Opportunities for makers in Newmarket and York Region are growing thanks to a new partnership between two local businesses: NewMakeIt and The Maker’s Mark.
NewMakeIt, a non-profit organization at 621 Timothy St., provides tools, education and resources for artists, hobbyists and entrepreneurs,” co-founder Ryan Dibisch said.
They have equipment for jewelry making, pottery, digital fabrication, wood working, metal working and more.
“It doesn’t really matter what you do. If you’re a hobbyist, artist, entrepreneur, you can come here and there’s something to do,” Dibisch said.
The Maker’s Mark, which is at 16655 Yonge St., units 19 and 20, offers a retail space for entrepreneurs and makers to sell their items both in their boutique space and online, with more than 100 makers selling their goods through the space.
Erin Gooderham, part of the team behind the business, said it is “a place where makers can teach, can learn, can collaborate.”
Both The Maker’s Mark and NewMakeIt offer workshops to their members and that is the foundation of a new partnership between the businesses.
“We’re targeting the same people, we’re supporting the same people. So it was a very natural fit for us,” Gooderham said.
The pair said while the maker community is a small world, there is a large number of people not just in Newmarket but all across York Region and even from other places like Barrie and Muskoka who take advantage of their services.
One of their goals is to help foster connections in the community.
“That’s the core of what NewMakeIt is. That maker community that exists in our organization and in Erin’s, that allows them to collaborate on things, to learn from each other. It happens at NewMakeIt everyday and I want to see it happen across the board,” Dibisch said.
However, they said there aren’t a lot of resources available to local makers.
“You get so many people who know how to make but they’re at home and don’t have the opportunity to use the heavy equipment that you get at NewMakeIt or have a storefront and actually sell it because it’s very expensive for the majority of people to buy a store, be in a store,” Gooderham said.
Dibisch said he hopes this new partnership will change that.
“My goal out of it really is to widen the amount of resources available to artists, creators and makers in the community and I see that happening really quickly,” he said.
To start, the two organizations will be hosting a number of workshops.
While the upcoming ones will be more creative, focusing on topics like jewelry making or stain glass, they have a business series in the works.
“There’s a lot of creative people and they have great ideas and they have no idea on how to carry them forward, so we want to help give them that first step to carry it forward and get started,” Dibisch said.
The educational series, which is expected to take place in the new year, will cover topics like the basics of accounting, marketing, starting and running a business.
