{"id":85,"date":"2018-12-16T20:24:59","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T20:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/?p=85"},"modified":"2018-12-17T20:42:10","modified_gmt":"2018-12-17T20:42:10","slug":"nonstop-art-makerspace-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/85\/","title":{"rendered":"Nonstop Art Makerspace Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"

www.washingtoncitypaper.com\/arts\/blog\/21036759\/nonstop-art-makerspace-profile<\/a>
\nAn Affordable Housing Complex Houses One of The District\u2019s Most Ambitious Maker Spaces NonStop Art is bringing arts innovation to Ward 8.
\nNonstop Art staff members Nehemiah Dixon, Lorenzo Cardim, and Charlene Gaddy Wallace.Darrow Montgomery
\nNehemiah Dixon isn\u2019t a stranger to change. A D.C. native who grew up in Southeast, Dixon hasn\u2019t sat idly by as his hometown has evolved.
\n\u201cGrowing up in Southeast, I remember what this city looked like in the 1990s. When I was living on 16th Street in the mid-2000s, I remember when the cranes came up,\u201d he recalls. But rather than protest, move out, or bemoan gentrification, Dixon, an accomplished artist, saw an opportunity. \u201cI want[ed] to stay in the middle and make compromises,\u201d he says. \u201cI want[ed] to try to do something with communities to help improve people\u2019s lives.\u201d
\nThese days, as the District\u2019s housing prices continue to rise, Dixon is working to have a say in how his changing city is supporting its longtime residents. Creating maker spaces, he\u2019s discovered, is a way to do that.
\nDixon is the founder and CEO of NonStop Art Makerspace at Oxon Run in Ward 8\u2019s Washington Highlands neighborhood. It\u2019s a place of bustling creativity: On any weekday afternoon you can find 10-year-olds working side-by-side with 75-year-olds at the sewing machine, 3D printer, or desktop computers. NonStop\u2019s intergenerational environment\u2014and the fact that it\u2019s in the basement of an affordable housing complex\u2014sets this maker space apart from most other maker spaces.
\nIn their most general sense, maker spaces are places for people to physically build things. Over the last five years, maker spaces have cropped up all across D.C. You might be familiar with the Fab Lab Pop-Up in NoMa, operated by DC Public Library while the central library, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, is undergoing renovations. Local college students might be familiar with wood shop classes at their university\u2019s maker space. Or, if you\u2019re the parent of a young child, you might have taken a family trip to the KID Museum in Silver Spring.
\nThe maker movement began in Silicon Valley with the insight that many of today\u2019s most successful entrepreneurs are themselves tinkerers who grew up building things. One of the big ideas behind maker spaces is that when people become competent at making physical things, they gain confidence that they can build anything, including companies.
\nDale Dougherty, who had a successful career in technology media and is considered the \u201cgrandfather of the maker movement,\u201d has spent the last 13 years spreading this message of making. Whether the maker wants to explore STEM fields, learn a new skill, or start a business, a maker space should foster curiosity, creativity, and innovation.
\n***
\nWhat is common to all maker spaces is an emphasis on learning and community.. The NonStop Art Makerspace at Oxon Run stands out because of the specific community they work with\u2014multiple generations of Ward 8 residents\u2014and how they\u2019ve made it happen. NonStop Art\u2019s maker space is the result of a collaboration between real estate developers, artists, and private donors.
\nThe Overlook at Oxon Run is a gated apartment complex comprised of more than 300 one- and two-bedroom apartments for senior residents and small families. The Community Preservation and Development Corporation (CPDC), the non-profit real estate developer behind Oxon Run, works exclusively with low- and moderate-income individuals and families. About 9,000 people live in CPDC\u2019s 30-plus buildings in D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia. Baked into the nonprofit\u2019s financial structure is a commitment to helping its residents feel supported beyond just having a roof over their heads..
\nSo in June of 2015, Pamela Lyons, CPDC\u2019s Senior Vice President of Community Impact Strategies, jumped at the opportunity when Capital One invited them to apply for a community development grant to implement an \u201cinnovative idea.\u201d By that point, Capital One had already partnered with CPDC on other community initiatives, such as a \u201cfinancial asset building\u201d network\u2014a savings initiative to help a small group of residents support and invest in each other\u2019s entrepreneurial initiatives. A maker space, though, would be different from any service CPDC had previously offered at any of their buildings.
\nLyons first came across the idea of a maker space in an article she read years earlier, and immediately thought it would be beneficial for CPDC residents. Though she had never heard of a maker space based in an affordable housing building, Lyons believed it could teach residents employable skills and offer them a unique creative outlet. And because all of CPDC\u2019s buildings house individuals from a wide range of ages, Lyons also believed maker spaces could be a powerful way to connect people across generations.
\n\u201cA great deal of learning happens when youth and older people come together,\u201d she says.
\nCPDC ultimately won two grants from Capital One, totaling $700,000. The grants covered the cost of the technology and equipment as well as the renovation of the three basement rooms (previously occupied by Academy of Hope Adult Public Charter School, which moved out once they received their charter and needed to expand). In July of 2017, after years of research and a brief period of construction, CPDC, Nonstop Art and Capital One jointly opened the Makerspace.
\nDarrow Montgomery
\n***
\nThe Nonstop Art Makerspace is spread across three separate but closely linked rooms totaling 1,800 square feet of making: the Fabric Arts Lab, home to popular sewing classes; the Funk Lab, with computers and 3D printers for making digital designs; and the Maker Spot, used for more industrial machinery, like their laser cutter.
\nAccess is free to all residents of Oxon Run and residents of CPDC\u2019s sister buildings. This fall, the Makerspace opened up membership to non-residents, too: After completing a brief orientation, anyone can sign up to use the space. For $20 a day, a person can join any class, or for $65 a month, members can access the three labs for up to 80 hours a week. On Dec. 19th, NonStop Art is hosting an open house for all D.C. residents to check out the Makerspace and its membership options.
\nNonStop Art runs the day-to-day logistics of the Makerspace and pays the artist residents who teach all of the classes. In exchange, NonStop doesn\u2019t pay rent to CPDC to use the space. The NonStop staff\u2014all working artists themselves who each have their own projects and exhibits\u2014appreciate being able to make things with a community who may not feel welcome walking into a traditional museum or art gallery. Dixon reinforces his social justice model by paying his artists well above minimum wage at $25 an hour.
\nEven before NonStop Art existed, Dixon knew he wanted to work with CPDC because of their commitment to lower-income communities. CPDC has won multiple awards for their buildings and service to lower income populations, and recently combined resources with non-profit housing developer Enterprise, which has an even larger reach.
\nAlready, Dixon is talking to CPDC and other developers about opening more maker spaces in affordable housing communities. Although he knows he can\u2019t stop gentrification, Dixon wants to help shape the future of development.
\nLorenzo Cardim, NonStop\u2019s Program Director, echoes Dixon\u2019s sentiment. To him, it makes sense for maker spaces to collaborate with developers who should be looking to create ways \u201cto not get completely detached from the soul of their community.\u201d
\nDorothy Jones-Davis, Executive Director of Nation of Makers, which supports maker organizations across the country, says she\u2019s \u201cexcited about maker spaces\u2019 potential in community economic development.\u201d In a similar way that developers sometimes provide their residents with gyms and rooftop pools, Jones-Davis believes maker spaces could become part of this package of services offered in other buildings.
\nHistorically, she notes, the relationship between developers and maker spaces has been tense because there\u2019s competition around the kind of space needed for tinkering\u2014large, inexpensive, and industrial. But NonStop Art\u2019s maker space is a prime example of how smaller and residential spaces can work.
\nFirst and foremost, Dixon considers himself an artist, and his vision for NonStop Art extends beyond maker spaces. He\u2019s eager to engage communities through public art, as expressed by his most recent exhibit, an outdoor sculpture of three hoodies in Foggy Bottom. NonStop Art is also partnering with the Phillips Collection to hold workshops and commission artwork.
\nWhen it comes to maker spaces, it\u2019s a matter of art and economics. Dixon wants people to learn skills and processes that will help them get a job or start a business. Already, a few residents have used the vinyl-cutter to design and make their own T-shirts, and in the sewing lab, other residents are taking orders.
\nA maker space should be about creating a place for the community to gather and providing the resources for people to educate themselves, Dixon believes. He wants to be sure that people, no matter their age, feel supported and encouraged as they work with technology. Given that the maker space is on one of the building\u2019s senior floors, the most frequent users have been senior citizens. It\u2019s been amazing, Dixon notes, to see people who start out barely knowing how to turn on a computer creating their own designs on CorelDRAW a year later.
\n\u201cMaking is all about engaging people, and a lot of making comes out of being under-resourced,\u201d says Jones-Davis.
\nShe speaks from her own experience growing up in Bridgeport, Connecticut, with few economic means. \u201cI personally believe there is a lot more innovation in those communities because people are forced to innovate when the resources aren\u2019t there,\u201d she says. \u201cJust because you\u2019re poor doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t have ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mary Bolton 202-390-1208<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

www.washingtoncitypaper.com\/arts\/blog\/21036759\/nonstop-art-makerspace-profile An Affordable Housing Complex Houses One of The District\u2019s Most Ambitious Maker Spaces NonStop Art is bringing arts innovation to Ward 8. Nonstop Art staff members Nehemiah Dixon, Lorenzo Cardim, and Charlene Gaddy Wallace.Darrow Montgomery Nehemiah Dixon isn\u2019t a stranger to change. A D.C. native who grew up in Southeast, Dixon hasn\u2019t sat idly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-housingarchive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}