Episode 1: The Old Stone Mill Center for Arts and Creative Engineering in Adams, MA
Hi, and welcome to Audible Café, where we spend time together each week to explore the natural world, wildlife, sustainable living, and climate change. Today, I’m sharing my interview with Leni Fried and Mike Augspurger, who founded the Old Stone Mill Center for Arts and Creative Engineering in Adams, MA. Also featured is Rosemary Wessel of No Fracked Gas in Mass renown, who is the Mill's green energy consultant and a founding volunteer. The Old Stone Mill Center for Arts and Creative Engineering is just that: a beautiful public space that solves a big problem for many folks, which is not having the equipment, materials, and/or physical space to pursue their creative and engineering projects. The 28,000 sq. ft. building is currently undergoing Phase I of a renovation made possible by a grant from ArtPlace. The Center's founders and volunteers are currently working to:
- Position the mill as a zero-waste enterprise that also diverts materials from the waste stream – they are collecting lots of things to redistribute throughout the community, to people who need them and to people who want to create new things from old things. They are already diverting (literally) tons of stuff!
- Design and build art spaces, an industrial sewing center, and a machine shop with an astounding collection of fully functional, donated equipment and tools available to those who cannot afford to fully outfit their own shops and studios. And what's not functional, Mike can fix!
- Provide space for community members to come together to learn and experiment in arts and technology.
The mill is located at 2A Grove Street (Route 8) in Adams, Massachusetts, right next to the beautiful Hoosic River. MAP Thank you Leni, Mike, and Rosemary! We had a great time chatting at the mill. The Old Stone Mill Center is evolving. Please get in touch with the Mill's team at leni@oldstonemillcenter.org if you'd like to be a part of it!
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Audible Café is a place-space where we spend time together each week exploring the natural world, wildlife, sustainable living, and climate change. This opens up possibilities that are basically limitless. And, now more than ever, we need to spend time together being inspired, learning, and trusting we can have a positive impact on the world we love.
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LINKS FROM THE SHOW
Turn, Turn, Turn - When a Hammer Just Won't Do
Deconstruction Bonanza – The De-Mise of a De-Humidifier
Leni Fried Printmaking website
Mike Augspurger’s One-Off Handcycles website
Youth Center, Inc. in Adams, MA .
Old Stone Mill Center Project Page at ArtPlace America
Berkshire Trade and Commerce July 2018 article
Theme music by Brian Eddy