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Innovation Labs and Makerspaces a more than rooms or buildings with machines. They are people, emotions, activities, and cultures. All these elements are imperative to building a community. The build it and they will come rule does not always apply. 
It was my imperative to make sure that the space and community around innovation was built organically and the lab would become a place people wanted to spend there time, rather than have to spend it. 
Lab Strategies
User Centered: Meeting students where they are
Create a Cool, Safe Space
External Collaboration
Internal Collaboration and OutReach
Documentation
Maintain Space
User Centered: Meeting Patrons where they are
Whether the lab projects are generated by students or faculty, its important to remember that the work should maintain some relevance to the interests of the patrons involved. One should absolutely push them to expand their boundaries but if you haven't built rapport and initial interest it will be hard to maintain voluntary commitment, especially when projects get tough.  
The photo above shows three vastly different projects going on at once, at the same table. Fashion Technology Concepts, Mixed Media Painting, and Alternative Auto Fuel Exploration. All projects were student generated.     

DIO BRANDO JOJO THEMED EARINGS

INTERACTIVE NICKI MINAJ PROJECT

Interdisciplinary work is highly encouraged, but that is when more guidance to generating a project that truly meshes with everyone is needed. 
Meeting the patrons where they are not only means understanding what is interested and relavant, but it also means really understanding their individual knowledge and skill levels and adjusting appropriately. Taking an overly watchful approach on a confident patron can have just as negative an outcome as leaving an unconfident patron behind. 

KAYLA DESIGNING HER FLEXIBLE DISPLAYS

CREATE A COOL, SAFE PLACE
People want to be in cool places period.
Cool Space
The conversations, the music, the ambiance of the place should be fun and relevant to the interest of the students in the place. This includes playing the music they like or that they might find interesting. Its the labs responsibility to keep an ear to ground about what is trending and  cater and create conversation around those topics and how they relate to the students and what they can do in the lab. Make those connections. 
That relevancy should also make itself clear in the programming ongoing in the lab. Like the planning of a Spark AR workshop to help students make Instagram Filters or Valentines Day Wearables 
Safe Space
Maintaining a safe space is always a balancing act between making patrons feel that they can be their honest selves but not make other uncomfortable. This is a difficult equation to to balance that often involves redirecting conversation subtly, finding common ground topics, and diffusing tensions. 
One key thing to make sure is limited in a innovation space is Knowledge shaming. Knowledge shaming has an effect that is direct conflict with the goals to grow patronage of a maker space. We want to foster curiosity in those new innovation technologies, not make them feel bad about something they have been likely excluded from. 
EXTERNAL COLLABORATION
Ensuring the labs influence is felt beyond the 4 walls of the space is important. Additionally bring external collaboration to the table can lend much needed clout and interest to a growing innovation space. 
Working with TI's Trap museum was a great recruitment tool for interdisciplinary majors to come together to work on nontraditional but really cool projects. It also provides an opportunity for patrons to engage and get professional experience and network outside of the lab.  
Internal Collaboration and Outreach
Collaborating with colleagues, groups, classes, and events that already have patrons and systems in place is a great place to start to get people in the door. Running appealing workshops in the community also helps. 
Faculty Projects and Grants
Partnering with faculty regulars for projects is a great way to generate activity and work in the lab. With Faculty projects come students and funding. More importantly you have the potential to build culture but bring new people and team mentalities into the space. 
Partnering with Other Organizations on Campus
We also like to engage other organizations on campus. The AUC Art Collective has run several brainstorming sessions for their members involving "Thinking outside of the White Cube" to reimagine the future of art galleries.  We have also had some really cool projects done for the student run "Art After Dark multi-genre talent showcase"

Seen below is Thulani Vereen working on her final Dance-Tech performance for Art After Dark.
DOCUMENTATION
One of the things I observe with a lot of innovation spaces that is a huge missed opportunity is a lack of documentation of the work and stories that go on in the space. Its imperative not only for building clout and attracting potential collaborators, but also for visualizing to new participants what they could be doing in the space. The photos and videos created out of this innovation space serve as a means of representation to help create agency for new participants.
Maintaining the Space
In addition to all the above, we have the normal logistics involved in maintaining a maker space. This includes but is not limited to equipment repair, maintenance, and procurement. Cleaning and organizing the space and ordering from and maintaining the budget. This is a unseen essential activity that keep an innovation space running smoothly. 
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