Brooklyn Brainery

Teaching

Teaching at the Brainery isn't about being a world-reknowned expert on a topic, it's just about being excited to help people learn the things you're already excited about.

Whether you're a statistics geek, bottle kombucha in your kitchen, are a grad student in something awesome, or have just read far too many books about a topic, we want you to lead a class! People out there are interested in everything, and when you share your knowledge everyone benefits.

What kind of classes are you guys looking for?

We love classes of all sorts, but we're especially looking for teachers in things like:

Crafts of any and all sorts - especially things that don't need any fancy equipment
Whittling
History of ____ (anything at all!)
Building Circuits
Understanding Electricity
Jungian Archetypes
Sign Painting (old school style)
African Politics
Botany
Weather and Meteorology
Juicy Scandals of the English and French Monarchies
Herbs
Exotic Fruit
Fake Meat
Algorithms (of the computer sort)
Condiments
Things You Learned in Middle School
Biology
Sandwiches
Comics
Folk/Outsider Art
The Brain
Mythology + Folktales
Clouds
Textile Design
New York City + Its History
Arabic 
Food History
Political Philosophy
Gowanus Canal
Astronomy
Macrame
Algebra
Quilting
Urban Planning
Small Engines
Kite Making
Stained Glass

The general rule of thumb is the quirkier the better. We want to have classes you can't find anywhere else, whether they're super academic or precisely the opposite. 

How do you go about creating a class?

What kind of class you lead is up to you -- hands on, discussiony, field trippy -- they're all cool with us. Different styles work for different topics, and we'll totally work with you to figure out what's best for your subject.

The length and timing is all yours to decide as well. We're especially looking for folks to teach multiweek classes, but again, it's just about how much time you can commit and how much the topic requires. Classes are generally about 80 minutes long, but we're flexible!

And what about getting paid?

You've got a couple options:

You volunteer.

We keep classes cheap and super accessible and charge enough to cover materials and rent. If you've never taught a class before, we'll lead you through what we've found works and what doesn't and work with you to come up with a good setup. Plus you can take a couple classes for free in exchange for your time. 

You get paid $30/hour.

Since everyone's gotta eat - if you have teaching experience, we'll pay you $30/hr for your time. If you don't have experience yet, teach a class first as a volunteer, and then you have your teaching experience taken care of! We'd love to have you come back and teach again and again. 

Of course, there're exceptions to any and every rule, so email us with any questions and pitch yourself as a teacher on our suggestion page!