This is my hometown makerspace. Our trip back through Rochester coincided with their open house, so we took the orientation tour. I was pretty impressed.
Dues are $40.00/month, and that covers everyone in the household, related or not.
Membership has grown steadily and they currently fund themselves entirely through memberships and donations. An estate donated a house that the membership renovated and resold.
Main Room
They waited to assemble a group instead of giving tours individually. There was a handout that listed each machine and what kind of bodily harm it could cause you.
This tour is mandated by the insurance company and every member or potential member must take it. After that, you have to take an additional class on any piece of equipment you want to use before you can use it. Those classes are free to members.
Metalworking Room
The don’t have welding or a forge, because the building used to be a leather manufacturing plant. All the floors are made of wood that has soaked for many years in highly-flammable chemicals. They have plans to add welding when they move to a new space, as they’re outgrowing their current location.
Probably the thing that impressed me the most was that there were at least four other women there. None of them seemed to know each other outside of the space, each working on her own project, and none appeared to be there as a tag-along with her husband, boyfriend, or s/o. I don’t think I ever saw one woman at Cyberia who wasn’t just there to be with her s/o.
Rochester Makerspace is definitely an enticement to move back if I decide I want to look for work in NYS after my son finishes highschool. It’s a very comfortable and welcoming space I’d have no qualms about joining.
Edit: I guess I got tired of messing around with photos in WordPress, ’cause forgot all about the woodworking room. Here it is:
And sewing machines in the main room.
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