Maker Faire Silver Spring is accepting applications to come share your skills and talents at their annual Maker Faire! The event which happens on Sunday September 14th is completely free for anyone to attend. If you want to have a booth though, you’ve got to register. Here are the important dates for makers wanting to participate:
- Sunday, July 6, 2014: Proposals due for Early Bird acceptance to the Faire
- Thursday, July 10, 2014: Early Bird notifications to Makers
- Friday, August 1, 2014: Proposals due
- Friday, August 15, 2014: Final Maker acceptance notifications
Last year there were over 12,000 excited onlookers at the event which was held in the Veterans Plaza and the Silver Spring Civic Building. Sponsored by the Kids International Discovery Museum, this Faire is the largest in the DC metropolitan area. One major contributing factor to these numbers might be the fact that this Faire is absolutely free to attend.
I talked a bit with Cara Lesser, founder and CEO of the Kids International Discovery Museum about how this Maker Faire stands out.
One of the unique features of our Faire is the opportunity to highlight all of the interesting maker activities in federal agencies in our backyard — we expect to have exhibits from NASA, NOAA, US Trademark and Patent Office, NIH and Smithsonian again this year.
We have a very strong emphasis on Young Makers — last year we had a strong cohort of Young Makers integrated throughout the Faire and we expect that component to grow this year. One thing that really sets our Faire apart is the emphasis on engaging kids and families in making.
On the subject of what kinds of projects Cara would love to hear about this year:
We are especially interested in identifying makers who are engaging to kids and families and would love to highlight more intergenerational projects this year.
We also would love to identify one or two larger “eye catching” maker projects that would be draws for the Faire. These will be carefully curated to ensure they work in our space but we think that they could really add to our event.
Not sure if the stuff you make qualifies? Well, Here are some topics that they’re interested in having at the event:
- Robotics
- Kinetic & Installation Art
- Music Performance
- Hacks of Any Sort
- Homesteader Projects
- Workshops and Speakers
- 3D Printers & Digital Fabrication
- Textile Arts and Crafts
- Student Projects
- Rockets and RC Toys
- Sustainability
- Green Tech
- Radios, Vintage Computers and Game Systems
- Electronics
- Electric Vehicles
- Biology/Biotech and Chemistry Projects
- Puppets
- Kites
- Bicycles and Human-Powered Machines
- Shelter (Tents, Domes, etc.)
- Unusual Tools or Machines
- How to Fix Things or Take them Apart (Vacuums, Clocks, Washing Machines, etc.)
So if you’re doing anything that fits in this list, get your application in as soon as possible.
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