MakeFest is back for 2016, taking over the Museum of Science and Industry for a weekend of coding, crafting and creating. Visitors will get the chance try everything from Minecraft to embroidery in this celebration of hands-on, DIY fun.
There’s the big reveal of the museum’s Lever Prize project with FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) in Liverpool. The museum won the £10,000 prize with FACT earlier this year and has been working to provide historical information to help in the development of a Minecraft world based on the 1830 Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
Visitors will get a sneak peak of this world at MakeFest and be able to take part in three free Minecraft workshops – a drop-in session where visitors can drive a Minecraft train replica of Stevenson’s Rocket and two sessions for more advanced Minecrafters on building train carriages and designing level crossings.
The workshops will be delivered by creative technologists from FACTLab – FACT’s experimental space for collaborative learning and practice-based research. FACTLab’s mission is to invite people of all ages and backgrounds to get creative with technology, and encourage everyone who’s interested to get involved, learn and develop regardless of their previous knowledge of technology.
The Manchester Robot Orchestra are coming to MakeFest, and they need help with their string section. The brilliant Noisy Toys will bring their madcap junk expertise so visitors can build a symphony of ‘Auto-strummers’ and electric violins. Visitors can also try controlling the instruments with coding on Pi and Arduino. The orchestra will be back at the museum 26 October for a special performance during Manchester Science Festival.
MakeFest 2016 welcomes tinkerers and coders from all over the North West and beyond, to get visitors involved in DIY tech and engineering. All of them are out to prove that you can join in no matter what experience you have.
There’ll be crafters and artists encouraging people to find their artistic side too – from embroidery with Pixiecraft to woodwork with Studio Mitate. Younger visitors can try making their own scrap monsters and train models. There’s even some vintage toy nostalgia with the North West Meccano Guild.
Try everything, make something, and get your geek on at MakeFest.
msimanchester.org.uk/makefest2016
#MSIMakefest
