There's a growing interest in creating open-ended experiences through maker activities for all ages /demographics in museums. In some cases this is a formal dedicated space with structured programming, in others it might be a "pop-up" activity situation, either on or off site. This panel includes maker space directors from different types of museums in various stages of implementation giving short presentations on the goals of creating the space, the successes and failures along the way. They also offer advice for anyone interested in bringing this type of program into their museum. The discussion then turns to how maker/hacker spaces might function differently in science museums, vs. art or history museums. Finally, the discussion features how to start this kind of project, fund it, and some early evaluation and assessment. Panelists: Karen Wilkinson - TinkeringStudio,The Exploratorium, Chris Weisbart- LA County Museum of Natural History & learning labs consultant Charlie Walter -- Executive Director, NM Museum of Natural History & Science Don Undeen - Manager of Media Lab, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Mariano Ulibarri- Graduate student, New Mexico Highlands University Media Arts, Founder of Parachute Factory Community MakerSpace Presented Friday, Nov 9, 2012 at the Museum Computer Network Conference in Seattle, WA. mcn.edu