If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to build something that’s big and eye-catching, with a group of like-minded people but don’t have the experience or the know-how, you can now apply to be part of a cohort that designs and builds public art installations.
The Maker Cities cohort at Moonlighter FabLab is looking for 20 adult participants to take part in a six-month studio-based course at FabLab in Miami Beach, to learn how to use STEAM techniques to design and build a public art installation on Lincoln Road.
Tom Pupo, along with his wife, Daisy Nodal, who both have architecture backgrounds, are the founders of the non-profit, Moonlighter FabLab, a STEAM learning center and fabrication lab.
“We’re trying to find ways for non-STEM folks to get interested in STEM skills,” he said of the goal of providing people with access to opportunities in advanced manufacturing and emerging technologies.
Nodal is the director of education for Moonlighter FabLab and Pupo serves as the executive director there. For the cohort, he’s the principal investigator for the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant that’s supporting the endeavor.
Pupo said that participants in the last cohort were challenged to approach Lincoln Road as professional designers, researchers, fabricators, and civic collaborators. They built illuminated archways [pictured below], dubbed “Deco Portals” on Lincoln Road, paying homage to the architect Morris Lapidus, who was one of the founders of MiMo (Miami Modern) style and transformed Lincoln Road into one of the first pedestrian malls in the US.
“The whole theory here is if we give them a non-technical community-based project but use technical skills like 3D printing and CNC machining (Computer Numerical Control) and laser cutting to help them realize those creative ideas, they’re learning those technical skills by exploring the opportunity of a STEM field,” he said.
Upon completion of the six-month course, participants will earn certifications in those technical skills. They’re also being taught design thinking and entrepreneurship to “set them up for this project and for any future endeavor that they’re looking to carry out after the program ends,” said Pupo.
Maker Cities, Moonlighter FabLab’s experiential workforce development initiative, partnered with The City of Miami Beach, The Lincoln Road BID, and industry partners to make this vision come alive. They completed their first cohort this past August. It was funded by the (NSF) grant of $880,000, which covered that cohort and the upcoming one. The grant funds a researcher, an evaluator, materials for the build, full scholarships for the 20 students and a $5,000 stipend for each student, as well as their own budget for materials for their year-long FabLab residency, which is also included. Data from the program will be used to implement “playbooks” for future Maker Cities projects like this throughout the nation.
Pupo is recruiting applicants for the cohort that starts in January. “We’ve done different variations of this twice before with Miami Dade College but this is the first time we’re doing it with NSF funding,” he said. The group of 20 students are split into five groups of four people, collaborating on different designs within their crew, which they present to judges at Maker Faire Miami.
“One of those is selected to be built in full scale,” said Pupo of the projects. “All five of those groups then form one giant design build agency and they then support each other with different roles to help realize the full build project,” he added.
The participants meet twice a week over a six-month period, learning concepts and manufacturing as well as doing hands on projects “to put theories into practice,” he said. “While you’re in the program, you’re uploading everything into a digital portfolio that you can use if you’re trying to get into an academic program or for a job,” said Pupo.
Applications for the upcoming cohort are open for anyone 18 and over and there are no prerequisites or qualifications required. “We had students who were just graduating high school and then we had folks who were almost retirees,” Pupo said.
November 4th is the deadline to apply for the cohort that starts on January 12 and concludes on June 3. Those interested can apply here: https://moonlighterfablab.org/maker-cities/
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