Los Alamos Makers opens public creative technology workshop series

A $29 class fee was the clearest sign that Los Alamos Makers was trying to lower the barrier to entry for digital fabrication. Its introductory creative technology workshops opened the doors to the general public from June 3 to August 3, with no prior experience required.

The series was built for beginners and intermediate makers, but the organization framed it more broadly: artists, designers, creative entrepreneurs, students, hobbyists, retirees and residents with only an early idea or a rough concept. Los Alamos Makers said participants could come in with nothing more than a desire to learn, then move from basic instruction toward small-batch production and market readiness.

The class list pointed to practical, not abstract, skills. Sessions covered introduction to laser cutting and engraving, Adobe Photoshop, 3D printing with Cura and Tinkercad, Adobe Illustrator, Cricut Maker 4 and Cricut Design Space, and Blender. Los Alamos Makers said the program taught workflows using Adobe Illustrator and Blender alongside laser cutters, 3D printers, embroidery machines and sublimation equipment.

That access matters in Los Alamos, where technical opportunity has often been associated with formal labs, advanced degrees and institutional gatekeeping. Los Alamos Makers is trying to widen that funnel. The nonprofit describes itself as Los Alamos’ first community prototyping facility and makerspace, founded in 2016 as a 501(c)(3), with a mission to foster a community of learners and doers while supporting creativity, perseverance, ingenuity and entrepreneurship at every age.

The organization’s current home at 1789 Central Ave. in Los Alamos, inside the Ruby’s K and Blue Window Bistro building, gives the effort a more visible public face than its earlier start in an empty classroom at The Community Lab. That progression, from a classroom collaboration space to a larger makerspace, mirrors the broader shift the group is aiming for: making fabrication tools feel less specialized and more available to ordinary residents.

Los Alamos Makers moved into the Central Avenue space in May 2025, when a ribbon-cutting drew Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce Director Sandy Jones, founder and president Dr. Prisca Tiasse and New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands Stephanie Garcia Richard. The move and the new class series underscore the same point: the county’s innovation economy is not being presented only as something that happens behind institutional walls.

Instead, the workshop push positions technical skill as something that can begin with a single $29 class and a public seat at the table. In a town known for science and engineering, that is a modest but meaningful attempt to turn Los Alamos’ reputation into a more open path into making, prototyping and local entrepreneurship.