President Obama Announces Mozilla’s Maker Party 2014 at First-Ever White House Maker Faire

Today, at the first-ever White House Maker Faire, President Obama is calling for a national Day of Making, and paying homage to the makers, innovators, tinkerers, educators and entrepreneurs that are bringing ideas to life, and helping spread the maker ethos far and wide.

In the spirit of that effort, President Obama will also be helping us announce Maker Party 2014—the Mozilla Webmaker campaign to teach the web on a global scale through hands-on learning and making—as well as some of the key partners that will join us this year.

President Obama helped us kick off our Maker Party last year as well—leading to nearly 1,700 volunteer-led events in 331 cities around the world. This year, Mozilla’s Maker Party will run from July 15th through September 15th, during which educators and makers will create opportunities to share hands-on making by hosting “learning parties” in schools, libraries, museums and community centers. Maker Party events feature people of all ages who are learning to code, making stop-motion animations, designing games, creating digital stories, fabricating wearable technologies, remixing websites, and so much more. Participants gain valuable web literacy skills as they learn about the basic culture, mechanics and citizenship of the web.

Key partners in 2014

This year, we’re excited to announce some of our new partners who will help bring the Maker Party experience to even more young people throughout the U.S.

• Institute of Museum and Library Services, will be sharing Maker Party details and encouraging participation among all the public libraries and museums within their network
• National 4-H Council will engage half a million 4-H program leaders, volunteers, parents and youth across the country
• The Association of Science and Technology Centers will be promoting the effort to more than 390 affiliated science and tech centers
• The C.S. Mott Foundation will be supporting Maker Party events in several states through the National Network of Statewide Afterschool Networks

There are over 100 other organizations that have signed up as Maker Party partners, who will be bringing making and learning, with a focus on spreading web literacy, to learners everywhere. If you’re interested in joining, please visit [link to Maker Party partner page]

How to get involved:

• Join the party. Sign up at party.webmaker.org. Make something, share it on the web, and teach others what you know.
• Watch the Maker Faire live today. The White House Maker Faire will be livestreaming all day.
• Host or attend a Maker Party. Add your events at webmaker.org/events, or find and attend an event near you.
• Spread the word. Join the conversation about celebrating making and learning. Use the #nationofmakers and #makerparty hashtags!

Mozilla’s Maker Party is a part of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Summer to Make, Play & Connect.