After 20 years, Spark Contemporary Art Space evolves into nonprofit

To Jake Roberts, Syracuse is full of possibilities for the young, creative mind. That’s why he’s teaming up with Patrick Tuohey to give rising artists a venue where they can gather and collaborate.

Roberts, a 1996 graduate of Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, and Tuohey are Spark Contemporary Art Space’s newest co-owners. They recently signed a three-year lease and are determined to revitalize the worn-down, 20-year-old space from the ground up.

“A lot of times as an artist, you want to get your hands dirty, you want to kind of get gritty, you want to be in the early stages of stuff,” Roberts said. “Syracuse is a city that did and still does provide that opportunity.”

To fulfill that mission, Roberts and Tuohey are shifting to a nonprofit business model. They’re fundraising over the next month, hoping to give Spark staying power it needs to become a hub for young professionals with the help of local business partnerships.

Spark has been located about a mile from SU on East Fayette Street for 18 of its 20 years, Roberts said. It got its start when former students noticed the “dead space” downtown.

One of those students, Mark Stockton, was pursuing a master’s degree in painting and drawing at the time. He’s since shown exhibits across the country and become an associate teaching professor at Drexel University.

Spark came about in response to a lack of exhibition space for emerging artists in Syracuse, which at the time was a post-industrial city without a booming economy, Stockton said. There wasn’t much room for mixed media works within his program of study, so he and others were inspired to create their own.

Courtesy of Spark Contemporary Art Space

Stockton became one of Spark’s original founders, along with Jimmy Rahn, Sandy Griffin, George Koelle and Jeremiah Seeley. The five were all students, graduate or undergraduate, in disciplines such as photography, video and painting and drawing.

When the space first started, its founders operated “on a handshake agreement in an old building” and borrowed electricity from the neighbors, Stockton said. Spark served as an outlet for the ambitious to get off campus and create new art.

Their objective was never to make money, even though funding was always an issue. The founders intended to keep Spark alive by passing it on from student to student. Stockton said he’ll be interested to see how Spark’s model changes as it focuses less on the regeneration of graduate student activity.

Roberts, who has been coming to Spark since its doors opened, acknowledged the space’s longevity and detailed its shift in focus through art forms — alternative video, installation work and music have all had their moment in the spotlight. Now, he hopes to honor that history as he stabilizes Spark’s logistical operations and provides a space for young professionals to call their own.

Spark is now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit under the fiscal umbrella of Alchemical Nursery, which allows them to apply for grants and in-kind donations. It’s already received the latter in the form of restaurant equipment. This equipment will be used for a cafe that Roberts hopes to open in one of Spark’s three main rooms.

And Spark has already established one partnership with a business just a mile away. The downtown firm Spark.Orange became Spark’s first major corporate sponsor with a $2,000 contribution for the 2018 fiscal year, according to a Spark press release.

Spark.Orange Director of Marketing Christine Cerniglia has been with the salesforce management firm since Nov. 2017, consulting with local companies to help them centralize how they use and share data. The firm aims to make Syracuse a great place to work and keep talent in the area, she said, and Spark Art Space is looking to create opportunities for people by introducing new creative outlets.

The firm got involved with Spark Art Space after Spark.Orange owner and co-founder Derek Vargas connected with Roberts, Cerniglia said. She and Vargas ended up checking out the art center and observing the infrastructure going up in the area.

One way Spark hopes to pay its bills is through a used vinyl and book sale, which is part of a partnership with local store Books and Melodies.
Courtesy of Spark Contemporary Art Space

“There was a lot of alignment between what (Roberts) is looking to do and what we’re looking to do,” she said.
Cerniglia hopes to see the money put toward building maintenance and repair and the cafe. The cafe, she said, will serve as a great entry point for people to come to Spark and see what the space has to offer.

While the cafe will be used to bring in revenue, so will the used book and vinyl sale Spark has set up in partnership with Syracuse-based Books and Melodies. Other donations will go toward building shelves to house records and books, building a sliding industrial door between rooms and acquiring a permanent sound system, among other things.

Cerniglia is aware that many SU students look to leave the area and move to cities with more opportunities once they graduate, but both the firm and the art center want to keep students in Syracuse long after they get their degree.

“We build jobs, they build things to do,” Cerniglia said. “Those two things make Syracuse a better place to stay.”

While both Spark and Syracuse have changed since Roberts was a student, he encourages students to get involved and engage with the community. He said current students and recent graduates from all backgrounds can find a role with Spark now and be part of creating something new — as long as they’re self-starters.

“We need people to help us in all disciplines — business, marketing, law. We have a need for people on the other side of the arts industries,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for students to come through the Spark portal.”

It doesn’t look like much currently: A recent storm broke one of the windows, and parts of the floors are unstable. But Roberts isn’t discouraged.

“It’s going to look really ugly before it looks pretty, so we’re churning the soil right now,” Roberts said. “This venue is a testament to students stepping off of campus and using their vision to plant a seed.”