A makerspace is like a gym for craftsmen. Typically, a membership is required, there’s a host of high-end equipment (in this case, fabrication tools), and, of course, there’s the community aspect. But a new makerspace has arisen in a particularly unlikely location: a high school in Detroit’s Brightmoor neighborhood.
The Brightmoor Maker Space is slated to open this spring at Detroit Community Schools (DCS), a charter school on the edge of the beleaguered area. The project is the latest result of a long-running partnership between DCS and the University of Michigan’s (U-M) Stamps School of Art & Design. U-M raised more than $30,000 for the space through a campaign on the crowdfunding website Patronicity and got additional matching funds of $75,000 from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
The money helped fund the renovation of…
