It’s that time of year again – the countdown is on for SPARK International Festival of Media, Arts and Design, happening in Hamilton from August 9-13. At Spark, creative speakers from a variety of realms offer specialised presentations and workshops based around their own arts practice, and these are free to attend.

The majority of presentations take place in Wintec’s Gallagher Hub Events Room, but a number of related Spark events are happening around the city.

Spark is a distinctive event where practitioners from a variety of artistic domains come together to establish creative inter-media dialogues in the conducive atmosphere of like-minded people. 

Wintec’s School of Media Arts initiated the festival in 1998 as a means for Media Arts students to access and share creative thinking with national and international practitioners. Spark has gathered momentum in the last few years and is becoming a nationally recognised event, consistently attracting an impressive list of presenters who work at the cutting edge of their professions.

If you’re in the Waikato, have a look at the 2010 Spark schedule pdf online and plan your week now.
Presentation seating is first-come, first serve, but workshops require booking by email. Other events such as exhibitions, forums and screenings punctuate the week – all details are up now on http://www.spark.net.nz. Follow Spark on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with news during the week.

A quick summary of the speakers this year:

Film: Rastko Ciric (animation/film/music), KHF Media (Wellington production house), Jane Reeves & Kay Ellmers (filmmakers, creators of ‘Canvassing the Treaty’), Jim Marbrook (filmmaker)

Design: Super Nature (design agency), Simon Wade (graphic designer), Rosie Percival and Ruth Friedlander (creators of ‘Martha Goes Green Cookbook’)

Art: Elisabeth Vaneveld (The Big Idea), Lesley Duxbury (printmaking/art theory),

Interior Design: Helen Lennie (Interior Design)

Photography / painting: Rebecca Swan (artist, photographer), Michael Harrison (artist/painter)

Music: Vince Harder (singer/songwriter), Morgan Samuel (audio post-production)

Journalism/public relations: Greer McDonald (social media manager), Mike O’Donnell (Trademe strategist)

Spark also features a variety of events, including ‘Straight from the horse’s mouth’ graduate session (features ‘Martha goes Green’ cookbook team, designer Simon Wade, Greer McDonald and Morgan Samuel), the 3rd anniversary of Pecha Kucha in Hamilton, and a premiere screening of Media Arts sitcom project ‘The Couch’.

There will be a Video Lounge exhibition at Ramp Gallery, featuring short films from almost 30 filmmakers, including Taika Waititi, Greg Page, and Campbell Farquhar. This exhibition runs for 4 days and offers a nice warm-up for the New Zealand International Film Festival’s return to Hamilton.

Other highlights during the week include the ‘Human Posts’ exhibition at La Mezz gallery, screening of ‘Canvassing the Treaty’ with director/producer Q+A, a documentary discussion forum on the future of NZ documentary, a screening/Q+A of Jim Marbrook’s films ‘Jumbo’ and ‘Cap Bocage’, Media Bites featuring Paul Holmes, Waikato Museum’s ‘Understanding the museum machine’, and lots more.

The festival is professionally produced by Wintec School of Media Arts in close collaboration with artists, practitioners, academics and educators from a range of organisations.  This year’s festival includes significant support from local partners such as Waikato Museum, Soda Inc., Verdict, HCAC, NWM, KPMG , Asia NZ, Waikato Tainui, Waikato Museum and the University of Waikato

Spark Venues:
Gallagher Hub Events Centre, Wintec City Campus (walk up from Warehouse)
Ramp Gallery, Wintec's R block, Collingwood St (diagonally opposite Dora’s Cafe)
Ferry Bank Conference Centre, Grantham St.
Waikato Museum,  Victoria/Grantham St.
Lido Cinema, The Balcony, Centre Place, Victoria Street
Soda Inc. Level One, The Meteor, 1 Victoria Street
La Mezz Gallery, 1 Greenwood St, SH1, Hamilton