Announcement from the director:

Sadly, the widespread campus budget cuts have not missed the makerspace. We plan to remain open for at least the upcoming school year, but will need to cut expenses and raise revenue in light of this news. Our hope is to be transparent and responsive to our community in implementing these changes, to preserve as much of our impact as possible while cutting costs. We may have to adapt over the course of the year, but for now, we are announcing:

• We are scaling back our open hours, 1-6PM Monday through Saturday starting this Monday.
• We will not open the wood and metal shops on Mondays. Due to staffing shortages, maintenance needs, or other obligations, we may have to occasionally close those shops on other days (as always, smaller announcements like these will be on our discord).
• Materials will remain free, but we will be cutting back slightly on the scale of what we supply. To help cover materials costs (well over $100,000 last year) we may have to start charging a quarterly access fee later this year. We will likely start by charging access fees to staff and selling memberships to the general public.

We are not rehiring to fill the position vacated by Dave. Mark and I will be splitting our time working on paid consulting projects, so we will be less able to provide as much one-on-one support as we have in the past.

Now more than ever, I am asking everyone to try to be as conscientious as possible about their time in the space:

• Please always endeavor to leave the space better than you found it.
• Pass along what you've learned to those around you who might need advice.
• Be considerate about what materials (and tools...) you take from the shop. Please err on the side of sourcing your own materials a bit more, and try to be more efficient with the materials you do take (e.g. trying to organize laser cutter jobs to nest more efficiently, or using existing sheets instead of new ones).
• If you (or your friends and family) have the means, please consider making a donation directly to the makerspace budget (https://giveto.ucsd.edu/giving/home/?linkId=c32ab3e2-9b7f-44a4-8007-95e39b972e0e). Every dollar goes to keeping us running and preventing further cutbacks to our services.
   

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I hope that if we face this difficult time together, this upcoming school year the makerspace will continue to be impactful for our community of thousands of Tritons.