Department of Making + Doing: hands-on workshop launches

Roll your sleeves up at the Department of Making + Doing. You’re going to want to get your hands dirty.

The hands-on workshop, which brings together three youth-oriented organizations (The Hacktory, Breadboard and Public Workshop) and makerspace NextFab Studio, launched last Saturday with a party that offered a taste of what to expect of the new space. At NextFab Studio‘s 4,500-square-foot former headquarters on the first-floor of the 3711 Market Street University City Science Center building, attendees of all ages helped build benches, “squishy circuits” (circuits built with play-doh) and disc sculptures. The new space is part of the rise of “maker movement” in Philly.

Check out our photos below and see more here.

The recent winners of a $100,000 Knight Arts Challenge grant, The Department of Making + Doing will be the new headquarters of The Hacktory, formerly at 15th and Brandywine in Callowhill and Public Workshop. Each organization will offer its own programming, but combined programming is in the works, said Georgia Guthrie, director of The Hacktory. The Department of Making + Doing will also offer after-school programs, supported by a Cognizant grant, in the fall.

The hope, Guthrie said, is that by bringing all three organizations in one place, The Department of Making + Doing becomes “more than the sum of its parts.”

Members of Public Workshop’s Building Hero Project with benches they built at the Department of Making + Doing.

“Disc-building,” one of the activities at the Department of Making + Doing launch party.

Building “squishy circuits” (circuits made with play doh) at the Department of Making + Doing launch party.