In my past articles, I’ve written about the importance of languages and cultures and appreciating the arts. People fall into the beauty of these things. They are hobbies of interest. Interestingly enough, I was recently introduced to an organization that specializes in teaching people hobbies.

The organization is called MakeICT or Wichita Makerspace. I had the opportunity to go and learn what the program does and why. 

MakeICT is a charitable organization that teaches trade classes in woodworking, electrical, textiles, 3-D printing, jewelry, ceramics and pottery, etc. They even teach a gardening class. 

I attended the introductory day — which is in the evening of the second and fourth Monday of the month — called Maker Monday, the day which lets the attendees know if they want to become members or not. At 6 p.m., the rest of my tour group and I watched a slideshow of the organization. 

We toured the building,  where a different trade is taught in each room. 

All the rooms were colorful and decorated from floor to ceiling with the projects created there. The ceramics rooms had vases, plant pots, cutlery, unique ceramic faces, and creations lining the shelves. The electrical room had items like broken wall and alarm clocks, computer towers and monitors, and kitchenware. Different fabrics and beads were on the back wall shelves of the textile room, with sewing machines lining the tables under the room’s windows and large ironing boards in the center of the room. 

After attending a Maker Monday and being beyond impressed with the organization and what they do, I knew I would be back soon for my orientation day. What impressed me was how so much information was cataloged in a tiny building — all the subjects people can learn and at such a low price. 

Of course, I wouldn’t expect everything about the subject to be covered like at trade schools, but enough is covered to where someone can be comfortable to pursue the study on their own time and create and/or fix things to where they are impressive. 

What surprises me the most about MakeICT is that they have been a Wichita community organization since 2013, and they aren’t as well known as they should be. 

How to participate/join MakeICT

A monthly membership at MakeICT costs $25, plus any additional charity benefits that the member wants to include in the total monthly payment (after learning what the organization is about, I think the payment is well worth it). After paying, the next step is to set up an orientation day, which happens each month, on a Tuesday or a Saturday evening. From orientation day, each member finds their niche. 

They can then attend classes, showing up at any time of the day or night to work on their projects because the building is open 24/7. People can also, and even attend a Saturday Game Night if they want to play pool, ping-pong, table football, foosball, etc. 

Hopefully, with some of MakeICT’s connections with Wichita State’s history department and organizations, it will gain more recognition. More information can be found here.