Our new outreach coordinator, Nance Nahmias, gives the ‘Break It Build It’ campers from Burlington City Arts an overview of our Rapid Prototyping area as they discuss ideas for how to use 3D printers.

Our first Social Hour was a success with beautiful weather, the Wooden Spoon Bistro food truck and Arts Riot providing drinks.

Our studio member, Leif, was on hand to demonstrate his custom built “One Bit Wonder”, which is a square wave based audio synthesizer. It makes noises like a robot mosquito from an Atari 2600!

Thanks to Stephen Mease Photography for capturing photos from the evening.

After the social hour, the Vermont Makers used the Generator for a Makers Meet Up. There were three speakers presenting on the topic of economics, art & making: Val Esposito, Rebecca Schwarz, Ken Howell.

Code for BTV and Girl Develop It Burlington to Host Event Preview of National Day of Civic Hacking.

BURLINGTON, Vt., May 22, 2014 – On Tuesday, May 27 at 5:30pm at Fletcher Free Library, Code for BTV and Girl Develop It Burlington will host an event preview of Burlington’s National Day of Civic Hacking. This event preview combines a Code for BTV Hack Night and a Girl Develop It Burlington Code & Coffee session. Interested hackathon participants will learn more about what to expect at National Day of Civic Hacking and will hear about some of the projects planned for the upcoming hackathon.

“The tech industry has a systematic problem in its lack of gender and racial diversity. Code for BTV applauds the work that Girl Develop It Burlington has done to bring women from diverse backgrounds into the tech industry and further the careers of those already in the industry. One of the core values of Code for BTV is inclusivity, and we are thrilled to be partnering withGirl Develop It Burlington on this event. We hope that we can continue to work together to replace the patterns of exclusion all to common in the tech industry with patterns of inclusion.” –Bradley Holt, Code for America Brigade Captain with Code for BTV

“National Day of Civic Hacking is an amazing opportunity for women to lend their unique perspective to solve problems that are present here in our community. Often times women are an extreme minority at hackathons, so our goal is to lower the barrier to entry through participating in this low key introduction, and provide an opportunity to learn more about National Day of Civic Hacking. My goal is to help increase the number of women writing code at this event, so I’m hoping members of our community consider forming a team or joining an existing one that sparks their interest!” –Maureen McElaney, Girl Develop It Burlington

Burlington will be one of more than 100 cities participating in National Day of Civic Hacking on Saturday, May 31 and Sunday, June 1. Organized by Code for BTV, the Burlington event will bring together software developers, technology integrators, designers, makers and civic hackers to improve their neighborhoods and communities through technology. National Day of Civic Hacking participants don’t need to be experts to contribute; they just have to care about their neighborhoods and communities. Burlington’s National Day of Civic Hacking will be a non-competitive hackathon focused on collaboration.

Participants at Burlington’s event will work on projects in the following areas:

• Food Systems & Agriculture
• Renewable & Sustainable Energy
• Arts & Culture
• Human-powered Recreation

Code for BTV will also be hosting a birthday celebration on the Burlington waterfront starting after the first day of National Day of Civic Hacking on Saturday, May 31. More information about this birthday celebration, and other Code for BTV events, is available on the Code for BTV website.

Champlain College Creative Media Student Exhibit

April 26 – May 2, 2014

Opening Reception: First Friday, May 2nd from 5 – 8pm

This student showcase for the seven graduating Seniors in Champlain College’s new Creative Media BFA program represents a diverse cross-section of media. Works in the show make innovative use of photography, filmmaking, digital painting, oil painting, 3D animation, sculpture, installation, creative writing, printmaking, sonic environments and audience interaction pieces. The show reflects the broad focus of the CREM.BFA program as well as the evolving landscape of art, as it becomes increasingly interdisciplinary, as media mix and boundaries blur. The show’s title has become a phrase used by this group of young artists to poke fun at the often pseudo-intellectual/philosophical nature of how people speak about art. This is a group that tries not to take itself too seriously – young people who do not put themselves up on a pedestal for being artists, but who are passionate and engaged in their art nonetheless.

Join thousands of participants from around the world for National Day of Civic Hacking on Saturday, May 31 and Sunday, June 1 at Generator in Burlington, Vermont. Organized by Code for BTV, the Burlington event will bring together software developers, technology integrators, designers, makers and civic hackers to improve our communities through technology. You don’t need to be an expert to participate; you just have to care about your neighborhood and community.

More details to come!

Thanks for coming to our launch party!

Check out the time lapse below to see a snapshot of nearly 900 guests entering Generator during the launch event on Saturday, March 29:

Time lapse video by John Cohn.