From this summer and onward, Mabel Negrete / Studio CNS is starting a new small business that will formalize her practice and passions in the city. It is called SPARKmakers and it is a workers-owned and charitable initiative that she will be developing in two Phases (for about 3-4 years).

The first phase of SPARKmakers will function as a “thinkering” portable lab and consulting/teaching venture which will serve youth and adults in Philadelphia. Through this lab, one of her goals will be to advance the design of hands-on minds-on project-based lessons and curriculums that combine ART and DESIGN THINKING with SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, CULTURE, and ACTIVISM. Second goal will be to bring on board 2 to 3 maker-educators and advisors from various fields of expertise to form the first SPARKmakers’ workers assemble by 2015.

For the second phase she wants to create a modest SPARKmakers workshop/hackerspace near the Historic Fair Hill Burial Grounds in North Philadelphia between 2015-2017. She sees this location being an essential site for bringing many people together – from neighbors, makers, hackers, environmental and social activists, technologists and the creative communities of the surrounding areas of North Philly – to share skills and the excitement of how we can reinvest in our communities to bring about an end to the mass incarceration and inequality in the city. 

 

Mabel Negrete is a maker/artist/educator/activist/nomad who is into many things. Learn more about her @ StudioCNS.org.