About MAXT

Our Vision

MAXT vision is that by unlocking the community’s creative potential we feed community vitality and drive innovation in the region.

Our Mission:

To foster innovation and inspiration in a vibrant, inclusive, and collaborative environment, with shared resources, training, education, and mentorship.

Our Values:

  • We are an inclusive and affordable resource for all.

  • We value the sharing of knowledge and experience.

  • We believe that learning in a collaborative, inviting environment leads to development and personal growth for people at all skill levels.

  • We believe in facilitating events and gatherings to promote and celebrate the accomplishments of local makers.

  • We believe that collaboration with community partners will multiply benefits to our larger community.

  • We believe that driving innovation leads not only to personal but also to larger economic impacts in the region.

Our History:

Monadnock Art X Tech (MAXT) was formed in 2015 by a community of people in the Monadnock Region looking for an affordable place for creative people - artists, entrepreneurs, innovators, students and everyday people - to learn and build whatever they dreamed.

We took our model from makerspaces that had sprung up in larger, urban areas, but were unsure how well that model would resonate with a rural audience. We started small with a humble storefront space, some 3D printers and laser cutter and volunteer staff and opened our doors on September 1st, 2015. Over the next few years, we slowly developed a core group of members and supporters who were attracted to the makerspace concept and helped shape its development.

Makerspaces sit at the intersection of Art and Technology, creativity and trational, self discovery and shared endeavours. They are shaped by the community they are situated in, and then help present new opportunities to those people that didn’t previously exist. MAXT’s evolution reflects the community’s value of the skilled trades, artistic tradition, and public service. It has also helped that community new ways to express itself - using new tools, techniques and through new events.

2016 - MAXT members created the first Repair Cafe event in New Hampshire - an ongoing clinic that happens on the Second Saturday of the month from 10-2 where volunteer fixers repair items that members of the community bring in.

2018 - MAXT outgrew its initial space and moved to a new 7,000 square foot facility to accommodate woodworking, metalworking, textiles, printmaking and studio spaces. MAXT also launched a welding certification program, later becoming the PHAZE Welding Technology Center.

2019 - MAXT started the annual Night Market event - a showcase and celebration of local creativity featuring music, food, vendors, activities, art installations and other surprises.

2020 - In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, MAXT volunteers made and supplied PPE to hospital and nursing home staff and first responders around the region.

2022 - MAXT completed work and opened the Sharing Arts Ceramics Center in Dublin, NH. The center was the centerpiece to MAXT’s effort to bring back facilities to support the local arts community after the closure of Sharon Arts Center in 2019. Additionally, MAXT started printmaking, jewelry making, fiber arts programming at its Makerspace facility in Peterborough. At the end of 2022, MAXT opened the MAXT Gallery - a space for local contemporary artists to show and sell their work.