Nomad FabLab coming to Kahnawake Sept 27 to November 5th
The FabLab team is glad to introduce our Nomad FabLab program, operated by the First Peoples Innovation Centre. We wish to inform you more about our organization and what we offer. Our next cohort in Maniwaki will be from June21st to July 16th, and many more destinations to come in the next months.
Who we are:
The First Peoples Innovation Centre (FPIC) inaugurated the first Indigenous FabLab in Canada. The FPIC was created in 2012 to support and stimulate social and technological innovation among First Peoples. Our vision seeks to be a standard-bearer for innovative social initiatives in which Indigenous and non-Indigenous people collaborate to promote and realize the full potential of First Peoples in a context of authentic and continuing reconciliation. And, our mission is to help foster and support social and technological innovation by and with Indigenous people, both in their communities and urban centers, focusing on promoting and encouraging pride in Indigenous identity. The Centre has developed several programs to support women and young people in being active participants in their community. The FPIC has adapted the Fab Lab model developed at MIT in 2002 to provide a culturally appropriate response to empower teens and young adults in setting their career direction. The goal is to make Indigenous FabLab spaces recreate social ties where generations and genres blend just like professions and trades.
What is a FabLab?
A FabLab, or digital fabrication laboratory, is a place to play, create, mentor, invent, and a place for learning and innovation. FabLabs provide access to the environment, skills, materials, and technology to allow anyone to make almost anything.
From community-based labs to advanced research centers, FabLabs share the goal of making the tools for technical invention accessible to everyone.[1] This community is simultaneously a manufacturing network, a distributed technical education campus, and a distributed research laboratory working on digital fabrication, inventing the next generation of manufacturing and personal prototyping.
The FabLab Network is an open and creative community of fabricators, artists, scientists, engineers, educators, students, amateurs, and professionals located in more than 100 countries and 1,750 FabLabs across the globe
Our program:
The Nomad FabLab Project is a mobile fab lab where our organization brings the equipment and instructors to your community. We provide learning opportunities in digital fabrication technologies such as vinyl cutting, 3D printing, laser cutting, Arduino programming, and digital milling. Our program is six weeks long and serves as a hands-on introduction to these technologies. During the program, participants will learn how to use the required tools and technology to actively work on projects to reinforce their newly developed skills.
This program has been funded for eight different Indigenous acommunities in Quebec through the Ministère du Travail de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale. We can serve 30 youth per community who are not in employment nor an educational program. Each participant will be paid $13.10 per hour for 30 hours per week for six weeks. Those who complete our program will be entitled to an additional $200 bonus for their hard work.
By taking part in our program, we aim to inspire participants to return to studies, participate in the Fablab Onaki in Gatineau, find employment, or start their own business. Our organization is always looking for talented young people to join our team, and we have provided employment opportunities for several past program participants.
Program objectives:
The Nomad Fablab targets Indigenous youth from 15 to 30 years old who have dropped out of school, are unemployed, or facing challenges to employability.
Our objectives are to:
• Offer participants an alternative approach to foster their creativity through the use of technologies such as vinyl cutting, 3D printing, laser cutting, Arduino programming, and digital milling;
• Reinforce the feeling of trust while building self-confidence through the realization of different projects that help youth explore their true potential; and
• Develop new skills to help participants plan for current and future career opportunities in technology-related fields.
We hope this program serves your community well, and we look forward to working with you.