Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Bijur
Hi Jonathan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was a creative kid, what might be called a “divergent thinker” these days. I was always coming up with odd ideas, fidgeting with a piece of wire or string, reading voraciously, with all sorts of interests in math and science and history. I loved legos and other construction toys, making models, writing, sewing, cooking with my mom and grandmother. After college, I knew I wanted to be in education and gravitated to informal education settings like museums and libraries. I appreciated having the freedom to follow my interests when I was a kid and I wanted to give that freedom to others. I’ve been influenced by the maker movement, unschooling, intellectual freedom in libraries, and informal science education. I believe children are fully human and deserving of all of the respect and independence we would give to an adult.
All of that has brought me to Rediscover Center, a sustainable art/maker education nonprofit celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. When I moved to LA in 2010, I was a stay-at-home dad and volunteering in various organizations. Rediscover was a great match for me, a place where sculpture and engineering were two facets of the same human experience of making, where kids seemed to be given the resources and support to follow their own visions. I helped start new programs, joined the board, and eventually became Executive Director when the founder retired. I’ve helped to grow the organization, expanding to provide a wide range of art and maker educational services through our 65+ school partners, two locations, and extensive programming in the community.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Keeping the doors open at a community nonprofit is always a struggle. As Executive Director for the past 10 years, I’ve seen Rediscover grow with new programs, new funders, and new partnerships, which has been a wonderful and exciting ride. I’m surrounded by brilliant and dedicated people on our staff and board, working together to make interesting hands-on art and maker experiences for kids using scraps and discards. But as with so many nonprofits, particularly in the arts, money is often tight, while the needs of the schools that call up and the families that seek out our programs is great. We sometimes have fantastic opportunities to serve a community or raise our profile regionally that we just aren’t able to take advantage of.
We’ve been impressed with Rediscover Center, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Rediscover Center puts sustainability at the heart of maker education. We put real tools in kids’ hands, give them a mountain of recycled materials, and help them make projects as wild as their imaginations. Rediscover is a nonprofit organization aiming to give every child in Los Angeles County the opportunity to transform sustainably sourced materials into art and functional objects.
We’re best known for two things: real tools and sustainable materials. With our Tool Safety Protocol, we safely put power tools like cordless drills and power saws in the hands of youth, starting at eight years old. Using those tools, our Tinkering Camp program brings together groups of kids ages 8-14 for a week long collaborative Big Build, creating a child-directed project far bigger than anyone could make by themselves. The kids design and build treehouses, roller coasters, escape rooms, and six foot tall mechanized Pokemon sculptures. All of Rediscover’s programs use sustainably sourced recycled and upcycled materials. Our curated collection of donated materials includes wood scraps, industrial overstock and offcuts, household recyclables, and discards of all sorts that we save from entering the trash stream.
Rediscover works extensively in schools across LAUSD and other school districts in the region. We build school makerspaces, stock them with kid-friendly tools and plentiful materials, then teach workshops and afterschool programs that get students fully engaged in hands-on, minds-on activities. We’re proud of our curriculum, which supports students’ social-emotional learning, practical skills, visual arts aptitude, math and engineering knowledge, and appreciation of Los Angeles’ rich history of assemblage art, sustainability, and innovation. We’ve partnered with LAUSD’s Black Student Achievement Program to develop maker curriculum inspired by the achievements of Black artists and innovators from Los Angeles and across the country.
Rediscover is for families and schools looking for a way to get their kids off of screens, who want their kids to learn how to start a project and carry it through to success, who respect their children’s interests. When a child is passionate about a project, they learn faster and deeper than anything that happens in a classroom and can experience amazing bursts of growth.
We operate two Rediscover Centers, in Venice and Mid City, for field trips and classes during the week and open to the public on weekends for youth to use the tools and materials of a fully kitted makerspace. In an era where garage workshops are few and far between, we provide a place for kids to tinker, make, and learn how things work. We also bring our activities into the community, with a busy schedule of hands-on engagements at farmers markets, cultural festivals, school fairs, and other public events around Los Angeles.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
COVID taught me how important it is to focus on self-care and to care for the people around me. In the early months of the pandemic we were working remotely, reconfiguring how we connected with one another, and figuring out new ways to serve families and schools remotely. I and my immediate family were thankfully not effected in our health, but it was a very difficult time emotionally and societally. As an organization, Rediscover became much more conscious about supporting self-care and providing emotional support to one another. Those habits continued after we were able to return to in-person work and COVID-related restrictions slowly eased. I think we are a stronger organization today for having weathered the storm and established a healthier engagement with care.
Pricing:
- Tinkering Camp – $600/week with Financial Aid available
- Weekend Crafting and Woodworking – $10-40 depending on program
- Maker Workshop Field Trips – starting at $20 per student
- Creative Reuse Materials – still $1 per pound!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rediscovercenter.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rediscoverctr/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rediscoverctr
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/rediscoverctr
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/rediscovercenter
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/rediscover-center-venice-los-angeles
Image Credits
all credits Rediscover Center
