Produced by KQED, Spark began in 2003 as a television show, an educational outreach program and a Web site. More than a showcase for art objects and the artists who make them, Spark takes the audience inside the creative process to witness the challenges, opportunities and rewards of making art.
Spark TV
Spark airs on KQED TV — check broadcast listings.. The series profiles Bay Area artists and performers and has been narrated by Victoria Mauleon, Charles Shaw Robinson, Pamela Z, David Dower and Keith Knight. Many of the segments are produced by well-known, local independent filmmakers. The Spark crew began shooting in HD in 2007.
Spark Education
SparkEd is the education and outreach program of Spark, offering media resources, educational materials and professional development training, including comprehensive Educator Guides and arts education tools to help K-12 and post-secondary educators use Spark in the classroom.
Spark Web
This 2003 EMMY award-winning Web site takes visitors even deeper into the arts community by supplementing the television series, supporting the educational outreach program and providing unique content. The site provides a digital library of hundreds of video and audio clips of Bay Area artists, one of the largest collections of its kind available online.
Awards
- Northern California Regional EMMY Award, Historic/Cultural – Program Feature/Segment, San Francisco Opera – The Bonesetter’s Daughter, 2008
- Northern California Regional EMMY Award, Arts/Entertainment – Feature/Segment – Feature Segment, Henry Wessel, The Physical Presence of Light, 2007
- Northern California Regional EMMY Award, Historical/Cultural – Program Feature/Segment, Shuji Ikeda, Ceramics, 2007
- Northern California Regional EMMY Award, Historical/Cultural – Feature/Segment, Binh Danh: New Memories of an Old War, 2006
- SF Weekly’s Best of San Francisco © 2006: Best Art TV Show
- The 9th Annual Webby Awards, Webby Worthy
- Northern California Regional EMMY Award, Entertainment Program, Spark episode “Fusion,” 2004
- Superfest International Disability Film Festival, Merit Award, 2005 for Spark‘s story on Youth Speaks
- Bay Area Celebrates National Dance Week, Contribution To The Field, 2003-2004
- Business Arts Council, New and Emerging Cultural Organization, 2003
- Northern California Regional EMMY Award, Interactivity, Spark Web Site, 2003
- SF Weekly’s Best of San Francisco © 2003, Best Reason Not to Kill Your TV