Maker Faire Milwaukee to join President Obama’s National Week of Making kick-off

MILWAUKEE – Producers of Maker Faire Milwaukee, the largest free Maker Faire in the United States, will attend the President’s National Week of Making kick-off event at the White House this Friday, June 17, in Washington, DC. The gathering will unite select individuals from around the country who are leading efforts to empower, support and inspire makers.

Carrie Wettstein and Pete Prodoehl will represent Milwaukee’s Maker Faire as well as the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, which co-hosts Maker Faire Milwaukee with Milwaukee Makerspace. Wettstein and Prodoehl will also attend the National Maker Faire, a two-day event at the University of the DC – Van Ness.

The National Week of Making celebration is a continuation of the President’s Nation of Makers initiative launched in June 2014, when President Obama hosted the first-ever White House Maker Faire and issued a call to action that “every company, every college, every community, every citizen joins us as we lift up makers and builders and doers across the country.” His challenge inspired the launch of the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum’s Maker Initiative, which includes Maker Faire Milwaukee, now in its third year.

This year, Maker Faire Milwaukee will expand its role as an educational resource and information hub for everyone in the community. It will introduce new and expanded STEAM-focused programs for both students and educators, including the new Educator’s Program, a day-long professional development workshop; Field Trip Friday, a special preview of Maker Faire Milwaukee featuring hands-on, collaborative projects for disadvantaged K-12 students; and free STEAM mini-camps at free-lunch sites in Milwaukee throughout the summer.

About Maker Faire Milwaukee

The third-annual Maker Faire Milwaukee, a free, family-friendly event, will be held September 24 and 25 at Wisconsin State Fair Park. It is the largest free Maker Faire in the U.S.

The aim of Maker Faire Milwaukee is to inspire, inform, connect and grow this community in the spirit of education, community improvement and economic development. More than 200 exhibitors are expected to share what they make with the community, including topics like blacksmithing, drones, electric vehicles, jewelry making, woodworking, a tiny house, a hand-made airplane, model railroading, knitting and weaving, archery, leather work, 3D printing, laser cutting, Tesla coils, engineering, electronics, conductive materials projects, Arduino and Raspberry Pi projects, robots, bicycles, costumes, puppets, kites, and other whimsical creations, music performances and participation, food and beverage makers, tinkerers, rockets and RC toys, green tech and alternative energy, radios, vintage computers and game systems, unusual tools or machines and much more.

The 2016 event will also host a Power Racing Series event and the GE Design and Build Challenge.

Maker Faire Milwaukee’s Call for Makers is currently open. Non-commercial makers may exhibit free of charge and commercial makers may exhibit for a small fee. Applications can be completed at www.makerfairemilwaukee.com through August 1, 2016.

Maker Faire Milwaukee is locally organized and operated under license from Maker Media, Inc. It is co-hosted by the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum and Milwaukee Makerspace, and is sponsored by Brady Corporation.

About the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum and Milwaukee Makerspace

Milwaukee’s Betty Brinn Children’s Museum serves more than 240,000 children and adults annually and provides year-round maker programs in its Be A Maker space, a communal workshop environment that invites visitors to explore a broad range of projects using a variety of materials, tools, digital resources and technologies that encourage children to experiment, learn new skills and share their accomplishments. The Museum’s Maker Initiative also includes MakeShift, a series of maker night for adults; workshops with guest makers; and other DIY-inspired events and activities for visitors.

The Milwaukee Makerspace is a 16,000-square-foot collaborative workshop in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood where members – professionals, hobbyists, artists, crafters and students – share their tools, knowledge and their passion for making.

About Brady Corporation

Brady Corporation is an international manufacturer and marketer of complete solutions that identify and protect people, products and places. Brady’s products help customers increase safety, security, productivity and performance and include high-performance labels, signs, safety devices, printing systems and software. Founded in 1914, the Company has a diverse customer base in electronics, telecommunications, manufacturing, electrical, construction, medical, aerospace and a variety of other industries. Brady is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and as of July 31, 2015, employed approximately 6,400 people in its worldwide businesses. Brady’s fiscal 2015 sales were approximately $1.17 billion. Brady stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BRC. More information is available at http://www.bradycorp.com/.

About Maker Faire

Maker Faire is the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth—a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker Movement.  It’s a place where people show what they are making, and share what they are learning.

Makers range from tech enthusiasts to crafters to homesteaders to scientists to garage tinkerers.  They are of all ages and backgrounds. The aim of Maker Faire is to entertain, inform, connect and grow this community.

The original Maker Faire event was held in San Mateo, CA and in 2016 celebrated its eleventh annual show with some 1,300 makers and 150,000 people in attendance. World Maker Faire New York, the other flagship event, has grown in five years to 900+ makers and 90,000 attendees.  Thirty-one larger scale Maker Faires occur in cities around the world—Detroit, Atlanta, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, and Shenzhen to name a few— and more than 150 community-driven, independently organized Mini Maker Faires are now being produced in the United States and in 34 other countries around the world.

About Make Magazine

Make: is the first magazine devoted entirely to Do-It-Yourself (DIY) technology projects. Make: unites, inspires, informs, and entertains a growing community of resourceful people who undertake amazing projects in their backyards, basements, and garages. Make: celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend any technology to your will.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.

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