The Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) was founded in 1976 by renowned artist and educator, UCLA Distinguished Professor Judith F. SPARC accomplishes its mission by producing, preserving and teaching methods to create community-based, public art. SPARC’s intention is: to examine what we choose to memorialize through public art, to devise and produce excellent artworks responsive to arti
culated community needs through innovative community participatory processes, that include creative visualization and collaborative teams composed of local residents of all ages. SPARC is proud of its rich legacy of artwork that provides an ethnic face for our city. SPARC’s public projects, which are national and international in scope, now number in Los Angeles alone in the 100’s and are considered among the most important landmarks of our city. For over 35 years, SPARC has been working in Los Angeles’ communities, including poor and immigrant communities with youth and their families as participants in the production of public monuments – artworks that make their stories evident to local, national and international audiences. Through the expansion of the American historical narrative, SPARC seeks to create understanding between diverse ethnic groups and respect for the significant contributions made by diverse populations that make up a nation of immigrants. SPARC has remained committed to its values as a socially responsible organization utilizing art to bring about social change. It remains committed to helping communities find their voice, giving them public expression, and having others hear it; while breaking down barriers, real and perceived, between and within communities. What SPARC does is as much about community transformation and creating permanent sites of public memory as it is about public art.
