October 1, 2024 • 29 mins
In this episode of Educating to Be Human, we begin the second arc of our inaugural season by exploring one of the most essential aspects of being human—our boundless curiosity and extraordinary creativity. Lisa talks with Nina Barbuto, founder and executive director of Assemble, a nonprofit organization in Pittsburgh that serves as a community space for arts and technology education. More than just a makerspace, Assemble is a place where education and community intersect, fostering innovation and confidence through making.
Lisa and Niina Assemble discuss how creation, curiosity and innovation are enhanced through hands-on learning experiences and engagement with Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STE(A)M) through hands-on learning experiences. They also dive into the concept of "social architecture," exploring how community spaces, like Assemble, can be flexible and adaptable to the needs of the people who use them, while allowing for self-expression and collaboration. Tune in to hear how architecture influences the way we experience space and community, and how Assemble exemplifies a unique blend of creativity, education, and innovation.
Nina’s passion for art, new media, and social learning led her to found Assemble, a community space for arts + technology, in 2011. On her own, Nina works in a variety of media including architecture, film, sound, and installation, often exploring the idea of recycling noise into a system or elevating the vernacular to the spectacular. Nina co-founded I Made It! Market in 2007. An idea based on urban acupuncture, this nomadic market partners with community, arts, and non-profit organizations to raise funds and awareness to assist in improving their communities while allowing local artists and crafters to sell their wares. Nina holds degrees in architecture from Southern California Institute of Architecture and Carnegie Mellon University, where she is also adjunct faculty.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:08):
Welcome to Educating to be Human,
a podcast where we'll explore what it means to be
human in today's world at the intersection of
education,
technology,
and culture.
I'm your host,
Lisa Petrides,
founder of the Institute for the Study of Knowledge
Management in Education.
Each week,
I'll speak with people who are supporting
transformative change in education today.
(00:30):
That is,
ordinary people creating extraordinary impact.
Thank you very much for listening.
Here,
within Episode 5 of Educating to be Human,
(00:52):
we explore a new aspect of what it means to be
human.
Our boundless curiosity and extraordinary impact.
These two things are deeply intertwined because
while curiosity drives us to explore and ask
questions and seek new knowledge,
it's creativity that compels us to innovate,
(01:14):
to find solutions,
and to express ourselves,
for example,
through music and literature.
But the question is,
how do we harness this interplay across different
fields like art,
science,
math,
technology,
and engineering?
In order to build a better future?
So in this episode,
we dive into these questions with Nina Barbuto,
(01:36):
whose passion for art,
architecture,
and social learning led her to found Assemble,
which is a community-oriented makerspace for arts
and technology,
and it's located in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.
Nina launched Assemble in 2011 to create a space
that could bring in members of the community,
(01:56):
young and old alike,
to open up,
create creative processes,
build confidence,
and offer learning that is hands-on.
At Assemble,
diverse communities come together,
reimagining and creating new possibilities for the
future.
Nina,
welcome to our show.
Thank you,
Lisa.
(02:16):
And it's just so great to be talking with you on
your podcast.
I wonder if you could just describe what you see
when you walk into Assemble.
I had the opportunity to actually visit Assemble.
Some months back,
and you have to see it with your own eyes.
And so since we're here on audio,
I would love for you to kind of describe it with
(02:39):
your eyes to the listener.
Totally.
We are in a storefront.
So as you're walking home from school or riding
home on your bike,
let's say you,
you know,
want a snack and you come into Assemble.
When you first come to Assemble,
you will see a wide glass.
(02:59):
Facade filled with different posters and kids'
artwork in the window.
You open the door and you see a Black Lives
Matter handmade sign that's on a doily hanging in
the window.
To your left,
you'll see the gallery.
And typically there will be something in there.
(03:20):
Maybe there's an installation.
Maybe there's stuff hanging from the ceiling.
Currently,
there's stuff from our Hack the Future students,
which is our two-year program.
And all the signs that they painted and created
for the local Garfield farm based on different
mental health sayings and trauma-informed care
(03:41):
issues to encourage people on how to keep going.
And so you see that.
And right in front of you will be the check-in
table.
To your right is going to be a bunch of tables
in a U formation around a monitor,
big TV screen.
That we typically will have videos or presentations
(04:01):
in.
And then in the corner,
you'll see the chill zone where there are books
and stuffed animals and games.
And also to our laser cutter and our 3D printer.
But if you look up,
there's giant foam tools,
there are crayons floating on the ceiling.
(04:22):
There are gender neutral bathrooms.
So,
you know,
take your pick.
And we also have.
We have a room in the back that we call the
danger zone that has the electronics and robotics
kits,
as well as like saws,
hammers,
and more.
There's a few desks against the wall for part of
the office space.
But then there's another room that we have even
(04:45):
more office space now that's connected to the next
facade.
All the walls in the space are metal shelves that
we have transformed into being our walls.
So we have.
We have pieces of OSB and homosote attached to
eight foot shelving that are able to roll around
(05:07):
and they hold all of our bins of materials.
So you are just surrounded by stuff and
opportunity.
What does assemble give to kids that schools
aren't able to,
right?
Because in schools we're teaching science and
technology.
And so,
so what is it that,
that.
(05:27):
Uh,
kids are able to do there that they don't get to
do in schools.
I think something that they're able to do at
assemble that they're not able to do in other
places is teach each other and be encouraged to
teach each other and teach our teachers as well as
like,
just question and be like,
(05:48):
well,
what if,
cause like there are no grades at assemble,
if they are interested in going down a path that
isn't.
What the teacher had planned for the day.
That's okay.
Part of our mission is nurturing agency in learners
and thinking like,
how do I own my own learning?
And it might not be a total free for all,
(06:08):
but at the same time,
like encouraging the kids to say like,
okay,
well,
you know,
I might be interested in doing this today and that
tomorrow.
And how,
how could I do that?
And who should we bring in and really utilizing
the full learning environment of Pittsburgh as a
resource.
And Assemble being more of a conduit and connector
(06:30):
to those folks.
So like,
if we do have students,
for example,
interested in DJing,
we will bring in people to teach the kids how to
DJ.
Right.
And maybe the kids can even go to visit someplace
that's like making DJ equipment,
or let's say like someone is interested in
robotics.
Can we have people come in?
(06:51):
Can we go to a field trip?
How do we continue to expand on this learning,
but also to reimagine?
What are the ways that this type of learning is
actualized currently?
And what inspired you to create a space like
this?
Assemble really comes out of my own learning
(07:11):
experiences from studying architecture as an
undergrad and getting my bachelor's of architecture
and really diving into like project-based learning
that way.
And then going on for my master's of architecture.
And your master's of architecture with media.
And that led me to work in LA,
(07:32):
diving into how buildings learn from us and how we
learn from our buildings,
which then translated to these ideas of like,
how are we teaching ourselves?
And how are we learning from our community and the
environment?
And long story short,
I ended up moving back to Pittsburgh with this
(07:52):
idea of what if we had a space to come together
and to put things together and to question things
and to learn from each other?
And I just kept talking to a lot of folks about
the idea and magically a friend was buying a
building on Penn avenue in the Penn Avenue Arts
(08:13):
district and I convinced them that he should let
us do assemble in there we started as an all
volunteer run organization.
And 13 years later and a move down the street
we now have a total of 30 people working in
Assemble and 15 of the folks are full-time.
That's quite an endeavor. I would love to hear just
(08:36):
a little bit more about when you were talking
about your background in architecture,
because I think there's something really unique
that you bring when you're thinking about
space. I know that you use architecture.
I mean you said that architecture is like problem
-based learning right?
And how architecture kind of impacts your concept
(09:00):
of what place should be? Some people might start a
non-profit and say okay we're going to rent this
office space so we can get going. I think your
concept and really informed by your own background,
really helped develop what this was going to be in
reality. And I think of Assemble as its own
(09:20):
like form of social architecture when we're
designing architecture right and we're designing
spaces be it a permanent or temporary structure
we're thinking about how bodies move through space
and how people typically are utilizing it for
different reasons and needs and wants,
(09:42):
and how are we incorporating the flexibility,
right for people to make it their own? There's a
great article about
Adolf Loos, Crimes and Ornament, and it's just like the
architect who over designs everything and you know
like you might think of a Frank lloyd Wright in
this situation where you're like you have to sit
(10:03):
in these chairs and other things.
But the architecture that I'm trying to practice
here at Assemble shines when people are able to
make that space their own so like the infrastructure
is invisible or it's enough so that you don't have
to make up everything but you can remix everything.
(23:59:59):
I love that,
i love that so when you were creating Assemble,
you know,
who were you designing it for?
Well again like we got the space and so a lot of
it was like okay who's coming in who's here. We
didn't really know who was the audience,
but the original space was right next door to the
thrift store so every Saturday we had kids and i
mean like granted,
i was designing it for people i knew and my
friends right.
So like at that time i was 26.
So it was like oh millennials and weird artists
folks and interesting creatives and techies and
everything in between. So I was designing it for
people who wanted to come together and learn stuff
and was not designing it for foundations.
So I was designing for the people who walked down
the street and lived next door or would come in
to get a free snack.
I think that set us up to always be reflective of
of our community.
And so when you first started,
did you start with volunteers or did you start
with a team?
How did you get going?
So for the first four years of its existence,
it was all volunteer run.
I pulled together people that I knew as a board
and things together for starting a 501c3.
I did not know anything about that kind of stuff
before diving into it.
Fortunately,
we have a really great library system in Pittsburgh
where there is a nonprofit library room.
And there's also a great business room too.
They have everything.
And was able to pull some local expertise to
share.
And we were able to get contracted to deliver
programming for other out-of-school time spaces and
nonprofits throughout the summer of like 2012, and
started to be able to pay teaching artists as
contracted teachers at that point.
And then we continued to do that until really 2017
when we switched everybody to part-time staff and
created some full-time positions.
And we're able to have more full-time positions in
2019 and have continued growing.
So tell me a bit about how your programs have
evolved over time.
I think all of our programs really have been a
response to community need from after school to
summer camps to even birthday parties.
We're doing it because someone was like,
hey,
can you guys do a birthday party?
Or hey,
can you do summer camps?
Or after school,
or tutoring or something,
the monthly gallery crawl that we're a part of is
already part of the Penn Avenue Art District's
infrastructure.
And so that was a given.
And we really just have been responsive to what
other folks have asked us to do,
even including our day camps for youth that have
days off for different holidays.
When it comes to the subjects and topics,
we are very committed to the combination of
science,
tech,
engineering,
art,
and math through a culturally relevant and
contextually responsive lens.
We want to make sure that we're hitting a wide
range of subjects,
but also to thinking about how do we practice all
of those verbs for science,
technology,
engineering,
art,
and math,
and doing it in a way that is meaningful.
So if you don't see yourself in what you're
learning about,
why would you,
why do you want to learn about it? Or you don't
see how you might influence it.
And,
or if it's not relevant to your existence
currently,
how might you use it differently in the future?
So we're constantly looking at what is happening
in contemporary art and science and math and
engineering,
as well as like,
what can we learn from the past to remix for the
future?
And another example of how we practice STEAM
through a culturally relevant and contextually
responsive lens is through our Afrofuturism
curriculum,
where we're looking to the past as we reimagine
the future while centering folks from the African
diaspora.
That's great.
That's so important how you're weaving in STEAM,
right?
STEM.
I'm not sure if everybody knows what's,
why don't you tell us about STEAM and STEM and
the art,
a little bit just quickly about the origins of
that?
Yeah.
Oh,
yeah.
A lot of the STEM versus STEAM conversation really
comes down to funding and who is paying for what.
So I always like to say that,
you know,
like if you're looking at more STEM programs,
you're looking at folks or like it's more work
-based or workforce development based programming.
So it might be more like learn how to use these
fancy buttons to do the thing that I am telling
you to do versus like STEAM,
which is really truly looking at the creativity
behind it.
It's like,
well,
what fancy buttons are we inventing and why do we
have buttons and really questioning and communicating
about something else.
When we are defining STEAM at Assemble,
we're not just looking at the subjects,
but also the verbs that we use to practice it.
So Assemble,
as you know,
is both a verb and it is a noun because it is a
place and it means to come together and to put
together. And so,
when we're practicing science,
we are observing the world around us and we are
looking at how elements might react when we're
studying chemistry or living things and how they
eat,
die,
poop,
and reproduce when we're studying biology.
And then we're able to put our measurements or
metrics to it to prove things true. And that's
where our math comes in and we're able to see if
something happens over and over again,
and we're able to see if something happens over and over
again.
And we're able to see if something happens over and over
again.
And we're able to speculate from there,
right?
When we're practicing our engineering,
we put what we've observed and what we know to be
true through the engineering design process.
And then through that process,
we're able to make something new.
We're able to make new science or we have new
types of math that comes through that,
well,
what if I do this?
And with technology,
this is the stuff that we are creating along the
way.
It is truly our making. So what do we want to make
through the things that we are changing,
things that we've observed,
things that we've proven to be true?
And then through art,
it is how we communicate about it all.
If we do not have the ability to communicate,
our science dies. We can't say what we want to
change or what we're creating,
right?
Like it really needs art at the end of the day.
And so we take it all apart and we put it back
together,
and that's how we practice STEAM at Assemble.
I think we understand.
I think we understand.
And you know all too well from your own work
about how curiosity drives human innovation and
discovery,
for example.
Is there a way that Assemble is really sort of
nurturing and harnessing this kind of natural
curiosity?
I would say in the kids,
but probably in the adults too.
So it'd be nice to hear a little bit about your
work with adults.
Yes.
And I think the first adults that we have to
start with are the adults that work in Assemble,
because they're the ones who have to embody
it. There's a lot of reprogramming we have to go through as adult learners even if we are working with youth. I grew up in a time when creativity was still a dirty word. You'd be in trouble for trying to do a creative act. And everything has shifted, which is so wonderful. But thinking about innovation and creativity, something i think we practice which is something that i don't think we practice a lot in schools is listening
to each other and helping each other to be seen
and feel that we are being seen and heard.
And so having that presence or being able to say
like,
I understand and I see you and I hear you, and
what if we do it this way?
Or what do you think helps to foster that spark
towards deeper innovation,
right?
And collective imagination.
With our adult learning programs,
we really want to help folks see and gain access
to the amazing stuff that we are doing with kids,
such as like sewable circuits.
We just did a workshop last week,
actually,
with some alumni from Carnegie Mellon to do a
sewable circuit activity where we created a special
stamp with the laser cutter and stamped it.
And then people got to hold it.
And so that's what we're doing.
We're going to embroider and add some lights.
And they had never done that before.
So thinking about like,
what is possible and what we can continue to
share.
And sewable circuits,
right?
Like that's not new technology.
They've been around for close to 10 years.
But yet that's not something that's pervasive,
like sewing.
Can you actually describe what a sewable circuit
is?
Oh,
totally.
So a circuit,
right?
A simple circuit,
one can say has a power source,
and some output.
And for this case,
we're going to use a battery and an LED.
So you can put an LED and a battery together and
you make a very simple circuit.
Now,
what if I would like to do a sewable circuit?
Well,
there are sewable battery holders.
And so I'd sew that on and I'd use conductive
thread,
which has metal in it.
And I'd sew from the positive to the positive,
on the other side,
the negative to the negative,
and then make my circle for my electricity to
travel through.
And voila,
you put the battery in there and the LED should
light up.
And if not,
you need to double check to see if your string,
your thread is touching itself,
because that will cause a short circuit.
And it's a great way of learning about circuitry,
because as we all know,
electricity is lazy.
And it will find a way to not make the full
connection if possible.
So not only do you want to have clean lines,
when you are sewing,
but you also just want to make sure that,
you know,
how are we not messing up the flow?
That is just a terrific example about where the A
comes in STEAM.
You know,
it really seems to me that you've really built and
helped foster a sense of community and connections
among people.
Can you tell me a bit more about the community
that's developed around Assemble?
It really seems that the collaboration with the
community is helping to foster a deeper sense of
connection and shared purpose.
Is that true?
And if so,
tell me a bit more about that.
Yeah,
part of the intention and design was always for a
symbol to be reflective of its community,
right.
And so community has always been something that I
am driven by.
And part of assemble's name,
right,
the smaller text is a community space for arts and
technology.
And it's slowly built a fabric of community that
is not only youth,
but the adults,
the guest experts,
the board,
folks from different universities,
people who live down the street,
and everyone in between.
So when I would talk about Assemble and how we
assemble different communities,
I would always talk about,
you know,
the physical community of Garfield,
and there's Friendship and Bloomfield and all these
other neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.
And then to like all the elementary and middle and
high schools that are around the area,
and then the universities thinking about how are we
mixing our big brains with our fresh brains.
And then also to like,
how are we bringing in the arts community and the
tech community to share their ideas.
And it's been an assemblage of everybody at once,
and has been a beautiful thing.
And you never know what's going to come out of
this juxtaposition.
Can you say a little bit more also about
Pittsburgh,
because a lot of people might not know Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania,
very specifically,
you know,
what is it that's unique about Pittsburgh that
you're even able to be in this space?
In this environment where you have art and
technology and science together?
So Pittsburgh is an interesting city in the sense
that it has always been identified as a city that
makes things,
right?
So like it was a city of steel,
the steel industry was huge.
And it has since revamped itself to be more of
the eds,
meds and tech.
There's a whole bunch of robotics companies.
We,
of course,
have CMU,
we have things like Duolingo,
we have a lot going on.
But there's a lot of art that sometimes is not as
thought about and lifted up.
And there's just so much creativity.
It's also a town that had a lot of immigrants,
and it still is a sanctuary city,
and prides itself on being a space for refugees and
new Americans.
And thinking about how one can take their DIY
spirit or like I'm gonna figure it out.
Kind of mentality.
And things like,
how would you do this for your neighbor?
How can you do this together?
Let's make something happen.
So really what you're describing it,
it's a social space,
as well as a creative space.
And I might say,
you know what,
why is that important today?
You know,
creativity can happen in a solo environment,
but we're never truly disconnected.
We're always either affecting the environment or
each other.
It's never in a vacuum,
right?
We're always building off of what someone else has
done and what we are doing becomes part of that
lineage.
It's always rooted in community,
regardless of what we're doing.
So what do you see as both the opportunities and
challenges for Assemble going forward?
You know,
what are you most excited about and maybe what are
some of the barriers in the way?
The things that I'm most excited about are our
ability to help the next generation of educators.
So,
we have created a fellowship for 18 to 24-year
-olds who are interested in getting involved in the
informal teaching world or becoming out-of-school
time educators or teaching artists,
which typically you don't need a degree to do,
right?
So like,
how does one learn about human development?
How does one learn about lesson plans?
How does one learn about all of these things so
that they can start to execute and translate their
creative ideas into learning experiences for younger
people or for seniors or for whoever might be
learning at that time.
That's something that I am really excited about.
But one of the challenges is finding the funding
to keep doing this work,
doing the work for the opportunity youth for the
18 to 24-year-olds,
doing the work for everybody,
the kindergarteners to the 18-year-olds,
for,
adults and for seniors and making sure that we are
creating a workspace that is practicing equitable
policies and practices so that we can be a place
where people can be their full selves at work,
that they can share their creativity,
that they can help others to continue to share
their creativity and to continue to build and
practice the future that we want to see.
So that's a big challenge.
And an amazing opportunity.
Nina,
thank you very much for your time today.
I think you've made for us some pretty important
and profound connections between how we think about
space,
the space we occupy,
the communities we create,
and the creativity and curiosity that actually
enable these things to kind of thrive over time.
Is there anything else that you want to add before
we end today?
I just want to say thank you,
Lisa.
And thank you for all your work within this space
that you've done for so many years.
You are most welcome.
It's my pleasure to be able to talk with folks
who are in the world,
innovating,
creating,
and trying to transform what we do.
So thank you again so much.
Thank you,
everybody,
for listening to the show this week.
This has been Lisa Petrides with Educating to be
Human.
If you enjoy our show,
please rate and review us on Apple,
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You can access our show notes for links and
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Twitter at Edu2BeHuman.
That is E-D-U to be human.
This podcast was created by Lisa Petrides and
produced by Helene Theros.
Edu2BeHuman is recorded by Nathan Sherman and edited
by Ty Mayer.
Welcome to Educating to be Human,
a podcast where we'll explore what it means to be
human in today's world at the intersection of
education,
technology,
and culture.
I'm your host,
Lisa Petrides,
founder of the Institute for the Study of Knowledge
Management in Education.
Each week,
I'll speak with people who are supporting
transformative change in education today.
(00:30):
That is,
ordinary people creating extraordinary impact.
Thank you very much for listening.
Here,
within Episode 5 of Educating to be Human,
(00:52):
we explore a new aspect of what it means to be
human.
Our boundless curiosity and extraordinary impact.
These two things are deeply intertwined because
while curiosity drives us to explore and ask
questions and seek new knowledge,
it's creativity that compels us to innovate,
(01:14):
to find solutions,
and to express ourselves,
for example,
through music and literature.
But the question is,
how do we harness this interplay across different
fields like art,
science,
math,
technology,
and engineering?
In order to build a better future?
So in this episode,
we dive into these questions with Nina Barbuto,
(01:36):
whose passion for art,
architecture,
and social learning led her to found Assemble,
which is a community-oriented makerspace for arts
and technology,
and it's located in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.
Nina launched Assemble in 2011 to create a space
that could bring in members of the community,
(01:56):
young and old alike,
to open up,
create creative processes,
build confidence,
and offer learning that is hands-on.
At Assemble,
diverse communities come together,
reimagining and creating new possibilities for the
future.
Nina,
welcome to our show.
Thank you,
Lisa.
(02:16):
And it's just so great to be talking with you on
your podcast.
I wonder if you could just describe what you see
when you walk into Assemble.
I had the opportunity to actually visit Assemble.
Some months back,
and you have to see it with your own eyes.
And so since we're here on audio,
I would love for you to kind of describe it with
(02:39):
your eyes to the listener.
Totally.
We are in a storefront.
So as you're walking home from school or riding
home on your bike,
let's say you,
you know,
want a snack and you come into Assemble.
When you first come to Assemble,
you will see a wide glass.
(02:59):
Facade filled with different posters and kids'
artwork in the window.
You open the door and you see a Black Lives
Matter handmade sign that's on a doily hanging in
the window.
To your left,
you'll see the gallery.
And typically there will be something in there.
(03:20):
Maybe there's an installation.
Maybe there's stuff hanging from the ceiling.
Currently,
there's stuff from our Hack the Future students,
which is our two-year program.
And all the signs that they painted and created
for the local Garfield farm based on different
mental health sayings and trauma-informed care
(03:41):
issues to encourage people on how to keep going.
And so you see that.
And right in front of you will be the check-in
table.
To your right is going to be a bunch of tables
in a U formation around a monitor,
big TV screen.
That we typically will have videos or presentations
(04:01):
in.
And then in the corner,
you'll see the chill zone where there are books
and stuffed animals and games.
And also to our laser cutter and our 3D printer.
But if you look up,
there's giant foam tools,
there are crayons floating on the ceiling.
(04:22):
There are gender neutral bathrooms.
So,
you know,
take your pick.
And we also have.
We have a room in the back that we call the
danger zone that has the electronics and robotics
kits,
as well as like saws,
hammers,
and more.
There's a few desks against the wall for part of
the office space.
But then there's another room that we have even
(04:45):
more office space now that's connected to the next
facade.
All the walls in the space are metal shelves that
we have transformed into being our walls.
So we have.
We have pieces of OSB and homosote attached to
eight foot shelving that are able to roll around
(05:07):
and they hold all of our bins of materials.
So you are just surrounded by stuff and
opportunity.
What does assemble give to kids that schools
aren't able to,
right?
Because in schools we're teaching science and
technology.
And so,
so what is it that,
that.
(05:27):
Uh,
kids are able to do there that they don't get to
do in schools.
I think something that they're able to do at
assemble that they're not able to do in other
places is teach each other and be encouraged to
teach each other and teach our teachers as well as
like,
just question and be like,
(05:48):
well,
what if,
cause like there are no grades at assemble,
if they are interested in going down a path that
isn't.
What the teacher had planned for the day.
That's okay.
Part of our mission is nurturing agency in learners
and thinking like,
how do I own my own learning?
And it might not be a total free for all,
(06:08):
but at the same time,
like encouraging the kids to say like,
okay,
well,
you know,
I might be interested in doing this today and that
tomorrow.
And how,
how could I do that?
And who should we bring in and really utilizing
the full learning environment of Pittsburgh as a
resource.
And Assemble being more of a conduit and connector
(06:30):
to those folks.
So like,
if we do have students,
for example,
interested in DJing,
we will bring in people to teach the kids how to
DJ.
Right.
And maybe the kids can even go to visit someplace
that's like making DJ equipment,
or let's say like someone is interested in
robotics.
Can we have people come in?
(06:51):
Can we go to a field trip?
How do we continue to expand on this learning,
but also to reimagine?
What are the ways that this type of learning is
actualized currently?
And what inspired you to create a space like
this?
Assemble really comes out of my own learning
(07:11):
experiences from studying architecture as an
undergrad and getting my bachelor's of architecture
and really diving into like project-based learning
that way.
And then going on for my master's of architecture.
And your master's of architecture with media.
And that led me to work in LA,
(07:32):
diving into how buildings learn from us and how we
learn from our buildings,
which then translated to these ideas of like,
how are we teaching ourselves?
And how are we learning from our community and the
environment?
And long story short,
I ended up moving back to Pittsburgh with this
(07:52):
idea of what if we had a space to come together
and to put things together and to question things
and to learn from each other?
And I just kept talking to a lot of folks about
the idea and magically a friend was buying a
building on Penn avenue in the Penn Avenue Arts
(08:13):
district and I convinced them that he should let
us do assemble in there we started as an all
volunteer run organization.
And 13 years later and a move down the street
we now have a total of 30 people working in
Assemble and 15 of the folks are full-time.
That's quite an endeavor. I would love to hear just
(08:36):
a little bit more about when you were talking
about your background in architecture,
because I think there's something really unique
that you bring when you're thinking about
space. I know that you use architecture.
I mean you said that architecture is like problem
-based learning right?
And how architecture kind of impacts your concept
(09:00):
of what place should be? Some people might start a
non-profit and say okay we're going to rent this
office space so we can get going. I think your
concept and really informed by your own background,
really helped develop what this was going to be in
reality. And I think of Assemble as its own
(09:20):
like form of social architecture when we're
designing architecture right and we're designing
spaces be it a permanent or temporary structure
we're thinking about how bodies move through space
and how people typically are utilizing it for
different reasons and needs and wants,
(09:42):
and how are we incorporating the flexibility,
right for people to make it their own? There's a
great article about
Adolf Loos, Crimes and Ornament, and it's just like the
architect who over designs everything and you know
like you might think of a Frank lloyd Wright in
this situation where you're like you have to sit
(10:03):
in these chairs and other things.
But the architecture that I'm trying to practice
here at Assemble shines when people are able to
make that space their own so like the infrastructure
is invisible or it's enough so that you don't have
to make up everything but you can remix everything.
(23:59:59):
I love that,
i love that so when you were creating Assemble,
you know,
who were you designing it for?
Well again like we got the space and so a lot of
it was like okay who's coming in who's here. We
didn't really know who was the audience,
but the original space was right next door to the
thrift store so every Saturday we had kids and i
mean like granted,
i was designing it for people i knew and my
friends right.
So like at that time i was 26.
So it was like oh millennials and weird artists
folks and interesting creatives and techies and
everything in between. So I was designing it for
people who wanted to come together and learn stuff
and was not designing it for foundations.
So I was designing for the people who walked down
the street and lived next door or would come in
to get a free snack.
I think that set us up to always be reflective of
of our community.
And so when you first started,
did you start with volunteers or did you start
with a team?
How did you get going?
So for the first four years of its existence,
it was all volunteer run.
I pulled together people that I knew as a board
and things together for starting a 501c3.
I did not know anything about that kind of stuff
before diving into it.
Fortunately,
we have a really great library system in Pittsburgh
where there is a nonprofit library room.
And there's also a great business room too.
They have everything.
And was able to pull some local expertise to
share.
And we were able to get contracted to deliver
programming for other out-of-school time spaces and
nonprofits throughout the summer of like 2012, and
started to be able to pay teaching artists as
contracted teachers at that point.
And then we continued to do that until really 2017
when we switched everybody to part-time staff and
created some full-time positions.
And we're able to have more full-time positions in
2019 and have continued growing.
So tell me a bit about how your programs have
evolved over time.
I think all of our programs really have been a
response to community need from after school to
summer camps to even birthday parties.
We're doing it because someone was like,
hey,
can you guys do a birthday party?
Or hey,
can you do summer camps?
Or after school,
or tutoring or something,
the monthly gallery crawl that we're a part of is
already part of the Penn Avenue Art District's
infrastructure.
And so that was a given.
And we really just have been responsive to what
other folks have asked us to do,
even including our day camps for youth that have
days off for different holidays.
When it comes to the subjects and topics,
we are very committed to the combination of
science,
tech,
engineering,
art,
and math through a culturally relevant and
contextually responsive lens.
We want to make sure that we're hitting a wide
range of subjects,
but also to thinking about how do we practice all
of those verbs for science,
technology,
engineering,
art,
and math,
and doing it in a way that is meaningful.
So if you don't see yourself in what you're
learning about,
why would you,
why do you want to learn about it? Or you don't
see how you might influence it.
And,
or if it's not relevant to your existence
currently,
how might you use it differently in the future?
So we're constantly looking at what is happening
in contemporary art and science and math and
engineering,
as well as like,
what can we learn from the past to remix for the
future?
And another example of how we practice STEAM
through a culturally relevant and contextually
responsive lens is through our Afrofuturism
curriculum,
where we're looking to the past as we reimagine
the future while centering folks from the African
diaspora.
That's great.
That's so important how you're weaving in STEAM,
right?
STEM.
I'm not sure if everybody knows what's,
why don't you tell us about STEAM and STEM and
the art,
a little bit just quickly about the origins of
that?
Yeah.
Oh,
yeah.
A lot of the STEM versus STEAM conversation really
comes down to funding and who is paying for what.
So I always like to say that,
you know,
like if you're looking at more STEM programs,
you're looking at folks or like it's more work
-based or workforce development based programming.
So it might be more like learn how to use these
fancy buttons to do the thing that I am telling
you to do versus like STEAM,
which is really truly looking at the creativity
behind it.
It's like,
well,
what fancy buttons are we inventing and why do we
have buttons and really questioning and communicating
about something else.
When we are defining STEAM at Assemble,
we're not just looking at the subjects,
but also the verbs that we use to practice it.
So Assemble,
as you know,
is both a verb and it is a noun because it is a
place and it means to come together and to put
together. And so,
when we're practicing science,
we are observing the world around us and we are
looking at how elements might react when we're
studying chemistry or living things and how they
eat,
die,
poop,
and reproduce when we're studying biology.
And then we're able to put our measurements or
metrics to it to prove things true. And that's
where our math comes in and we're able to see if
something happens over and over again,
and we're able to see if something happens over and over
again.
And we're able to see if something happens over and over
again.
And we're able to speculate from there,
right?
When we're practicing our engineering,
we put what we've observed and what we know to be
true through the engineering design process.
And then through that process,
we're able to make something new.
We're able to make new science or we have new
types of math that comes through that,
well,
what if I do this?
And with technology,
this is the stuff that we are creating along the
way.
It is truly our making. So what do we want to make
through the things that we are changing,
things that we've observed,
things that we've proven to be true?
And then through art,
it is how we communicate about it all.
If we do not have the ability to communicate,
our science dies. We can't say what we want to
change or what we're creating,
right?
Like it really needs art at the end of the day.
And so we take it all apart and we put it back
together,
and that's how we practice STEAM at Assemble.
I think we understand.
I think we understand.
And you know all too well from your own work
about how curiosity drives human innovation and
discovery,
for example.
Is there a way that Assemble is really sort of
nurturing and harnessing this kind of natural
curiosity?
I would say in the kids,
but probably in the adults too.
So it'd be nice to hear a little bit about your
work with adults.
Yes.
And I think the first adults that we have to
start with are the adults that work in Assemble,
because they're the ones who have to embody
it. There's a lot of reprogramming we have to go through as adult learners even if we are working with youth. I grew up in a time when creativity was still a dirty word. You'd be in trouble for trying to do a creative act. And everything has shifted, which is so wonderful. But thinking about innovation and creativity, something i think we practice which is something that i don't think we practice a lot in schools is listening
to each other and helping each other to be seen
and feel that we are being seen and heard.
And so having that presence or being able to say
like,
I understand and I see you and I hear you, and
what if we do it this way?
Or what do you think helps to foster that spark
towards deeper innovation,
right?
And collective imagination.
With our adult learning programs,
we really want to help folks see and gain access
to the amazing stuff that we are doing with kids,
such as like sewable circuits.
We just did a workshop last week,
actually,
with some alumni from Carnegie Mellon to do a
sewable circuit activity where we created a special
stamp with the laser cutter and stamped it.
And then people got to hold it.
And so that's what we're doing.
We're going to embroider and add some lights.
And they had never done that before.
So thinking about like,
what is possible and what we can continue to
share.
And sewable circuits,
right?
Like that's not new technology.
They've been around for close to 10 years.
But yet that's not something that's pervasive,
like sewing.
Can you actually describe what a sewable circuit
is?
Oh,
totally.
So a circuit,
right?
A simple circuit,
one can say has a power source,
and some output.
And for this case,
we're going to use a battery and an LED.
So you can put an LED and a battery together and
you make a very simple circuit.
Now,
what if I would like to do a sewable circuit?
Well,
there are sewable battery holders.
And so I'd sew that on and I'd use conductive
thread,
which has metal in it.
And I'd sew from the positive to the positive,
on the other side,
the negative to the negative,
and then make my circle for my electricity to
travel through.
And voila,
you put the battery in there and the LED should
light up.
And if not,
you need to double check to see if your string,
your thread is touching itself,
because that will cause a short circuit.
And it's a great way of learning about circuitry,
because as we all know,
electricity is lazy.
And it will find a way to not make the full
connection if possible.
So not only do you want to have clean lines,
when you are sewing,
but you also just want to make sure that,
you know,
how are we not messing up the flow?
That is just a terrific example about where the A
comes in STEAM.
You know,
it really seems to me that you've really built and
helped foster a sense of community and connections
among people.
Can you tell me a bit more about the community
that's developed around Assemble?
It really seems that the collaboration with the
community is helping to foster a deeper sense of
connection and shared purpose.
Is that true?
And if so,
tell me a bit more about that.
Yeah,
part of the intention and design was always for a
symbol to be reflective of its community,
right.
And so community has always been something that I
am driven by.
And part of assemble's name,
right,
the smaller text is a community space for arts and
technology.
And it's slowly built a fabric of community that
is not only youth,
but the adults,
the guest experts,
the board,
folks from different universities,
people who live down the street,
and everyone in between.
So when I would talk about Assemble and how we
assemble different communities,
I would always talk about,
you know,
the physical community of Garfield,
and there's Friendship and Bloomfield and all these
other neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.
And then to like all the elementary and middle and
high schools that are around the area,
and then the universities thinking about how are we
mixing our big brains with our fresh brains.
And then also to like,
how are we bringing in the arts community and the
tech community to share their ideas.
And it's been an assemblage of everybody at once,
and has been a beautiful thing.
And you never know what's going to come out of
this juxtaposition.
Can you say a little bit more also about
Pittsburgh,
because a lot of people might not know Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania,
very specifically,
you know,
what is it that's unique about Pittsburgh that
you're even able to be in this space?
In this environment where you have art and
technology and science together?
So Pittsburgh is an interesting city in the sense
that it has always been identified as a city that
makes things,
right?
So like it was a city of steel,
the steel industry was huge.
And it has since revamped itself to be more of
the eds,
meds and tech.
There's a whole bunch of robotics companies.
We,
of course,
have CMU,
we have things like Duolingo,
we have a lot going on.
But there's a lot of art that sometimes is not as
thought about and lifted up.
And there's just so much creativity.
It's also a town that had a lot of immigrants,
and it still is a sanctuary city,
and prides itself on being a space for refugees and
new Americans.
And thinking about how one can take their DIY
spirit or like I'm gonna figure it out.
Kind of mentality.
And things like,
how would you do this for your neighbor?
How can you do this together?
Let's make something happen.
So really what you're describing it,
it's a social space,
as well as a creative space.
And I might say,
you know what,
why is that important today?
You know,
creativity can happen in a solo environment,
but we're never truly disconnected.
We're always either affecting the environment or
each other.
It's never in a vacuum,
right?
We're always building off of what someone else has
done and what we are doing becomes part of that
lineage.
It's always rooted in community,
regardless of what we're doing.
So what do you see as both the opportunities and
challenges for Assemble going forward?
You know,
what are you most excited about and maybe what are
some of the barriers in the way?
The things that I'm most excited about are our
ability to help the next generation of educators.
So,
we have created a fellowship for 18 to 24-year
-olds who are interested in getting involved in the
informal teaching world or becoming out-of-school
time educators or teaching artists,
which typically you don't need a degree to do,
right?
So like,
how does one learn about human development?
How does one learn about lesson plans?
How does one learn about all of these things so
that they can start to execute and translate their
creative ideas into learning experiences for younger
people or for seniors or for whoever might be
learning at that time.
That's something that I am really excited about.
But one of the challenges is finding the funding
to keep doing this work,
doing the work for the opportunity youth for the
18 to 24-year-olds,
doing the work for everybody,
the kindergarteners to the 18-year-olds,
for,
adults and for seniors and making sure that we are
creating a workspace that is practicing equitable
policies and practices so that we can be a place
where people can be their full selves at work,
that they can share their creativity,
that they can help others to continue to share
their creativity and to continue to build and
practice the future that we want to see.
So that's a big challenge.
And an amazing opportunity.
Nina,
thank you very much for your time today.
I think you've made for us some pretty important
and profound connections between how we think about
space,
the space we occupy,
the communities we create,
and the creativity and curiosity that actually
enable these things to kind of thrive over time.
Is there anything else that you want to add before
we end today?
I just want to say thank you,
Lisa.
And thank you for all your work within this space
that you've done for so many years.
You are most welcome.
It's my pleasure to be able to talk with folks
who are in the world,
innovating,
creating,
and trying to transform what we do.
So thank you again so much.
Thank you,
everybody,
for listening to the show this week.
This has been Lisa Petrides with Educating to be
Human.
If you enjoy our show,
please rate and review us on Apple,
Spotify,
or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
You can access our show notes for links and
information on our guests.
And don't forget to follow us on Instagram and
Twitter at Edu2BeHuman.
That is E-D-U to be human.
This podcast was created by Lisa Petrides and
produced by Helene Theros.
Edu2BeHuman is recorded by Nathan Sherman and edited
by Ty Mayer.
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