Spark explores the frontiers of the dance world with some of the Bay Area’s most innovative choreographers and performers. First, go into rehearsal with artistic director Ledoh of Salt Farm Butoh Dance Company as he uses the contemporary Japanese form to explore his Burmese ancestry. See glimpses of AXIS Dance Company‘s world premiere of “Dust,” a provocative choreo-portrait that challenges the viewer’s assumptions about each of the performers. Meet Belva Stone as she instructs students in the art of poi, an ancient fire dance first practiced by the Maori people of New Zealand.

Spark shows that collecting can be an art form unto itself, when we meet collectors who have turned a casual interest into a lifelong passion. Spend the day with John Held Jr., who saved every scrap of mail art he received, day after day for almost 30 years, as he continues to build his collection, one stamp at a time. Then get a private tour of Steven Oliver‘s Sonoma County ranch with one of the country’s most ambitious private collections of site-specific art. Finally, see the collection extraordinaire of folk, tramp and self-taught art that fills every nook and cranny of Bonnie Grossman‘s home-turned-gallery, The Ames Gallery.

Since the dawn of history, artists have been telling stories through words, pictures and music. In this episode of Spark, meet artists who are continuing the tradition, fusing ancient and contemporary techniques and content.

Dedicated for the past 30 years to the study and practice of the ancient Balinese art of shadow puppetry, Larry Reed adapts it for contemporary audiences using modern multimedia technology.

Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a modern day griot (African storyteller) who tells his original stories through a combination of acting, spoken word, movement and rap.

Asian storyteller Brenda Wong Aoki collaborates with Cherokee storyteller Gayle Ross in a performance of “Fire in Heaven,” combining the oral traditions and mythical archetypes of many ancient cultures to create a fresh and entirely contemporary performance style.

Creating art for public places has its own special challenges and rewards. In this episode of Spark, artists of different disciplines transcend the limitations of site and budget to realize their artistic visions. Choreographer and dancer Jo Kreiter mixes art and politics in a site-specific work about the history of protest on San Francisco’s Market Street. In Villa Montalvo, renowned landscape artist Herb Parker works with local artists and volunteers, using sod, rammed earth and steel to create a whimsical work of land art entitled “Caracol.” Lastly, watch a team of muralists from Precita Eyes (precitaeyes.org) transform white-washed stalls at the Alemany Farmer’s Market in San Francisco into colorful murals that celebrate the farmers and their bounty.

From stage to street, Spark goes behind the scenes with artists who aren’t afraid to talk politics. Activist Michael Franti takes on corporate America, the criminal justice system and the cause of disadvantaged people everywhere to the tune of a funky, soul-driven hip-hop beat. With his two-play cycle, Continental Divide, acclaimed British playwright David Edgar along with the Berkeley Repertory Theatre take aim at American politics. Then go undercover with the renegade artists and copywriters of the Billboard Liberation Front (billboardliberation.com) as they use wit to conduct guerrilla attacks on corporate signage.

Spark visits with arts organizations that have been supporting the Bay Area art community for decades and the people that keep them alive.

Founded in 1973, Ashkenaz is an East Bay music and culture venue that specializes in live roots music and international folk dancing every night of the week.

Every summer since 1967, Harriet and Jim Schlader have produced and directed classic American musical theater for the Woodminster Summer Musicals in Oakland’s Joaquin Miller Park.

Then head south to Santa Cruz’s Kuumbwa Jazz Center, celebrating its 28th year as the West Coast’s oldest year-round jazz performance venue and education center.

Spark explores the boundaries of what is considered art. Meet Jon Brumit and Marc Horowitz as they take over New Langton Arts and reinvent themselves as the business team of Sliv & Dulet Enterprises. They collaborate with 25 other artists to “develop new products and services” within an experiential installation that comments on conventions of office life and the art world. Then join sound artist Loren Chasse as he activates the sounds of nature and architecture with youth from Julia Morgan Center for the Arts’ summer camp. Lastly, smart mobs like FlockSmart are sweeping the world — is it a passing fad or a major technological trend? Judge for yourself.

Funding for arts education in public schools continues to dwindle at a shockingly steady rate. Spark bears witness as artists and arts organizations throughout the Bay Area are forced to take matters into their own hands to ensure that children are exposed to arts in school.

Explore the halls, stages, classrooms and studios of School of the Arts (SOTA), one of the few public high schools in California where arts disciplines don’t play second fiddle to academics.

Then travel to schools all over the Bay Area with members of Young Audiences as they reach more than a quarter of a million students each year with a variety of cultural, visual, performing and literary arts.

And listen as SFJAZZ Jazz in the Middle brings outstanding jazz musicians, the Poet Laureate of San Francisco and local middle school students together to create and perform original poetry set to jazz.

To be an artist is one thing, but to lead groups of other artists is a fine art in and of itself. Spark gets an inside look into the hectic and enriching lives of extraordinary arts administrators.

Try to keep up with the Oakland East Bay Symphony’s Michael Morgan — from middle school visits and young musician tutorials to symphony and opera rehearsals.

Then, be inspired by Oberlin Dance Company’s Brenda Way, who in the three decades since she founded ODC has directed her dancers and staff to accomplish more than they ever dreamed possible.

Finally, sit in as the founder of Palo Alto’s TheatreWorks, Robert Kelley, directs a rehearsal of “Proof.”

Spark visits with three women who use their art to explore questions of history, time and memory. Driven by a need to explore family memories and the Chinese American experience, South Bay artist Flo Oy Wong has embarked on a creative path in her provocative artworks that record the human impact of violence and racism in America. From bleak hospital wards to gray government buildings, mixed-media artist Ann Chamberlain works wonders transforming intimidating public spaces into welcoming, inspirational environments to evoke personal stories and recollections of the past. After the death of her young son, sculptor Virginia Harrison has been working with others who have experienced personal loss to create unique memorial markers, plaques and urns.

Spark takes a look at the business of art. Irving M. Klein International String Competition has $10,000 up for grabs — young competitors vie for this grand prize and the opportunity of a lifetime to headline a series of prestigious concerts. Get real-life money-management lessons in the contemporary world of art dealing from Linc Art Gallery owner Charles Linder. Then join graduating young artists from the San Francisco Art Institute (sanfranciscoart.edu) as they stand on the precipice between art school and the real world.

Discover the challenges and the magic behind translating the written word into a theatrical performance. In this episode, Spark documents the creative process in three Bay Area acts. Act I: Watch Word for Word turn the printed pages of Angela Carter‘s gothic deconstruction of the infamous Lizzie Borden murders in “The Fall River Axe Murders.” Act II: Try justifying the brutality and blood in political murders as California Shakespeare Theater‘s artistic director Jonathan Moscone directs the climactic assassination scene in “Julius Caesar.” Act III: Witness the efforts of African American Shakespeare Company to update the classic story of “Beauty and the Beast” for a contemporary audience.

Artists have found inspiration in everyday life, as this episode of Spark highlights.

Grandfather of the art car, David Best transforms more than 30 vehicles into fantastical works of art, include cranking out a new masterpiece from an old Cadillac.

Next, artist and rapper Keith Knight re-channels his own life experiences into his comic strip, the “K-Chronicles,” a poignant combination of urban politics, race, love, family and offbeat humor.

Finally, the Surf Style art show at the 111 Minna Gallery opens a contemporary window into the influence of 1970s surfing subculture in retail, fashion, art, design and advertising.

Spark reveals the many creative ways Bay Area artists collaborate to share their craft. Join forces with Campo Santo and writer Denis Johnson in their series of soul-searching theatrical experiences as we document the phases of their ongoing collaboration from first reading to final performance. Next, get an inside look at collaborative duo Charlie Castaneda and Brody Reiman, known as castaneda/reiman, as they prepare a new series of conceptual sculptures for an upcoming New York gallery installation. Then meet painter Mary Lovelace O’Neal and composer Olly Wilson as they create an audio-visual chamber music experience called “Call and Response” with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players.