Case Study: Maker Day

Quickly after my acceptance into the River City Company‘s Emerging Producers cohort, I had to pick one event concept from a pitch of four that I originally included in my application. After talks with the Chattanooga Public Library revealed that the 4th Floor Makerspace was having its 10 year celebration, my pop up makerspace pitch seemed like a great collaboration potential. Although my main contribution was the community art project dubbed “2034: Chattanooga in the Making”, there were some incredible strides to bring more support and visibility to the 4th Floor amenities + resources while advocating for makerspaces, everywhere.

Their pain points:
❎ 4th Floor Makerspace had low traffic at events, locals didn’t know much about 4th Floor amenities or resources and there was an overall lack in diversity
❎ Although the application process was free, 4th Floor events had no supply support available for artists due to limitations on public library spending
❎ Limited capacity of staffing, resulting in little time to devout to planning, promotion and last minute calls for artists leading up to the Maker Day event

What I uniquely contributed to Maker Day:
✅ Designed a media kit for the overall event and 2034 community art project
✅ Contributed ~$7,000 to increase pay equity to artists and cover supplies
✅ Recruited a diverse cohort of artists, increasing the overall presence of BIPOC artists, ranging from mural painting, busking, craft and fiber arts

💥 How I overdelivered on my brand promise: secured additional public radio spots for promo; paid for a 1 year license to have a food truck zone steps outside of the Downtown Library (which we launched at Maker Day!); recruit more volunteerism from River City Company EPP peers; and secured marquee letters from Get Lit Chattanooga

Makerspaces like the 4th Floor are unsung heroes in our community, especially being housed at a local public library. That means that you can access craft, sewing, launch merch, design t-shirts, produce a podcast, get into laser cutting, checkout camping gear, collage, make signage, printmaking, paint, produce music, network, checkout hardware tools and so much more for little or no cost to you. Let’s keep advocating for makerspaces, and if you’re in Chattanooga, drop by the 4th Floor and tell them I sentcha! 😋 – https://chattlibrary.org/4th-floor