We're really pleased to hear from guest blogger, Mike Pountney. Mike is part of BuildBrighton - a community and workshop for local makers to get together and do amazing things. Thanks Mike!
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On Tuesday this week, I joined a whole host of Brighton creative types at the Brighton Digital Festival 'town hall' meeting at Fabrica, which I attended as part of the Brighton Mini Maker Faire committee. There certainly are some excellent plans for workshops, installations, and of course the many top-notch conferences like dConstruct and Flash on the Beach. It's shaping up to be a very enlightening September in Brighton.
For those of you that are new to the whole Maker Faire thing, they are quite wonderful events - showcasing the amazing creations of some of the finest inventors and crafters in the country. There's always a focus on interactivity - giving you things to play with, figure out, enjoy. There's also a ream of workshops, talks and demonstrations to help give you the skills and inspiration to try 
making stuff for yourself - and some shops and makers that can sell you the things you need to do it. Most of all though, they are fun, silly and totally awe-inspiring!
making stuff for yourself - and some shops and makers that can sell you the things you need to do it. Most of all though, they are fun, silly and totally awe-inspiring! 
Photo by Jurveston on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/2471431044/
Wouldn't it be good if we had one of these in Brighton?
Well, we are! BuildBrighton and a bunch of keen individuals have been chatting with O'Reilly over the last few months to plan how we get one off the ground. In the meantime, we've been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to show our stuff at the UK Maker Faire in Newcastle, and even got flown over to the massive Bay Area Maker Faire in California, as finalists of the Great Global Hackerspace Challenge.
So, where are we at with the organisation of the Brighton Maker Faire? We've got a date - Sat 3rd Sept - and a venue - The Dome Foyer Bar (and surroundings). We've got enough sponsorship to not bankrupt BuildBrighton, so are even making it a free event!
Now comes finding the best hackers, crafters, makers and inventors that we can, and with this we need your help with our Call To Makers! Do you, or your any of your friends:
* Make go-karts in your garage?
* Sew LEDs into clothing?
* Love to show people how to use a loom?
* Make mirrors that reflect cartoon characters instead of you?
* Keep banging on about all the cool things you've done with an Arduino?
* Go guerilla knitting at the weekend, after a nice bit of seed bombing?
* Take apart kids toys just to make them make weird noises?
* Build amazing things with LEGO/meccano/scalextric?
* Connect typewriters up to Twitter?
* Get into festivals for free each year with bonkers installations?
Well, we want to hear from you (or them), so please help us spread the word. Our deadline for submissions to be part of the event closes on the 30th June, so get over to http://makerfairebrighton.com/makers for details on how to apply.
Photo by LaughingSquid on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid/2466818970/
I should also take the opportunity to mention that we are still interested in finding more sponsorship and funding for the event - primarily to enable us to help cover the expenses of the makers that are the backbone of the Maker Faire. If you are interested in sponsoring the event, please get in touch with us at bmmf@buildbrighton.com.
We're also happy to take donations of support from individuals, see http://www.makerfairebrighton.com/supporters/ for how to donate!
Thanks
Mike Pountney