CMU School of Drama


Thursday, June 29, 2017

Can TechShop Pittsburgh be saved?

theincline.com: A corporate-set Friday deadline to save TechShop’s Pittsburgh location is no more.

At a members’ meeting Tuesday night, Gadsden Merrill, TechShop Pittsburgh general manager, told the group of about 30 that conversations would continue past the deadline previously set to find a nonprofit or other entity willing to fund operations.

1 comment:

Sammy Williams said...

This article caught my eye because I actually spent six weeks last summer doing a program at a TechShop location in Crystal City, Virginia. It's a shame the location in Pittsburgh was not generating sufficient revenue to keep its doors open. I think the situation was similar in Virginia; I remember that they had to shorten their hours because the shop was too expensive to keep open for as long as they wanted. Hopefully the TechShop in Pittsburgh can find a new source of profit before they have to close for good.
I think the TechShop is special not only because its resources are available to people of all skill levels, but also because of its strong sense of community. I know I got lots of help from other people working in the Virginia location, and there was always a free flowing stream of ideas from everyone I encountered there. It's nice to know that there are other maker spaces (such as HackPittsburgh and Prototype) that are popping up around the country.
-Sammy Williams