The Maker District designed by Ball State graduate students is making progress toward becoming a part of Muncie.
The project to redesign a blighted downtown Muncie neighborhood started earlier this year, and is continuing to work toward its goal of becoming an economic and entrepreneur opportunity for Muncie.
The Maker District is a six-block area in the Goldsmith C. Gilbert Historic District. Urban planning graduate students are working on transforming it into a space filled with workshops and resources for local creators to work and create businesses.
“We thought live-work [creators living and making in the same house] is a great idea for Muncie because we have so many maker-type people coming out of Ball State and the history of Muncie being manufacturing people who have done tool and die making for years,” said Sherri Contos, director of the Muncie Arts and Culture Council.
Contos said renovating the properties is a good way to give them a new identity, since the properties are historic buildings that cannot be torn down.
Scott Truex, an associate professor of urban planning, said making something like this has the potential to transform Muncie and bring excitement and young investment to Muncie.
“What if Ball State really got serious about partnering with the city of Muncie and did something?" Truex said. "Instead of doing [immersive learning] on campus, we can do it in the community and it benefits a broader base. We’re not an island.
"That would be true immersive learning. Not just sending students out and gathering them back, but actually investing in the community.”
Truex said while progress is going slow for the district, it isn’t any slower than he expected it to be.
“I think these things take time,” Truex said. “This was an idea that is somewhat new and so the process of getting some of the community leaders familiar with it and getting them to understand how it’s happening in other parts of the country typically takes some efforts.”
Truex said the symposium they had in the spring to introduce people to the idea of a Makers District was successful.
“It’s become a much bigger part of the vocabulary for everybody from the mayor to Chamber of Commerce and others,” Truex said. “So that’s the key, getting people eased into the concept and the idea of what the maker is as an economic opportunity and as an entrepreneur opportunity.”
They are currently working on planning a follow-up symposium, and are also working on the development of the Gilbert and McKinley area.
There is a plan set to be completed by Oct. 1 that Truex said will try to show the projections of what the district could be.
Truex said Ball State can play an important role in the success of the district, with the entrepreneur programs and all the audit and district makers they are training.
“We’re bridging that and using that as a potential way to make amazing maker history that is Muncie that can be capitalized on with this experience,” he said.
Truex said he thought the community reaction to the Makers District would be very positive.
“It’s focused on building the local economy and the ancestry of Muncie and the heritage of Muncie, so I think as more people understand it and see the potentials for it, there will be a lot of support,” he said.
But getting the community involved with the program hasn’t been easy to do.
Turki Alhedr, an urban planning graduate student, said it wasn’t easy to convince people to come and share their opinions about the district and it’s future needs.
“I think they are not sure about [the district],” he said. “They like the solutions and they like the reality, but they want to know how we can translate the solution to the reality.”
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