Sadie

I'm asking A^2 members to consider me for the position of member's liaison seat the 2025/2026 board of directors.

Working in our community of craftspeople, artists, entrepreneurs etc is an amazing privilege. If chosen for the BOD my first priority will be to honor that by conveying members' concerns directly to the board, and to facilitate communication between the BOD and membership.

I want to hear what members want from a board liaison - so far my thoughts include:

• Clear, direct, and respectful communication between and among all the members of our community
• Commitment to both the mission of the organization as identified in our mission statement To provide inclusive space, resources, and hands-on learning that empower artists, makers, and entrepreneurs to develop their skills, share their craft, and contribute to a thriving, diverse, and creative community and our historic values A^2 values I see these as compatible and mutually supportive
• We're a pretty good organization, our do-ocracy is a good thing. We're also not performing as well as we could on inclusion, or how we look to prospective members. I think all of the above deserve more attention from all our community: BOD, membership, staff.

Artisan's Asylum does not work without a lot of member-volunteer effort. This creates some dynamic tension between the need survive financially, and to better serve our local community. This place has a lot of moving pieces, and some of our challenges are complex. Especially in these times, having a healthy and functional creative space in A^2 is not optional.

Most of my history with A^2 has been since I joined the new & modern version in spring of 2023. In 2010+ at the Joy St Artisan's Asylum, I was a member of A^2 as a SCUL pilot, and donated major machinery - a Bridgeport mill - to Artisan's.

I came here to build acoustic guitars and other amusements in wood, metal, printed plastic .. and to build community, my volunteer work has included:

• Repairing shop equipment (usually selfishly, so I could get work done)
• Working with the Steering (Advisory) group
  • encouraging volunteerism and member communication
  • identifying growth opportunities
  • analyzing what data we've had on membership activity
  • organizing the most recent General Assembly
  • helping our new ED come up to speed and ease the transition to a new management team

As Digifab lead with the help of our team, we've focused on:

• improving equipment maintenance - we fix something every week
• bringing in and managing donations:
  • $3000 value Formlabs SLA printer and wash station
  • $4000 value Dremel laser cutters (to be sold for working capital)
  • $30,0000 value NEXA SLA printer
  • reduce the shop's hazardous materials profile

As a member of the DEI committee

• working to improve visibility and acceptance of marginalized community within A2
• helping formalize policy and procedures in the event of ICE attempts to intrude in the space
• establishing a scholarship program to support existing and prospective LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC members

Other volunteer work

• helping to manage our IT infrastructure
• supporting the Casting shop as interim shop lead.
• advising on best practices for industrial safety

Philosophically, I'm anarcha-feminist / syndicalist.

My professional background has been mostly in engineering, with materials science as my primary focus; also occasional stints making art. I have made my living as a blacksmith, machinist, mechanical/materials engineer, software engineer, glass blower, and research scientist, mostly working in large corporations and a couple of startups. I've studied enough management science to know I didn't want to do that for a living, and also enough to know the rules of the game. At MIT, I learned how much I enjoy teaching, especially teaching hand craft and art skills. I've been making my living with my hands (and creativity) for nearly 50 years. Artisan's Asylum can have a homey feel for me.

I am queer identified (lesbian), and I am / have been an activist and sometimes educator in the LGBTQ and leather sex communities going on 25 years now, I am an openly proud trans woman

No means no, Black Lives Matter, liberation is for everyone, when in doubt apply Hanlon's razor: Never ascribe to malice, that which can be explained by stupidity (I prefer to put it as ignorance / lack of knowledge)