Membership

In order to become a member you must first:
  • Sign up on the website.
  • Sign our community participation guidelines
  • Sign-up for a general orientation and either a wood, metal, or textile orientation on our website calendar. Please sign-up at least three days before the orientation.
  • Once you schedule an orientation, you will receive an invoice for your annual dues.
  • Sign the membership and liability form (signed in-person during the orientation)
  • When you are ready to start your membership, please email Janine Fawcett to arrange your monthly membership payment. Please email her two weeks before you wish to start your membership.
You can cancel your membership at any time. To stop your membership, email Janine Fawcett . If you decide to return within a year you do not need to retake your general or safety orientations. If you leave for more than a year you will need to redo them.

Drop-ins

  • Tuesday from 6-10pm
  • Thursday from 6-10pm
  • Sunday from 10-6pm
*note: if the monthly meeting falls on a Tuesday, a make-up session will be hosted the same week (usually on a Wednesday)
  • Introduce yourself to the host
  • Sign the sign-in sheet
  • Find a workspace that is not occupied
  • Work on your project!
  • Clean up your space before the end of the session

Key-holders

To become a keyholder you must first join the CoLab as a drop-in. After your first month you can join the waitlist and apply to be a keyholder. You will need 3 of our current keyholders to vouch for you. Join the waitlist
  • Put the open-hours sign outside
  • Prepare the sign-in sheet
  • Empty the garbage at the beginning if necessary
  • Always empty the garbage at the end

Tools

Send an email to: brokentool@vancolab.ca
Request a new tool purchase by filling out the tool request form. If approved you will need to post the request to Loomio and seek approval by vote at a monthly meeting.

Orientations

Orientations take place once a month and are typically at the start of the month. Our safety officers post them on the calendar, and you can sign up there. Once an orientation is full you will have to wait for the next orientation, so check the calendar to see when the next available orientation is.
The simplest way is to email the list serve one or two weeks before you want to learn about said tools or equipment so that another member can arrange a time to teach you. Everyone's time is volunteered, though you may also pay some training fees to the person teaching if it takes an hour or more. Please understand that not every member knows how to use all the CoLab's tools, professionally or otherwise, thus requests with consideration for people's time is very appreciated.

Other

1. Fill out the reimbursement form 2. Email colab.reimbursement@gmail.com the details of your purchase and receipt.
Our new member handbook has loads of information on navigating the colab, so check and see if the information you need is in there. You can also take a look at our contact list and contact the relevant person.