Dear Maintainers,
What a year 2024 has been - a year of challenges, explorations, and a deepening of our community’s vision! We’re excited to celebrate with you some of our achievements:
We have met with over 100 new maintenance, repair and care researchers and practitioners globally.
Joined VR (Ex) Change, a multi-institution global sustainability network which grew to a collaboration and launch of the 2025 Maintainers Impact fellowship - receiving over 70 high quality applicants reminding us that this work thrives across the globe.
Participated in two conferences - Caring Futures: Contradictions, Transformation, and Revolutionary Possibilities of the American University of Paris and and the Repair Economy Summit 2024 led by our fantastic partners of Repair Economy Washington.
Hosted 14 virtual events including launching our Maintainers Meet Ups, Sustaining our Initiatives: Creating networks of Maintenance, Repair and Care in India, and monthly Maintenance Sessions.
We rooted into our community building values through our Meet Ups and dug deep into what it means to maintain The Maintainers through our Narrative of Change. We built a strong steering committee, and have a plan in place to ensure this body of work is supportive to this movement for the years to come. We are very appreciative for the year of funding the Sloan Family Foundation has provided us, and extend our utmost gratitude for every dollar amount and ounce of time you all have contributed to The Maintainers.
While there is still much to be explored and explained in the new year, we look forward to sharing with you about the direction The Maintainers will be taking in the coming months.
Take care,
The Maintainers
PLACES JOURNAL
Check out Places' Field Notes on Repair: 5, written by Director of Research and Programs, Lauren Dapena Fraiz along with many other wonderful Maintainers friends: including Lee Vinsel (Virginia Tech), Sam Bennett (2023 Maintainers Fellow), and Vita Wells (The Culture of Repair). The Places Journal features a range of publications on public scholarship about architecture, landscape and urbanism.
REPAIR ECONOMY SUMMIT
This year, we were glad to be more closely connected with the strong repair economy movement, spearheaded by many key leaders. We contributed to a compilation of a list of repair economy convening spaces, repair economy enthusiasts, resources, and upcoming events for their Repair Economy Summit.
Check out the work of Repair Economy Washington here, and stay tuned for updates and recordings about their recent summit on their website.
2025 MONTHLY MAINTENANCE SESSIONS
We’ve scheduled our 2025 monthly maintenance sessions through the year ahead! These maintenance sessions have become a warmly welcomed part of our monthly cadence, gathering individual maintainers who wish to block off an intentional hour to spend time maintaining, repairing and caring our respective projects together.
WE CONVENED OUR STEERING COMMITTEE OF 2024-2025
The Maintainers Steering Committee is designed to distribute leadership, ensuring the sustainability of our programs and enriching our decision-making processes. Our Steering Committee members include members of our fellowship alumni network as well as former advisory committee members, representing a wide range of expertise of Maintainers from different corners of the world. The Steering Committee is facilitated by our staff, Lauren Dapena Fraiz and Liliana Coelho.
THANK YOU TO OUR CONTRIBUTORS
While year was very exciting, we also had to be very realistic when looking directly at our funding model and the challenges it has brought. Your contributions support us more than you know, and they give us a clear sign that, “yes”, you are excited about the work The Maintainers is doing.
As a reminder, you can now contribute directly to The Maintainers via our Substack newsletter to help sustain our digital infrastructure and event honorariums! Your continued support – whether financial or relational – will enable us to expand our current initiatives and explore new approaches.
While our newsletter and content will always remain free, your contribution via Substack helps maintain The Maintainers :)
Support us by contributing below. Thank you for supporting this vision!
How will you make time for maintenance this season?
As we move into this season of reflection, we invite you to think about how you’ll make time for maintenance – both for the items you value and the relationships that sustain you.
Perhaps you'll spend some down-time with loved ones working on a shared project in your home or neighborhood, or cuddle up for a cozy activity - like downloading and printing our free Maintainers Coloring Book or dive into books that explore the art and history of maintenance, repair, and care. Or you might consider visiting a local Tool Library or Repair Café in your community, where you can learn new skills and help keep items in use for longer.
What other ideas do you have? We’d love to know!
We’d also love to hear what you are working on, your feedback on the newsletter, or anything that you find particularly relevant for The Maintainers Community! Drop us a line at liliana@themaintainers.org.