Who is SPARC352?

Our Team

Dionne Champion

Director

Carla Lewis

Project Manager

Ravyn Gale

Communications

Orianna Sheffield

Community Relations

Osubi Craig

Director of CAME

The Success of SPARC352…

Building Trust and Accelerating Impact

Relationship cultivation is at the heart of SPARC352. The project was built upon the trust, collaboration, and guidance of a Community Working Group that brought local leaders into conversation with UF faculty. Our place at the table in community conversations in Gainesville is the result of years of intentional work to identify and address the unfavorable power dynamics and generations of distrust between the University of Florida and Gainesville’s historically Black neighborhoods. Through these conversations, SPARC352’s programming and development continues to center community needs.

Programming

We facilitate culturally-responsive programs that draw local and national attention. Our arts-based programming promotes community cohesion, resilience, wellbeing, and cultural identity, benefiting Gainesville and advancing community-driven, cutting-edge research. 

Summer Apprenticeship Project

Our Summer Apprenticeship Program in 2022 was a pilot study using the theoretical lens of Radical Healing Through the Arts to gain a comprehensive understanding of the work happening in arts organizations and community-based settings that produce positive social, emotional, intellectual, and physical health outcomes. SPARC352 also connects community artists, faculty, and researchers to work inside Alachua County summer programs.

SPARC2HEART Geospatial Mapping Project: Community Mapping and Critical Conversations

SPARC352 held community discussions in a variety of locations and hired residents from the community to conduct face-to-face interviews to map needs and experiences in five priority neighborhoods. These conversations brought artists and neighbors together through various art modalities to address critical issues facing residents in these under-served communities. These interviews and survey data were taken to CAM’s Interdisciplinary Research Lab and CAME’s Maker in Residence, Braxton Rae, who worked together to identify four emergent themes across the communities that formed the backdrop for community art projects.

SPARC352 Community Collaboration Awards

The four themes pulled from the SPARC2HEART mapping project were Community Vibrancy, Preservation of Community Culture, Alive and Outside Outdoor Activation, and Youth Empowerment and Enrichment. With the support of the Mellon Foundation, we awarded nine community artists up to $10,000 for projects addressing at least one of the four themes. Each artist partnered with members of the five priority neighborhoods in the completion of their projects bringing the project benefits back to the same folks who were surveyed.

Special Thanks