The Syracuse Arts Learning and Technology Makerspace workshop facility at the Delevan Center in the Connective Corridor will celebrate its grand opening on Thursday, creating a new hub for creativity in Syracuse.

Started by Mike Giannattasio, a Syracuse University alumnus, SALT Makerspace is housed in a studio fully-stocked with a vast amount and variety of manufacturing tools and machines, including hammers, saws and 3-D printers.

Makerspace is a chain of creation centers with locations across the country, although the centers are located mainly in major cities. Giannattasio, however, found everything required for a successful community and manufacturing center present in Syracuse.

“I saw an opportunity that I wouldn’t have necessarily seen anywhere else,” Giannattasio said.

The Syracuse center, open to SU students and faculty as well as local residents, provides the opportunity for experience and training in the art and business of manufacturing. With the option of a membership or attending a class, the center offers entry points for those with little experience as well as expert craftsmen.

The ideal SALT member would be someone with basic skills capable of teaching others. He or she would also have ideas that they would have otherwise not been able to pursue because of a lack of equipment or space, Giannattasio said.

Coming out of graduate school at SU, Giannattasio said he began getting involved in the local community and meeting people and businesses that fueling Syracuse’s growth. Led by his desire to teach interested students everything he knew and loved, he set out to realize his vision of an arts and engineering community center.

Giannattasio spent most of the last two years organizing SALT, assembling an impressive arsenal of tools and machines through donations from the Redhouse Arts Center and auctions. A large amount of support for the new center came, and will hopefully come in the future, from the Tech Garden, a local organization that helps entrepreneurs and startups gain a foothold and grow as a business, he said.

Seth Mulligan, the vice president of innovation services for the Tech Garden, said he approved not only of SALT’s effect on community members, but of the potential future opportunities for cooperation with other businesses.

“There is now a large interest in product-based manufacturing businesses, rather than software or other similar areas,” Mulligan said. “With all these companies looking for manufacturing facilities, we looked for a partner in SALT where we could refer them.”

In the future, Giannattasio said he hopes other businesses will use SALT as a place to train future employees in the creation of their products and the use of the machinery.

When it comes to the community, the area around SALT Makerspace is both a melting pot of cultural diversity and a hub of artistic interest, said Maarten Jacobs, director of the Near Westside Initiative.

“There are dozens of artists living and working in that neighborhood. SALT could create a kind of mini community where individuals could elevate their talents by being with others,” he said.

Published on September 11, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact John: jepearso@syr.edu