[John Petrella]: I live right down the street from Riverside. Oh, you see, they're already doing a lot of work over there.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: They are. So they're renovating. The Ware Street model is kind of like a WeWork, but for industrial spaces. So you rent lots of businesses around space, but they've got this huge warehouse space as well. And that warehouse space, we don't need offices so much. We just need big empty space that we can innovate. Yeah, that would be awesome, to be honest. And we're makers, so we can do a lot of the renovations ourselves, right?

[John Petrella]: Yeah, that would be pretty awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, so, you know, I always think, you know, why is creating a maker space, you know, and I know you've already partly answered this, but why is it important for a community to have a maker space? You hear about them all the time.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: uh what what is it what is so there's more than one answer to that question just like there's more than one type of makerspace medford's got the medford the makerspace in the medford library you know we partner with them and that's a great space but you can't do welding there you can't do woodworking there because it's a library so uh we want to build a place where you can do those sorts of things You can learn how to weld without having to buy all the equipment first. And I will say that the economy needs more welders right now. Absolutely. Right. We need more people in the trades. And whereas Medford High School and the voc tech do a great job of teaching the youngsters, there might be some people who want to re-skill or up-skill. Right. And don't necessarily know if it's for them, don't want to pay for the community college. So we give them low cost access to tools just to try things out and see if it kind of fits or works for them. During the COVID pandemic, makerspaces actually stepped up and started making PPE. Makerspaces in the U.S. alone made four million pieces of protective equipment. Yes. So, you know, when the supply chains broke, being able to make stuff locally really mattered, right? And so I think that's a strength of makerspaces. But just for Medford, and you know, I was talking about the community, that's our focus. But if you want to talk about economics, Medford did this strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis where they showed that Medford residents are spending $80 million outside of the city of Medford on arts and entertainment leisure, right? Outside of the city, right? Oh, Cambridge. Yeah, it's super hot. Yeah. So what a makerspace can do is actually provide opportunities for people to do things here in a low cost way. Again, we're not looking to make a profit off of it. We're just looking to keep the doors open. So we have a pottery class. Maybe you want to try out pottery once. Yeah. It's, you know, you don't have to invest your life savings to get all this stuff yourself or, you know, pay a lot of money for something that you might not enjoy. You can just try it out. Yeah.

[John Petrella]: Now, let me ask you a question.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Yeah.

[John Petrella]: As far as age, senior citizens, it's for anybody.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: It's for anybody. Now, we are going to start off being 18 plus. Okay, and the reason for that is mainly just insurance all I can imagine. Yeah, it's just easier that way Yeah, the library's got love great programming for youth and for right it's and stuff like that So we're focusing on more like 18 plus but for everybody in fact, that's one of the things I love about maker spaces is because there's this transmission of knowledge Between the generations and it goes you know from older to young but from younger to old as well I've seen that so many times and it's natural, and it's friendly, and it's great.

[John Petrella]: And it's nice to see that. Yeah. We don't see that enough. I see it here and there, but... Yeah. I mean, well, whatever. I'm not going to get into years ago, but really, that's a big thing.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: It's a huge thing. Yeah, it is. I think it's something that we're lacking. So many things are trying to separate us. Yes. And if you just have a place where you can make whatever you want, and somebody goes, oh, hey, I see you're doing this. I did it this way once, you might want to try that. Or, you know, the conversations that just come up are one of the best experiences I've had.

[John Petrella]: Yeah, it's a great back and forth. Yeah. I get that from this show, by the way. Really? We get a good back and forth. Oh, from a youngster like me? Yeah, a young guy like you, an old guy like me, this is great. I mean, I love having this conversation. I do too. Yeah, no, I really enjoy it. All right, so you have been collaborating with the ACM, the Arts Collaborative. Right. Any other joint ventures you I know you mentioned the library, right?

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: So when we open the maker space We have a tentative agreement with the library that we're gonna have instead of museum passes that the library has we're gonna have maker passes So that's a library patrons can check out for free a day pass at the maker space. Okay We also always do their maker fair every every August when they hold it. So you are involved with that? We're always invited in. The library funds it, but we're always happy to support our local library. Arts Collaborative Medford has been a great partner to us. Their executive director, Regina Parkinson, has really taught me a lot about running a non-profit. I ran a business here in Medford for six years, but running a non-profit is very much a different set of skills. And I know that I don't have all those skills, so having somebody that's done it for years and having somebody who is such a thoughtful teacher to me has been great. And we are, until we have a space, we're holding a lot of our programming out of Arts Collaborative Medford. Okay, so you are doing a lot out of there now. Oh yeah. So we just wrapped up our first set of classes, which was sponsored in part by the Medford City Community Fund grant.

[John Petrella]: Oh, all right.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: So we got a grant from the city that allowed us to buy all the tools that we needed to run a series of classes that we're calling Intro to Household Tools. hang that shelf. So, there's a series of classes, right, and they all start with intro to household tools, blank. Do that thing that you- Right, you want to do, but you're either afraid to do, or yeah. And so, the first one is hang a shelf. And, you know, the goal isn't necessarily to hang a shelf, although that's something that people learn how to do, but it's to learn how to use power tools, learn the difference between a drill and an impact driver. What's the right tool for the job? How does a wall actually work? What's behind the drywall? Yep. All that kind of stuff. And I will tell you, yeah, YouTube is great, but you can't watch a YouTube video and get that same hands-on feeling that you get when you actually put a drill into a wall, right? And there are walls that we've made for the class, so if you mess them up, eh, we'll fix them.

[John Petrella]: I won't get into how many people I know that do something. And I'll just say that they're not using the correct tool. Yep. And you have to correct them and then they're like, wow.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Yeah. You know, there may have been more than one time that I've used a flathead screwdriver as a pry bar or a chisel. Uh, so I'm guilty as well.

[John Petrella]: We all, we're all guilty of it. That's what I mean. We all do it, but, uh, it's, it's, it's pretty, uh, incredible.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Yeah, how many people get hung up with hanging a shelf or right and how many people just don't I mean what we try to do is provide a very safe and welcoming environment Where no questions are dumb, right if you don't know the difference, right? Yeah, and that's why it's intro We really wanted to bring people in and to say it's alright not to know we've got a great carpenter named Harry Germano who's on our team and And he developed a class with an educator, and it's all just based on, these are the basics, this is what you need to know, this is how you build a basic tool set. And the response to that has been great, and everybody's waiting for our next class in the series, which is Intro to Household Tools, Patch That Drywall. Okay, so if you if you mess up on the shelf, that's another good one patching the yeah Oh, especially in these Medford houses where you may have drywall. You might have horsehair flat readable What's better you might have horsehair plaster on and then drywall on top of it, which is what I've got on my house Oh, really? It just went right over? It just went right over.

[John Petrella]: Slap over it, forget it. None of the outlets actually sit flush on the wall. Yeah, no one's ever gonna sit. Don't worry about it. It's so true. Slap over it. That happens a lot. Method used to have a lot of do-it-yourselfers, too, by the way.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Right. Well, and we want to encourage do-it-yourselfers, but we want to give some training. Give a place where you can try it out before you do it on your own.

[John Petrella]: Do it yourself, but try and get it done the right way.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Yeah, try to get them. And yeah, there's some things that you need a professional for. Yeah. And there are some things that you can do yourself. And so, you know, that's why we're starting with these basics, right? Hanging a shelf, patching the drywall, fixing trim is also going to be in the series.

[John Petrella]: I know a lot of people that are going to take you up on this because that's great stuff. It really is. And I know a lot of people, simple stuff, they're afraid to do it. Yeah. They really are they're like literally right.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: No, it's about demystifying the process, right? Once you do it once once you get your hands dirty with it once right all of a sudden it's not scary anymore You're not worried about yeah, right And like I said, the first step at being good at something is being bad at it. So be bad with us

[John Petrella]: Unfortunately, a little stubbornness comes in with that, you know, just a little. I know what I'm doing.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Yeah. Yeah. We all know what we're doing. Yeah. And then, you know, and then fix the mistakes later. Right. And 10 years later, this mistake's still sitting there.

[John Petrella]: Yeah.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Yeah.

[John Petrella]: All right, um, I I want to mention Before we get into the next question The event you I know you have something going on. I want to make sure we get it in october 31st I think it's going to be I think it's going to be huge. But yeah, why don't you talk about that a little bit?

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: So we are having our first halloween ball and fundraiser. Okay at arts collaborative medford on halloween night Uh, it's going to be from 7 p.m. Till midnight and the name of it is welcome to deadford uh, so Thank you like that. I really appreciate that. Yeah, I saw on the map. Yeah, so the idea behind the party is that Our makers are turning arts collaborative Medford into the haunted Deadford Manor for one night and one night only and We are redecorating everything to be like a gothic mansion where, you know, a Vincent Price movie might take place in. And you'd see in front of me, I've got a couple of items that our makers have been busy making to convert Arts Collaborative Medford into this gothic mansion. We have a little gargoyle here, which is made out of a special type. So all of these items here are 3D printed. Right. That's incredible. Yeah. I want to say that we do a lot more than 3D printing, but these were just what was easy to bring into the space. This is made with a special material to make it look like stone. So it actually is ready to go as it is. These other pieces, we're going to work on them a little bit more. We're going to paint them and make them look like this one's going to look, when we're finished with it, you're going to think that this is made out of wrought iron. It's amazing what you can do with these. And then this fun guy here uh who uh has a few problems um uh yeah everybody talks about a third eye but once you have one life gets it's difficult to get glasses but um yeah uh but anyway uh this will look just like bone when we're done with yeah so the idea is to show what we can make and what you could make too nothing is bought it's all made by our makers yeah so

[John Petrella]: Yeah. So someone can come in and make something like that.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: And make something like this.

[John Petrella]: I'll tell you, my daughter loves this stuff. She's going to be there when I talk to her.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Nice. I'm telling you, she will. I am happy to agree. Let me know. But this kind of shows we can make custom things, right? Yes. Not everything has to be bought. You can actually make something that fits your needs and exactly what you want. Yeah. And we want to be the place that helps you to do that.

[John Petrella]: You get to make it like you want it to look like what you want it to be. That's nice, instead of buying store-bought and everyone buys the same.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Yeah, same things from Ikea. And I don't know about you, John, but no corners in my house are at 90 degrees and no floor is plumb. So all of my shelves have to be custom made in order to fit in the corners.

[John Petrella]: That goes to a lot of places, it really does. A lot of houses and yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. All right, so I'm going to ask you one more time. Yep. Just so the audience knows the date, the place, the time. One more time.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Welcome to Deadford. It's going to be October 31st, Halloween night. It's going to be from 7 p.m. till midnight. There's going to be DJ Cruz is doing tunes. Medford Brewing Company is going to be providing drinks. And we have food from Simple Fare. And we're also offering a $10 credit from Lyft so that everybody has a safe ride home. That's really nice. We want everybody to have a good time. That's great. But actually, one of our sponsors, Needham Bank, is helping sponsor the Safe Ride Home program. So nobody has to worry about getting a ride home, $10 credit, just have a good time and go. It's gonna be at Arts Collaborative Medford. That's at 162 Mystic Avenue. It's right next door to the Atlas Liquor. And I don't know where it's at.

[John Petrella]: Yeah, 162 Mystic Avenue.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: So come on by, we're gonna have a great time. Like I said, this isn't gonna be gory, but it's gonna be that kind of spooky Vincent Price vibe, but with good music, good food, and really great people.

[John Petrella]: Good drink, good music, and good people, and that's all that matters.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Maybe not good dancing. I'm not promising good dancing, but you know, there will be dancing. Well, they'll try. I'll try.

[John Petrella]: I'll try. All right. So that's a great take in people to get involved with to show up. Yeah. Nice. And have a good night.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Yeah. Have a good night and see what can be made. Like these are the 3D prints, but we've got a person who does a lot of sewing. I'm doing a lot of woodworking type stuff. Okay. Upcycling a lot of things that we got free at like flea markets and garage sales.

[John Petrella]: So that's even better. Yeah.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: You're really into everything, I mean. So that's the thing about Makerspace. It's a place where you can work on what you want to, and that can be whatever your imagination guides you to do.

[John Petrella]: And that's a good thing. And we need more imagination out there.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: I think so.

[John Petrella]: We do, definitely. All right, so you gave us an idea of some of the programs and what's going on. What else is Metforge holding while you're searching for a home? Until you get a home, are you planning other things people can look forward to, or you got things going in the works?

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: I know it's early, but. Yeah, no, we definitely do. Like I said, it's probably starting early in the next year is when we're gonna start to patch that drywall courses. Also too, on Saturday, November 14th, We will be at the Arts Collaborative Medford Open Studios. That is from 10 to 2, I believe. And we'll be showing off not only some of the things that we make, but we'll be doing a demonstration and making things live as people watch it. So I encourage everybody to come to Medford Open Studios, support Arts Collaborative Medford. It's a great city resource. And support your local artists and come see what we're making at Medford.

[John Petrella]: And I wish, you know, I know the cameras aren't going to do justice to these, but they're, they're really incredible.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: I mean, the skeleton, I love the skeleton. Oh, just wait till you see it under the lighting and stuff. We've got a lot in store for everybody.

[John Petrella]: Can you, I'm going to ask you to do something just so they can get a better shot at it. Can you hold up the skeleton? Oh yeah. I mean, see if they can get a better shot at it. Yeah, he is incredible. I mean there's so much detail in there that you can't really you can't catch it on the screen But it's actually got all of these like it's unbelievable.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Yeah. Yeah, right and The detail now I will say that you know an artist made this and we and uploaded it for free onto a website so we took this from another artist and then some of our people kind of modified it and changed it and But that's one of the things that I really love about the community is that there's a lot of things that are open source, which is, I made this thing. I would like to share it with you so that you can make it as well.

[John Petrella]: Yeah. And I, that's something you don't see in a lot of, it's just like, you can tell that's a one and done, like, you know, yeah, it's really nice.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Well, hopefully you don't see this very often.

[John Petrella]: I mean, I've never seen it. That's why I, you know, I'm looking at it, you know, I'm like, this is incredible. It looks great. Right. I'll just wait until it's under candlelight. That's what I mean. Yeah, it's incredible. And what about this? Can you hold that up? Oh, yeah. So another one with a ton of detail that people can't see.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: I mean, this actually, the detail and the feathers alone is incredible. So 3D printing is one of those technologies that has really come such a long way. And it is incredible what you can make with it now. And you can make anything from these fun toys to, I actually use it for my woodworking to make different jigs and different things. So you can make tools with it. There are some now that you can even do, make some metal pieces as well. And a lot of dentist services are now using it to make like teeth.

[John Petrella]: Yeah, 3d printing.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Yeah, so it's a neat technology and it's a technology that is not as hard as people think to learn It's just like the same thing with the drills. It's demystifying right just trying something out and then realizing. Oh, that's not as bad as I thought

[John Petrella]: Cause I, I just look at this and I'm, I'm saying to myself now, this is just me, you know, I can never make that, but you're telling me I can't.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: I'm telling you, you can make that a lot easier than, but the thing is, do you want to buy a 3d printer? Do you want to figure out how to do all this? But so I can come see you. You can come see us. We'll show you how to use it. We'll maintain the equipment, which is usually a big expense. And you know, that way your place doesn't become like mine and just filled with a bunch of tools.

[John Petrella]: Yeah. So I'm gonna ask you this now. I mean, I'm assuming there's a fee or there's gotta be something to join.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Right, so we're still working out what that's going to be, but it very much depends on how much the space costs, right? The whole idea for Medforge is to increase access. We're not trying to make money. None of this money goes outside of Medford, but we do need to keep the doors open. We need to pay for electricity insurance, but the square foot cost of a warehouse space here in Medford is very high, and honestly, you know, other locations we might have been able to open up already, but I am very focused on keeping this local, keeping this for Medford, because that's how you meet your neighbors, right? Yeah, exactly. It is important. So we're working around that. We will have different membership types so that whatever you can afford, there'll be a type for you. And we'll have volunteer opportunities where if you put in a certain number of hours per effects off time, so that way we get people helping us with the space and then they get access to the space. So again, that's the whole idea of removing barriers and give, this is their space. It's not owned by me. It's not owned by a board. I love this. It's owned by the community, right? And so if you put effort into the space, the space will give you back. And if you don't want to put any effort to the space, you can just pass some money and we'll let you in.

[John Petrella]: And we'll let you in. I like that. That's a good way to do it. Yeah. But no, you obviously did a lot of research on this and you're very knowledgeable on it, that's for sure.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Oh, how long is this show? I know. I mean, I could tell you. I hear you. Maybe we do a part two.

[John Petrella]: We will. Maybe we will. Once you're up and running and everything, we'll come on and promote it. Yeah. Yeah. That sounds great. I've enjoyed this show. All right. So this is the last question. Okay. Because we got to get to a last question sooner or later. Yeah. You know, the importance of a makerspace. Who do you feel will be your primary audience? And will the Medforge program, are you going to offer mentoring skills? And you know, program's going to grow by building, I guess, future makerspace leaders?

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Is that, so that is part of our plan. Again, I believe in local makerspaces and one of the members of our group is actually from Malden. Okay. And she wants to start a makerspace in Malden, but she's just starting on that journey. And so she's working with us to see how we build a makerspace here. So I would love to be the incubator for other makerspaces. I have some good friends who work out of the makerspace and Lynn, the Brickyard Collaborative.

[John Petrella]: Okay, now see, I've heard of that.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Yeah, yeah. I still work in Lynn, but yeah, I've heard of that. It's a great space, and Bo, who is their executive director, taught me how to screen print earlier this year, and they were great, and we hope to have partnerships with them, so that just like, you know, if you are at the library, you can do a day pass with us. Right that if you're a member with us, but we don't have the exact tool that you need you can go to right So most of this stuff is local But if you need that one thing that one time you can go across Right and as far as the mentoring ship and like who our audience is, I think our audience is basically everybody who just wants to Do something different wants to try something, right? and there are yeah i'd say our community has just grown so quickly and it's because i think we're all tired of scrolling we're all tired of being in front of the screen yes and when you make something with your hands and say oh i made this now this might not what this might not be something you want to give to your family for the holidays well maybe i would though you know Depends on the family number. Yeah, but you know if you make your own holiday gifts if you make your own cards it look there's just a special meaning to that over buying and Once you get that feeling You start to crave it and want it more. So I think that's our audience. Once you try it, I think that you will just enjoy the experience so much that you'll want to figure out what the next thing is. And as far as mentoring goes, I used to teach a bunch of programs, and I always believed in teaching people something and then The people I taught something they don't know it until they teach somebody else, right? yeah, and so this whole idea of bringing in instructors and You know teaching them how we do things and then having them teach another group and then those other groups can teach other people I actually think that's how you build a really strong and stable community

[John Petrella]: I just think it's a great thing. And I, you know, I still know a lot of do-it-yourselfers that really, they're do-it-yourselfers, but they're not too good at doing it. So this would be like perfect for them to come and learn. I mean, really, this is great.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: We take people at all skill levels from professional. Uh, we've, like I said, we've got a professional carpenter working with us and that mingling of professional and I don't even know how to use a power drill. that kind of back and forth, again, that's what really builds a strong and sustainable community.

[John Petrella]: I always like, I was always a hands-on learner. Yeah. So when, when someone would read something to me or ask me to redirect, whatever, directions, you know. Yeah. Hands-on, I always liked the hands-on part.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: Right. There's so many different ways to learn and everybody learns differently. So one of the things I do when I teach is I present the same information in several formats. Right. Great. If you'd like to hear it, you can listen to it. If you'd like to read it, it's not. And then at the end, everybody does it. Right. And because there's just something that crystallizes. Right. Once you use your hands, once we actually make it, I think that's the best. Yeah.

[John Petrella]: Um, you know, it's, it's that time again, unfortunately, I want to thank Trey Winter, Executive Director, Medforge Community Makerspace for joining us and we wish Medforge continued success in everything you guys do. I also want to take a minute, I want to thank everyone who has been watching the show. I want to thank you for your feedback. If you would like to appear on the show, you can contact us at MethodHappenings02155 at gmail.com. You will also be able to watch replays of this program on Method Community Media Access Channel. You can check out our website, you need to check out our website, MethodHappenings.com, and you can now either view or listen to the podcasts of this program. You can also find all of our shows on YouTube. Just go to YouTube.com, search for Method Happenings. You can like us, subscribe to our channels and videos. You can also find us on Facebook at Method Happenings. And we also now have our own subreddit, which you can find us at reddit.com slash Method Happenings. So for the Method Happenings team, Paul Marko, Bruce James, I'm John Petrella. Remember Method, stay informed, and thank you one more time, Trey. It was a great show. Thank you, John. Appreciate you coming on.

[jMy4r_5VbVA_SPEAKER_21]: I really appreciate this show.