The Maker Movement: Jeff Sturges at TEDxMidwest

Creator and community idealist, Jeff Sturges discusses the creation of "Makerspaces" where people come to learn, tinker and make things together. Sturges emphasizes how "Makerspaces" is a catalyst for social interactions that build communities and allow people to live happier, healthier, meaningful lives simply by connecting people.

Jeff Sturges enjoys making things and connecting people. Inspired by his experience with the MIT Fab Lab GreenFab program and the NYCResistor hackerspace, he moved to Detroit to build community workshops such as the Mt. Elliott Makerspace and OmniCorpDetroit. Sturges believes that collaborative making and learning can be much more than just STEM and STEAM education - they can be a way to strengthen our communities and ourselves. By cultivating a DIY/DIO mindset and increasing access to tools and knowledge, we the people will be better equipped to make things better.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)