MONROE — The Monroe Arts Center is grateful for the Monroe Morning Optimist Club’s recent grant to create MAC’s first Makerspace with accompanying youth fiber arts workshops. This new Makerspace will be located in MAC’s Colony Brands StArt Center which opened in 2019 to offer ample space for arts-related classes.

Six beautiful new sewing machines arrived on June 21 as part of the Monroe Morning Optimist Club’s gift to MAC to support the arts center’s new development of a Fiber Arts Makerspace. The Morning Optimists Club will also support new “Intro to Sewing” classes for youth to give students the basic skills so that they can use the machines properly and hopefully advance to other fiber arts class offerings as the Youth Arts Workshop program builds.

Makerspaces are near and dear to Executive Director Marie Perry’s heart.

“Makerspaces have been something I have an almost 10-year history with in my former role with the public schools as school libraries have embraced the need to expand learning opportunities for youth. Being able to start a Makerspace at MAC to expand our plans for Youth Arts Workshops is an incredible feeling,” Perry said.

As MAC develops more Youth Arts Educational programming, Perry asks the community to watch MAC’s website for class offerings: https://monroeartscenter.com/monroe-arts-center-events/classes/.  

“We currently have plans for Mosaic and Fairy House Youth workshops this summer and can’t wait to launch these new sewing classes as soon as we have the Makerspace set up,” Perry said.

“We are certainly better together,” Perry emphasizes as she is grateful for the Monroe Morning Optimists support of educational youth arts programming at MAC and as she and her staff begin to stitch together courses that will turn Monroe youth into makers.