It’s been a busy time for Castlemakers this last month; we received our first grant a few weeks ago for equipment. A group of us have been working very hard to create a physical location for Castlemakers, a makerspace, and watch for an announcement soon.
![Map of Artisan's Asylum in Somerville, MA](http://castlemakers.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/artisans-asylum-map-IMG_2525-300x225.jpg)
Several years ago I wrote something about ‘what is a makerspace’, which have become even more popular since then.
Their numbers and importance has grown since that first post, with the White House proclaiming this week in the US as a Nation of Makers and hosting a reoccurring Maker Faire this coming weekend (June 18th & 19th). If you visit different makerspaces, as some of us have, it’s a very entrepreneurial movement with many different makerspace models. You’ll find makerspaces as community co-ops, ones associated with libraries, ones that are affiliated with science and children’s museums, and even some at universities.
![One of the main halls in Artisan's Asylum. Besides all the workshops, space can be rented for people working on their projects.](http://castlemakers.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Artisans-asylum-hall-IMG_2537-300x225.jpg)
Perhaps one of the largest and most successful makerspaces is Artisan’s Asylum in Somerville, MA which I visited last year. Started in 2010, it’s grown from a 1,000 sq ft “hole in the wall” to a 40,000 sq ft facility with over 600 members! What impressed me the most in my visit: the projects being built & how they bridged different disciplines along with oozing creativity and innovation. The sheer size & scope of the current facility was also impressive, but the people involved & what the makerspace environment seemed to be the key why it works.
Locally we’ve been making great strides in creating our own makerspace here in Greencastle. Thanks to a June 2016 grant from the Putnam County Community Foundation we’ll be purchasing our first major piece of equipment, a CO2 laser cutter. Of course we’ll need a place to house it, and we’re very close to that.