The Spark Cast

Joan Collins' artistic journey is a tale of unexpected twists and boundless creativity. As a young artist, Joan found herself deeply rooted in traditional art forms until she saw Supertramp live and found herself mesmerized by the multimedia magic of the concert. This pivotal moment set Joan on a path that would merge her love for art with the allure of visual technology. From crafting vibrant con...

What inspires a creative genius to transform the mundane into the magical? Join us as we uncover the origins of a celebrated animator whose journey began in the gritty yet charming landscape of Preston. With stories that intertwine personal history with artistic evolution, Nick Park shares how a childhood steeped in creativity led to a lifelong passion for animation. Drawing from a tapestry of ear...

Jeff Chiba Stearns’ transformative journey is one of a filmmaker whose creative roots trace back to a childhood spent on an orchard in Kelowna. Growing up in a remote setting, Jeff’s early experiences shaped his strong work ethic and artistic aspirations. Alongside apple picking, he was captivated by satellite TV of the 90s and its mix of “Japanimation” and adult cartoons. It was here that Jeff be...

Ever wondered how a mix of structured logic and creative expression can shape a tech career? Growing up with a mathematician father and an artsy mother, Ginger Alford's unique perspective led her to a vibrant career in software engineering and computer graphics. Discover how a pivot from philosophy to computer science and an unexpected encounter with SIGGRAPH sparked Ginger's passion for advanced...

Justine Emard is a visual artist whose career is a mix of relentless innovation and defiance of the art world's conventional boundaries. Her story isn't just about creation; it's a narrative that charts her evolution as an artist who integrates the realms of technology, dance, and music into a symphony of digital and physical installations that have captured the international stage. In this episod...

Jorge R. Gutiérrez is a visionary Mexican filmmaker whose colorful childhood on the US-Mexico border turned into a rich tapestry of storytelling. Growing up in 1980s Tijuana, Jorge faced cultural clashes and tense encounters that sparked his creative fire. Hear how a serendipitous twist led him to CalArts at just 17 years old, and discover his candid reflections on navigating the animation industr...

From the quiet beginnings in a Malaysian town to the vibrant creative landscape of Christchurch, Alyssa Zarate’s journey is one of determination. With a passion for film and a dream to create but no direct line on how to get there, Alyssa’s career began in programming and over the years has evolved into a set of skills that have shaped her and her career. From supporting herself with hospitality j...

By his own admission, Wilson Tang’s career path has been anything but linear but one constant has guided his choices: change. Beginning his career as an architect, his passion for design and the urge to create worlds led Wilson to leap into animation, a step in his career that would make him the ideal candidate for Industrial Light & Magic. Just when he thought he’d made it, his itch to try so...

Growing up in the sprawling serenity of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Amy Tang's childhood is brimming with rural charm and the purest of pleasures but Amy's dreams and aspirations for the performing arts were bigger than her small-town roots. Her story is one of transformation, from farm life to city dwelling, and how the stark contrast of Winnipeg's urban sprawl shaped her cultural identity and...

Rick Mischel’s journey took him from the electric buzz of Broadway in New York to the sunny embrace of South Florida and now as Founder and CEO of Artists Animation Studio, to Kelowna, BC. His early days as a Club Med kids' club counselor and a number of other unexpected roles laid the foundation for an extraordinary path through the entertainment realm, a journey that brought him to Vancouver for...

Dawn Fidrick's journey from the vibrant stages in Drexel Hill to the dynamic film sets of New York City is one of taking chances and seizing opportunities. Raised on the East Coast, Dawn shares how early experiences sparked her love for performing. Following the tragic events of 9/11, she found herself in New York, embarking on a 12-year adventure in the city and transitioning from stage to screen...

Faruk Heplevent's story begins with a passion for photography and a neighbour's friend who needed an apprentice. The mix of technical and creative appealed to the young enthusiast and the precision and technicality he learned in those early years paid off as his career developed. Faruk was one of the few individuals who could process film on the go - a skill that set him apart from other photograp...

Growing up in the English Midlands, Georgina Hayns defied academic norms, discovering her passion for the arts in a technical college. Her journey reflects the transformative power of parental support and prioritizing passion over conformity. From childhood struggles to professional success, Georgina's story is a testament to embracing individuality. Her career trajectory highlights the importance...

Zach Lipovsky has early memories of a childhood spent on sets surrounded by the buzz of TVs and master controls, thanks to his mother's career in television. But it was a transformative experience at the tender age of nine when Jurassic Park left an indelible mark on him. The youthful actor-turned-filmmaker invested his early earnings into the digital revolution, teaching himself visual effects an...

Ashley Christine is used to battles, from growing up off the grid in the White Mountain National Forest and contending with the harsh elements of New Hampshire winters to navigating the social media landscape, she has dealt with both physical and mental battles. But how does a young woman go from studying mathematics at university to spending her days making TikTok videos about STEM? In our conver...

Growing up among the steel mills of Hamilton, Ontario, Don Perro knew he wanted something different for his life but when his first attempt at getting out failed, he knew he needed to cast his net wider and the result was acceptance at art school in Vancouver where he found his comrades among the misfits studying animation at Emily Carr College of Art and Design (now known as Emily Carr University...

There was little doubt that Lera Nyukalova would be an artist. Her first foray into art was sketching Sailor Moon but her passion and drive to learn and challenge herself led her first to university to study architecture and eventually to make the move from Kazakhstan to Vancouver to further her practice. Lera found solace and inspiration in the dynamic urban landscape of the city, keeping a visua...

Sam Fell was always drawn to creation and in the 1980s, he found himself in London, studying fine art and making interdisciplinary works of art, junk sculptures with speakers and cassette tapes inside, and eventually adding mechanics to move his works. It was around this time that he rediscovered stop-motion animation and the works of The Quay Brothers and Jan Švankmajer. Sam taught himself stop m...

Growing up on a dairy farm in Denmark, Brian Leif Hansen assumed he’d spend his life living near where he grew up, perhaps a farmer himself, but the universe had other ideas for him. While a love for puppets and animation was always with him, that didn’t seem like a viable option for a career so he did the next best thing and trained to be a chef. While he didn’t realize it then, that early traini...

From the moment she learned to read, Audrea Topps Harjo has been a creator, first turning words into worlds in her mind, and then sharing those stories she loved so much with her family as a performer. Her passion led her to filmmaking in various forms, from telling her own stories in her own voice as a director, to helping other creators bring their visions to life. A skilled problem solver with...

Starting as a lighter and later designer for concerts and plays in New York City, Athomas Goldberg never imagined he’d be at the forefront of a new form of entertainment but curiosity, necessity and a willingness to take chances have led him to exactly that: a new frontier where live entertainment and technology meet. From the early days of experimenting with Ken Perlin at NYU’s Media Research Lab...

Growing up a child of the 80s, Athena Georgaklis loved cartoons and while she knew she wanted to work in film, her career in animation came almost by chance after taking a job as an assistant at the then-fledgling Teletoon. Once she realized that animation was what she wanted to do with her life, there was no turning back. With a willingness to learn and take on new challenges, Athena rose to the...

Hailing from a family with a long history of artists, JM Blay seemed destined to enter the art world. As if predestined, once he started drawing, he never stopped. His love of art developed into a fascination with photography and movement. Unbeknownst to him, JM had stumbled into the world of motion design and his “weird fascination” became the cornerstone of his career. JM’s versatile, unpretenti...

Technology. Innovation. Interactive. Disruptive. These are not terms generally associated with opera but for Debi Wong and her team at re:Naissance Opera, these words are at the core of what they do. But how does one go from studying classical music at Yale School of Music and Sibelius-Akatemia to creating operas in VR? For Debi, it's simply in her nature. A disruptor at her core, she's always pus...

Henrique Reginato was always artistically inclined but he came to visual storytelling through, of all things, radio. After a series of false starts, Henrique found himself far from home and family at Vancouver Film School. The goal was simple: finish the program, return to Brazil and start a career but the universe had other plans and instead, Henrique found himself working and settling down in Va...