Reporter’s notebook: How a team of volunteers saved the Kamloops Makerspace

Reporter’s notebook sections are less formal, more personal reflections that give our readers a behind-the-scenes look at how we report on our community.

“I feel so disconnected.” This is the concern I hear more than any other when interviewing residents for a story or simply out socializing in the community. It’s also one that resonates personally.

So when a post for a clay workshop at the Kamloops Makerspace came across my Instagram feed, I registered without hesitating. Little did I know I was about to take a crash course in community building, while rediscovering the magic of making things with friends.

As the workshop date approached, I couldn’t help but feel nervous; the insidious fear of social rejection looming large in my mind.

Our group of seven gathered in the second floor studio in the space. After a round of quick introductions, our host Amanda Karauca explains the makerspace to us. 

The Kamloops Makerspace is a non-profit society dedicated to maintaining a collaborative space for members to explore their creativity. There are seven workspaces: the woodshop, hack space, craftorium, fab(rication) shop, lounge and the clay space we were using.

The society operates by volunteers for volunteers; everything from paying bills, cleaning toilets and hosting workshops is done by the members.

Spending time in the Kamloops Makerspace

Our goal tonight is to create planters for succulents, Amanda explains while dividing up the block of clay, but how we go about it is up to us. 

“Some people like the things they made to look store bought and others appreciate the imperfections left by the hands that made them,” Amanda says. There is no right answer when you are creating, it is up to you.

The feeling of fresh clay in my hands was instantly familiar yet difficult to describe; somewhere between liquid and solid and somehow wet to the touch while also making my skin feel dry.

As we work, we chat. It’s awkward, of course, but becomes less so as this group of strangers offer up tidbits of themselves. None of us are particularly skilled at clay sculpting, but that does not deter us. After all, there can be no improvement without practice. 

We learn that by registering for a workshop, we become members for one month and are encouraged to make the most of the space with the same privileges as the other members.

As the conversation flows more easily, I wonder why it is that I only remember the few negative social interactions I’ve had while preparing to meet new people, but never the overwhelming positive ones. 

“This is fun,” I think to myself as the good brain chemicals are flowing.  “I definitely want to stay on as a member.”

Before we departed for the night, Amanada had a bombshell to drop: Next week there is an emergency meeting. The society cannot make October’s rent and, as freshly minted members, we’re invited to help make a plan to save the Kamloops Makerspace.

Jumping in with both feet 

After only a week of membership, the sense of community was obvious. Members don’t just make things; they spend time together, playing games or cooking communal meals.

On the night of the emergency meeting, about 20 society members assemble in the lounge to discuss the future of the community, their faces showing a mix of exhaustion and uncertainty. 

The situation is spelled out for us by some of the long-term members. Like so many other third places – the places outside of home or work — the pandemic has taken its toll on the makerspace. The past three years of lockdowns, social distancing protocols and illness have whittled down membership. The society needs roughly 60 makers to afford current expenses but is down to only 30, they explain.

The biggest expense is the cost of occupying the historic Old Federal Building on West Victoria Street.  Completed in 1901, it is very much a product of its time — full of unique character but with sawdust insulation and a dramatically inefficient and unreliable boiler system. 

The cost of heating the building is nearly the same as the rent itself, together they total about $5,000 per month.

In step with the decline in membership, evermore responsibility has fallen to fewer and fewer members. For months now, a small number of members have also been supporting the space financially to keep it afloat. 

There are two options on the table. The easiest is to pack the tools and equipment into storage, shutting down the makerspace until the financial situation improves. But that would stop membership dues from coming in, so it is hard to imagine how reopening would be possible.

The other is to come together and find a way to save the makerspace.

After a few moments of thoughtful silence, it is not a longtime maker who speaks, but a relative newcomer. They thank everyone who has poured their blood, sweat and tears into creating and maintaining the space for all of these years.

“The makerspace is special, there is nothing else in Kamloops like it,” they say. To shut down now would be a death blow by fragmenting what is left of the membership and losing whatever momentum remains. 

“To stay open, we have to bring down our location cost,” another newbie says. ”Even if we can cover October’s expenses, we will be back in the same place in November.”

The makerspace occupies two floors but could potentially condense into a smaller footprint if the landlord agreed and another tenant could be found to share expenses.

As much as members appreciate the character of the building, there are other issues with the current location besides cost. For example, the second floor is not accessible for those with mobility challenges and the heritage building status complicates changing that. 

Moving has costs too, of course, including paying rent on two locations during the month of the move, not to mention a damage deposit and moving truck rentals. And that is only if a new space can be found on short notice. We’d need a search team of volunteers.

In the meantime, the space needs a major clean up. We decide to hold a moving sale to raise money for whatever comes next. 

The vote to decide between closing, shrinking or moving would be held at the next regular meeting in two weeks. There is much to consider but for now tasks had been divided up and we had work to do.

Applying elbow grease

During the next workshop night on August 30, the group chattered happily, shyness evaporating in the excitement of the “save the makerspace” push. There were plans to make, futures to speculate on and of course, tangents to follow as a room full of strangers transformed into a group of acquaintances. 

Members old and new got down to business sorting the seven workspaces into toss, keep and sell. Not a trivial matter, given the two-week timeline and the overwhelming accumulation of stuff like tools, equipment, lumber, fabric, books and electronics. It turns out that makers (myself included) are mostly “keep in case someone needs it” type people, which is well and good until the time comes to move it all.

Days before the next meeting, the search team was successful in securing a new location. Less than half the current floor space, but one level and with a modern furnace and insulation. 

We held our second meeting to vote on the options and the move became official.

That weekend we host not a yard or moving sale, but what I can only describe as a chaos sale. Seemingly every surface on the ground floor had something up for grabs, and every time you turn around, there is something new in a space that was just emptied.  

Not only did people show up to buy our junk, but they called in their friends, too. The chaos sale raised $1,400 and cleared out so many useful items that may have ended up in the dump.

The old guard members are feeling refreshed and motivated by the enthusiasm of new members, they say. 

“Two rivers, many hands,” was the original motto of the Makerspace and that mentality was on full display.

After seeing how much work and passion was being put in, an anonymous donor put up money to help cover moving expenses.

Rising from the ashes: A new Kamloops Makerspace

By the end of the four weeks it was sad to say goodbye to the workshop participants not staying on as members. After we planted our succulent gardens, much of the group stayed long after dark talking, reluctant to bring our time together to an end.

I was amazed at the difference a few weeks made in how a group of strangers felt about one another. 

On moving day, Nick Adams, one of the founding members, tells me he had been very pessimistic coming into the move. But he was thrilled to have been proven wrong, saying that he feels an energy from the members he hasn’t felt since it was founded in 2015.

It has been amazing to see everyone come together and make this happen, he says, and more importantly to see people “coming out of their comfort zone, trying new things, and pushing themselves.”

And so that is the story of the time I set out to make planters and made a new makerspace instead. Not alone of course, but that is entirely the point.

By the time you read this, the makers will be in the new space at 1140 C Halston Ave., but it is not too late to get involved. The open house on Wednesday nights will, for now, be focused on designing and setting up the new makerspace.

I leave you with a message from Nick: “This space belongs to all of you, I look forward to seeing what you all choose to do with it.”