Twirl’s Invent Event A Taos twist on a Maker Faire
THIS EARTH DAY, Saturday April 22, at the Enos Garcia gym from 12-4 p.m., Twirl and our community partners will again fill the gym with makers and inventors from every corner of Taos County and New Mexico. The 6th Annual Invent Event is a Maker Faireinspired celebration of creativity, community, collaboration and play. Over 60 community partners will provide 1,000 kids and adults opportunities to explore, invent and build together using various low and high technologies, tools and materials at more than 30 hands-on stations. The energy is tangible for the return of this annual event, with more active community partners than ever!
In early 2015, former Twirl Director Nikki Ross had the “spark” of an idea after visiting the Exploratorium in San Francisco with the Twirl Team and learning about the Maker Movement. “My girls were getting older and still interested in learning through play, but with more complex tools. Instead of tape and glue, they were interested in soldering, 3D printing and engineering,” said Ross.
Building on brainstorming sessions with Marti McDonald of PPC Solar, and in Twirl’s first year as a nonprofit, Nikki approached Nina Silfverberg. Now known as Twirl’s Ambassador of Play and Creativity
and a master of community collaboration, in those days, Nina’s creativity and design expertise were already at work behind the scenes at Twirl. With Nina’s background in production, Nikki knew she was just the person to bring this big idea to life. Since that first Invent Event, Nina has been designing, producing and collaborating to keep this an exciting, engaging and energizing event for Taos kids.
The Maker Movement began in the California Bay area in the early 2000s. The first Maker Faire took place in 2006 in San Mateo and, over the next 13 years, expanded to more than 200 licensed Maker Faires in more than 40 countries. These events are “The Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth — It’s county fair meets science fair meets farmers market meets burning man for families,” according to Make.com.
Often in the western world, lifestyle and habits lend themselves to consumption and commercialism, reducing conscious thought about where things come from and how they are made or manufactured. Instead of creating and fixing, items are more often bought and discarded. The art of making is innate in Northern New Mexico. Across cultures in our communities, the tradition of making and fixing one’s things is alive and well and has always existed as a way of life. Taos is a community like no other; our slower way of living, geographic location and traditions lend themselves to keeping space for passing knowledge and traditions from the older to younger generations. Making brings awareness to a child’s natural aptitude to build, create, and think critically. It imparts an understanding of what goes into creating simple and complex things like an article of clothing or a computer-based art installation. Slowing down the pace and taking the time to create and invent gives a further appreciation of time, the end product of whatever it is you make, and the ability to understand that everything comes from somewhere and is made or manufactured by someone or something.
Twirl’s Invent Event is genuinely unique to Taos. It showcases the talents and skills of our own Northern New Mexican communities, braiding together the past, the new and the future in one afternoon for an unforgettable experience for children in Taos. Nina says, “As a society, we have become removed from knowing how to make and fix things. Art, woodworking, metal fabrication and culinary arts are all electives, not school requirements. The more kids experience creative making, the more it will become a way of thinking and living.”
Are you curious about a large-scale Orrery? Or how a Black Hole works? How about moving through space virtually, elevating yourself with stilts or bending time? Experience this year’s Invent Event!
Twirl’s partners for this event are PPC Solar, Jordan Machardy/United Time Travel and Plumbing Services, Enos Garcia Elementary School, The Paseo Project, Santa Fe Children’s Museum, Explora, Carl Rosenberg, Taos Alive, Math-AMuseum, FITaos, Peñasco Theater, TILT, Amigos Bravos, Youth Heartline, Taos Behavioral Health, Nurturing Center, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Arroyos Del Norte School, Enrico Trujillo, UNM, Dawning Pollen Shorty, Harwood Museum of Art, Sage Automatic Systems, Taos Library, Mr. Science, Santa Fe Alliance for Science, Leilani Montaño, Kendra Peralta, True Kids 1, STEMArts Lab, Vortex Yarns, Taos Municipal Schools, Leah Sobol, Kiki Love Productions, Wholly Rags, Imagine Children’s Museum, Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, Taos Youth Coding Club, Taos Pilot’s Association, Hart Print Shop, SOMOS and more.
This year’s Invent Event is made possible through generous support from community sponsors. Visit twirltaos.org.