Artisan's Asylum Inc

Artisan’s Asylum is a non-profit community workshop startup based in two locations near Union Square in Somerville, Massachusetts. Our goal is to provide the community with a place to teach, learn, and practice crafts of all types, including but not limited to: precision metal machining, electrical fabrication, welding, woodworking, fabricwork, cooking, photography, jewelrymaking and more.

Donations to Artisan’s Asylum can be made using the Donate button here. Donations can be of any size. We’re aiming to raise at least $10,000 by June 12th, to help us equip both spaces enough to open our doors.

Early registration for memberships can be made using the Google Checkout cart below. A joining fee is required, and after that the membership can be chosen to suit your needs. The membership begins when you say it does, so you can wait until it makes sense to you to start your membership.

If you would like to learn more about Artisan’s Asylum, please take the opportunity to check out some of our published material!

Here’s our kickoff presentation, given on May 1st, 2010: Kickoff Presentation

Here’s our instructor orientation presentation, given on May 25th, 2010: Instructor Orientation Presentation

The backstory on how this all got started, and who we are: Our Story

These are the services we’d like to offer when we open our doors in the near future: About Us

These are the membership plans we’re currently offering: Membership Plans

Take a look at some of the machinery and space we have: Photo Albums

Hello all!

We just wrapped up our instructor orientation, which was a complete hit. We had over 25 instructors show up, wanting to offer over 45 classes at the Asylum! We had a great presentation, a good set of questions and followup discussions, and we think everyone’s on the same page in terms of class expectations.

If you’re interested in seeing what we had to say at the meeting, check out our PowerPoint presentation here.

Sit tight, because we’re going to release a potential class survey soon that’s going to rock everyone’s socks off…

We will be having an orientation meeting for anyone who would like to be considered as an instructor for the Asylum on Tuesday, May 25th, from 7 PM to 9 PM. If you’re interested in teaching at Artisan’s Asylum, attend this meeting. We’ll be going over the expectations on us as organizers, our expectations of instructors, compensation for instructors, how classes will be chosen, the driving goals behind our classes, and more. We’ll also be taking your comments, concerns, and feedback.

The meeting is open-invite, which means that everyone with interest is welcome to show up. If you can’t make it, that’s OK – we will be posting the PowerPoint we present and explaining all of our processes after the event, and you’re welcome to apply to teach a class with us regardless of attendance at this meeting. You will have to organize a time to meet with us before we can offer your class to our membership.

If you plan on attending this meeting, and intend on being considered as a potential instructor for the Asylum, we ask two things of you: (1) that you bring examples of past related work (whether by portfolio, by bringing physical items in, listing testimonials, etc.) with you, and (2) that you fill out this class survey by 11:59 PM on Sunday, 5/23/10:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BPFY3CC

Please fill the survey out once per class you’re interested in offering (whether you have different ideas for different results-based classes, or can teach multiple types of machine shop tool training classes). If you just have a class idea and want to refine them with us, or if you’re unsure about exactly what form the class would take, we encourage you to fill out the survey anyway and discuss your reservations in the comments section. We’ll get back to you soon.

NOTE: By filling out this survey, you’re indicating that you’re available to teach the class you describe on the days you indicate in the month of June. If your class is selected to be offered to our membership and it turns out you can’t make the times you indicate, you will not be allowed to teach at the Asylum again unless you have a very good reason for canceling. Please indicate any uncertainty you have in your scheduling in the comments and concerns section of the survey.

Thanks, and hope to see you soon!

-Gui

Hi everyone!

Based on lots of feedback, we’ve gone ahead and started an email list for those of you who detest having to check Facebook for updates. You can find and register for it here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/artisansasylum/

The list is set up so that joining is unmoderated but posting is moderated to prevent spam and off-topic conversation.

We’ve also gone ahead and implemented a Google Calendar, which is currently up-to-date with all of our workshop events over the next week. You can subscribe to it or view it by visiting any of the following websites:

HTML Format: http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=artisansasylum%40gmail.com&ctz=America/New_York

iCAL Format: http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/artisansasylum%40gmail.com/public/basic.ics

XML Format: http://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/artisansasylum%40gmail.com/public/basic

That’s all for now. Our workshop have been going well so far, and we can’t wait to see you all soon!

Alright, my friends… so it begins.

We want to start operating June 1st, and there is an INCREDIBLE amount of work to be done between now and then if that’s going to be even remotely possible. It’s easy to get lost in the sheer amount of fabrication that needs to get done, but before any of that can happen the entire space needs to be designed down to each and every wood screw.

Therefore, we are dedicating this entire next week to a number of intensive design sprints, which will be specifically formulated to produce results that can be acted upon immediately. These will take the form of 3-hour-long work sessions with a number of skilled members of the community. There will be a design session for each type of space that we want to deploy (metalworking, woodworking, electrical fabrication, cleanworking, cooking, and more), an architectural design session to pull all of the requirements into one design, and then an all-encompassing mechanical design session to take the architectural concepts to manufacturing plans. All sessions will take place at the Asylum.

Oh yes. It’s going to be incredibly intense.

So here’s the deal. Events have been created for each design session to keep track of who’s planning on coming, and they will be listed below. Please RSVP accurately (“Maybes” are strongly discouraged) via Facebook, email, or comments, and invite skilled friends who you think would be assets to the specific efforts listed.  Thank you, and hope to be working with you soon.

Metalworking Space Design (5/8/10, 10AM-1PM):
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122578471087409&ref=mf

Woodworking Space Design (5/8/10, 2PM-5PM):
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=118604054835692&ref=mf

Machine Shop Syllabus Design (5/8/10, 6PM-9PM):
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124218670925643&ref=mf

Cleanwork Space Design (5/9/10, 10AM-1PM):
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=114430185259416&ref=mf

Kitchen Space Design (5/9/10, 2PM-5PM):
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=120939444598119&ref=mf

Information Technology and Web Presence Design (5/11/10, 7PM-10PM):
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=118683294820088&ref=mf

Business and Financial Structure Design (5/12/10, 7PM-10PM):
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115933235106478&ref=mf

Electrical Fabrication Space Design (5/14/10, 7PM-10PM):
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=114303831939683&ref=mf

Internal Architecture Design (5/15/10, 10AM-1PM):
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116140268419813&ref=mf

Mechanical Design of the Entire Asylum (5/15/10, 2PM-?):
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116051331761280&ref=mf

Please sign up for those sessions that you feel inspired and qualified for, and we hope to see you soon.

If you want to be made of ABSOLUTE AWESOME, feel free to cook or provide food/drink at the start of any of the sessions listed. They all either end or begin around mealtimes, and I’m sure everyone would love you forever if you brought them sustenance.

We gave a PowerPoint presentation as an introduction to the space on May 1st. It explains who we are, what our mission is, and how we’re going to go about accomplishing our mission, as well as giving a brief glimpse as to the classes and experiences that could take shape in the coming months. You can find the presentation here:

Artisan’s Asylum Kickoff Presentation

And, more generally, our photostream here:

Artisan’s Asylum Photostream

If this presentation sparks some interest in you, and you are interested in joining the space, please help us design and plan for the space by filling out the following survey that we handed out at Kickoff:

Artisan’s Asylum Kickoff Survey

We always love feedback, so please let us know what you think of our plans!

Hello friends!

Our kickoff date is fast approaching, and we have a quick favor to ask of you. If you’re attending, we’d really appreciate it if you would plan on bringing at least one of the following:

1. Food
2. Beverage
3. Chair(s)

Our potluck dinner is going to run from 6 to 7, and we’d love to have food to hand out. Our presentation runs from 7 to 8, and we’d love for people to not have to stand for the whole hour. Our afterparty runs from 8 onwards, and we’d love to have some beverages kicking around!

See you all soon!

Hello friends!

It is time to get this show on the road. We’re opening the doors of our brand new space on May 1st for a meet & greet, potluck, presentation and afterparty.

The agenda is as follows:

6:00 – 7:00, Meet & greet over a potluck dinner
7:00 – 7:30, Presentation of our concept and path, Q&A
7:30 – 8:00, Brainstorming session for tools, layout, projects, etc.
8:00 – ?, Raucous afterparty

So please bring some food (and plan to take extra food home or throw it away in the dumpster downstairs, because we have no way to store it), bring your beverages of choice, bring a chair or two if you feel so inclined, and bring your best ideas. We’ll provide the finest lawn chairs and folding tables money can buy.

See you soon!

We are kick-starting a community build area halfway between Inman and Union square. We have a warehouse space that we’re equipping with everything from CNC milling machines to sewing machines, wood routers to a short-order griddle, and dance floors to projectors. We want to create a space to support an active community interested in teaching, learning, and practicing crafts of all shapes and sizes. We’re investing heavily in the most productive types of manufacturing equipment we can get (and teaching our members how to use it all!) in order to turn the dreams of our members into reality as quickly as possible.

Welcome to the Artisan’s Asylum. Jump in, roll up your sleeves, and let’s do this.