Mission
MakeHaven Mission:
To equip people with tools to design, invent, and create.
Community
We practice collaboration and knowledge-sharing as keys to success.
The Open Source Initiative has a long tradition of supporting and spreading a spirit of sharing.
MakeHaven aspires to live up to this goal. We hope our members will help each other learn and grow. This includes helping teach skills and sharing information about basic projects to help everyone get started. Some of our members are experts in their field, and we hope they can share that skillset to help us all get better together. We also try to use open source software options whenever possible; because these are free to use and globally available, which is important for expanding access.
Inclusion
We recognize that our community is stronger when everyone is involved and represented.
All students, no matter their maker background, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin should be able to learn the skills needed in a Fab Lab.
From our very beginnings, the things humans have created for themselves have been an expression of the self and larger emergent cultures. Our community and its culture gets stronger with more voices, especially when they come from more perspectives. It is essential everyone feels empowered to create, speak and learn in pursuit of the improvement of our shared world.
Optimism
We celebrate one another’s successes and embrace setbacks as part of the process of creation.
We encourage everyone to understand themselves as a person-in-progress, who can continue to grow over a lifetime. This includes learning new things, taking intellectual risks and using transitory failed attempts to learn and grow. We find that often it is our negative feedback is the most helpful in learning.
When a circuit we've designed + soldered gives off the sad blue smoke, we find it a time to reflect instead of being demoralized. We encourage everyone to adopt this mindset as well. A growth mindset and some grit can help you move goals forward in a Fab Lab and well beyond.
Creativity
We are driven to dream, to invent, and to bring new ideas to reality.
All people are creative. Some of have learned to question this truth, but there are many ways for our personal creativity to be expressed. Some use song or dance, others with paint or sculpture. But there are those of us that express ourselves with code, a 3D printer, fine woodworking, origami, a needle and thread, or some machining. Each of these present a voice for our creativity to be heard.
We are excited to see people learn new ways to engage their creativity. The Foundations of Fabrication course is an open invitation to find a new voice for yourself. Each new skill learned will add to that voice, but the sum of these is greater than its parts.
Discovery
We believe growth and fulfillment happen through exploration.
Learning new skills has been shown to be beneficial to the mind and body over a lifetime.
We feel learning is important for the self, and to guide the young people around us.