Erie Canal Museum Skill Share Workshops
In an effort to bolster community resiliency, comradery, and solidarity the Erie Canal Museum will be hosting a series skill sharing workshop, where presenters from community partners will teach the basics of how to do a variety of useful skills that also would have been practiced by canallers of the past, present, and future. These workshops will provide training in a way that will allow participants to transfer these skills to their everyday lives. Registration is required since space in each workshop is limited.
Schedule of Workshops (more to be added soon):
Saturday, December 6 @ 1:00 PM - Zine Making
Come learn about the history of zines and make your own.
Previous workshops:
Saturday, March 8 @ 1:00 PM - Sewing Basics - SOLD OUT
Join the Erie Canal Museum and SewWhat CNY to learn the basics of sewing. Use the basic skills you learn here to mend something old or create something new. Materials and equipment will be provided.
Saturday, May 3 @ 1:00 PM - Vegetable Gardening 101
Master Gardener Pat Jokajtys will teach us the basics of vegetable gardening. We'll then put those skills to use with Jokajtys as we plant the Museum's Locktender's Garden. You'll leave with the ability to plant your own garden!
Saturday, May 31 @ 1:00 PM - NYS Emergency Preparedness
New York State Emergency Preparedness gives residents the tools and resources to prepare for any type of disaster or emergency, respond accordingly and recover as quickly as possible to pre-disaster conditions. Trainings are led by the New York National Guard working with experts from the Division's Office of Emergency Management and Office of Fire Prevention and Control. The course provides an introduction to responding to a natural or human-caused disaster. Participants are advised on how to properly develop family emergency plans and stock up on emergency supplies. A key component of the training is distribution of free NYS Disaster Preparedness Kits to participants (one per family) containing examples of key items to assist individuals in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. The state training and kits will help New Yorkers to be the most-trained and best-prepared citizens in the country.
Saturday, June 21 @ 1:00 PM - Basics of Using a Map and Compass
Join the Erie Canal Museum and CNY Orienteering in learning the basics of how to read a map and compass to find your way around the city. The session will begin with a presentation on how to navigate then we will put those skills into practice by locating various historical landmarks in Downtown Syracuse.
Saturday, July 12 @ 1:00 PM - Basics of Bicycle Repair
Join the Erie Canal Museum and Mello Velo Bicycle Shop in learning the basics of how to patch a flat bicycle tire, use a bicycle repair station, and perform other basic maintenance on a bicycle.
Saturday, September 13 @ 1:00 PM - Foraging 101
This workshop will begin with a brief introduction to foraging and its history with Thomas Horton, Emeritus Professor of Mycology at SUNY-ESF. Afterwards, we will walk along the canal to see what is fruiting. This event will take place at Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum.
Saturday, October 11 @ 1:00 PM - Paper Making & Cyanotypes
Join 2025 Erie Canal Artist-in-Residence Kari Varner for this workshop that will explore paper making and cyanotypes, a photographic printing process that uses light-sensitive chemicals to produce a print.
If you need assistance registering or accommodations for the program contact Derrick at outreach@eriecanalmuseum.org or by calling 315-471-0593.
This program is made possible with the support of the Central New York Library Resource Council.
