These emerging artists are redefining Bay Area culture through their unstoppable creativity.
Funded by the California Arts Council and our incredible sponsors, the Spark Oakland Accelerator program aims to empower local artists with the technology tools & skills they need to thrive in the COVID era.
We invited 24 local Bay Area artists to participate, and we’re excited to share their work with you over the next few months.
Click to read more about each artist and see how you can support them!
Visit our Sponsor page to help make an Oakland First Fridays event or program happen!
We're currently accepting donations for the next Spark Accelerator cohort. Our programming allows you to support your community in highly actionable ways: by funding programs that directly reach individuals in the Bay Area community.
Applications for 2020 are now closed. Check back to join our next session.
Spark aims to empower local artists with the technology tools & practical skills they need to thrive in the digital age. Along with workshops, artists in the program will have their work marketed & promoted via Oakland First Fridays' social and web channels for a period of 6 months. Help with infrastructure costs may be provided to artists on a case by case basis.
The program includes:
✅ Mentorship
✅ Lectures from industry experts
✅ Hands-on (remote) training workshops
✅ Demo Day (Virtual Art Show)
✅ Marketing & Promotion via Oakland First Fridays
Any artists actively producing work are welcome to apply. Artists must be interested in growing their business and must be open to sharing sales and social media metrics with program constituents.
Established, revenue-generating artists are invited to apply as mentors. Responsibilities include hosting online meetings to discuss practical matters like engaging with an audience, setting up an online store, using social media and fulfilling orders. This is a paid position (and mentors can choose to additionally volunteer their time).