3 years ago today, 3 years from now
Three years ago today.
Sometimes it’s hard to remember what we looked like before.
Across from our current shop we see the constant reminder of the fire – a lone pizza oven surrounded by weeds.
What will Talent look like three years from now? Who will still live here? Hopefully, we will maintain our sense of community and our sense of caring that showed up in the days and weeks following the fire.
At TMC, we are still grateful for the relationships forged during that time. Our community partners and community members who we now consider part of our TMC family because we worked side by side to get through something so hard.
Today, Talent Maker City is on the precipice of building a new community makerspace. A place where people of Southern Oregon will be able to learn, create, and share in community with one another. A space where local business owners can create materials for their shops, gaining physical and emotional support on their journey to recovery. A place where students will learn new skills like problem solving, prototyping, and how to collaborate. A place where our nonprofit partners can come together to build community, make things together, and be creative.
We have heard from a few people lately, “wow, this sure is a long time coming,” and we couldn’t agree more. But part of our process in rebuilding is to do so deliberately. Without rushing to make sure our decisions will be the best not just in the short term, but for many generations of makers.
Even firefighters responding to emergency situations are trained, “slow is smooth, smooth is fast.”
Last year the City of Talent’s Architectural Review Committee had us return to the drawing board with our plans to make our new building more reminiscent of historical downtown Talent. The result was an added second floor, a higher price tag, more space, and excitement for our building to tell the story of Talent through architectural design.
For the last 6 months we have been going through the floorplans diligently - choosing the location of our electrical outlets, not only to power the tools and equipment we have now, but looking forward ten or twenty years for machines that might not even be invented yet.
Last week we paused our architecture meeting to change the design of our back patio, which was planned to be poured with petroleum-based asphalt. After hours of research and consulting with others, we are moving forward with a more sustainable and affordable option: decomposed granite. This option will actually reduce the overall temperature around the building on hot days.
Today our interns went to the new property at 100 W. Valley View Rd. to harvest the seeds of the milkweed plants that are growing there. In the future, they will be replanted in a native pollinator garden outside of the new makerspace to provide a home for Monarch butterflies and other pollinator friends.
We know the slow diligence of our construction and design process will ultimately provide a building that is accessible, innovative, sustainable, and inclusive for our entire community.
Three years from now we hope we all come to work in a building filled with the smiling faces of students and adults trying something new. To spend each day watching people hone their skills in woodworking, screenprinting, ceramics and 3D printing. To see students who have taken our courses come back to visit after landing their first construction job or during their summer break from their college engineering program.
Three years from now we'll still remember the pain, but we will also be living in a community that has tangibly rebuilt, healed, and grown stronger together. We will have a broken-in makerspace in Talent, a dream that was made a reality by the community.
We are just so grateful to be here with all of you.
Love,
~Alli and the entire TMC team