First I would like to say thank you to everyone who is a member of SparkMacon. Since November 7th 2014 we have been open because of you and to serve you. We have held 5 First Friday Open Makes as of this coming Friday and have had over 300 people, both members and community attend these events. We have held over 20 different community and member events from Petal Bikes with College Hill to 3D Printing which have had over 200 people attend. We have had over 200 hours of open space time that member have used to think, build and collaborate. We have applied for 2 grants and received one of them. We have worked to educate the community as a whole as to what SparkMacon is bringing to the table. This work continues to be rewarding for all us involved in SparkMacon.
We have also worked to ask questions and listen to our member on all matters regarding the space. One of the loudest items we have hear is around the membership costs. While we wish we had funding that would allow us to not have to charge anyone for membership that just isn’t the case as we do have real costs associated with running the space (As of today that doesn’t include any paid staff as those that work on the space are all just members who choice to give their time to support the space) that our membership fees go to cover. But we have heard within the overall questions about membership that there are 3 large group of current and potential members that we are not serving as well as we could. These are our very young makers, our student makers and our family groups. We have heard that many college students would like to join but find the cost of a full membership a little out of their budget. Also members with children and spouses who want to be part of the space haven’t been able to engage them all because of the costs.
For that reason effective today ALL full time students 16 years of age and older will be $20 per month. If you identify yourself as a full time student of any level then you now meet this requirement. Student members under the age of 18 require a guardian release. Those 18 and over are eligible for nomination for keyed access just as full members.
All dependents under the age of 16 will be covered by their Full Member guardian when they attend with them ($40 per month) with no limit to number as long as their are direct dependents. Dependents are not covered under Student Membership.
Family Membership will move from $120 per month to $75 per month. This membership will cover 2 Full Members and their direct dependents.
Full details can be found at http://www.sparkmacon.com/membership .
I would like to thank all of our keyed members and those that volunteer so much to make this space happen by our members for our members. I especially want to thank Nadia, Brent, Andrew and Micheal who continue to serve on the board with me to support our members, our community and the space. These amazing individuals do so much and challenge me to do even more every day.
If you ever find yourself with questions or issues please let any of us know.
Rob
478-569-6475