SparkCon Planning

All- this was a fantastic experience and certainly the best SPARKcon yet! We connected to more creative talent than ever with a much larger attendance. We certainly ’sparked’ some interest in the media as well and loved the attendee quotes in the N&O article Sunday. It seemed they understood all of our intentions quite well.

We had a great ideaSPARK session all weekend and created a concept and prototype website for Raleigh360 to “create a culture of localism.” We hope to pitch this website to city leaders on how to encourage local businesses to hire local talent for their projects. It ends up being just in time to make it for Raleigh’s own public input process for their website!

Beth has already made a slideshow movie of fashionSPARK. We eagerly await Cheryl and others to submit their thousands of images as well as Eric and Alex to get their dozens of hours of footage in. We’ll have them posted on the main site under the “news” section.

Don’t forget to submit your SPARKcon documentation for the photo contest or video contest!

Please submit any feedback or links to chatter about SPARKcon as comments on our website so we can continue to build this great effort. Thank you everyone!

Aly, Gab, Ty and Greg

All- This has been an incredible year and SPARKcon continues to gain momentum.

Please come out tonight to kick off SPARKcon with

Local Beer Local Band at Tir na Nog with: I Was Totally Destroying It, Strange Faces, Hammer No More The Fingers, The Young Sons, and The Trousers

Slim’s has The Infamous Sugar w/ Shake It Like A Caveman

Pour House has Blue Mountain w/ Cory Branan

I’m very excited about this year’s ideaSPARK - an unconference designed to capture SPARK organizer’s ideas, and bring concrete solutions to the community. We’d love to have as many of you participate as possible.

1. Bring your community issue that needs to be addressed - be as specific as possible.
2. Vote with everyone else on what you want to work on. 
3. Break into diverse teams and work through Friday to come up with specific solutions.
4. For those with extra motivation, keep thinking / working on it through the weekend.
5. Present your ideas on Sunday afternoon - and we’ll try to introduce your project to appropriate officials/businesses/communities that can help get your design implemented.
ideaSPARK starts tomorrow at the Urban Deisgn Center at 9 am.

SPARK ON!

As per tradition, we will be formally inviting the Mayor and City Council to join us for SPARKcon at their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday. The meeting starts at 1 pm. We are not scheduled to speak until 2 pm, but they may shift the schedule forward for us. Wear your SPARKcon shirts and represent!

It is the week of SPARKcon! It has been a long road of planning, organizing, networking, and preparing. Now it time to enjoy everyone’s hard work!

SPARKcon’s hosting one last meeting tomorrow night at Designbox at 6pm.

Any last minute concerns or questions you may have, this is the opportunity to voice them!

See you then.

Okay everyone, we are less than two weeks away!
Our final general meeting is tomorrow night at designbox at 6pm!

It is very important that everyone attends so we can work out final details before next Friday.

See you all there!

323 W Martin St
Raleigh NC, 27601

Chico Scott has put together some exciting stuff for this weekend. Check out the details…

First Friday kicks off tonight all around beautiful downtown Raleigh, and as far as I know all the galleries are doing their regular thing tonight in spite of the weather. I’ll be at Flanders Gallery @ Seaboard (6pm) DJing for the opening of a very cool show ( http://www.flandersartgallery.com/). After that you have tough choices. I’ll be spinning an 80s dance set upstairs at Riviera (Loft 135), DJ Castro is at The Globe (510 S. Glenwood), and Chuck Love is at Mosaic. I do believe that Mosaic has the angle on that one.

However, tomorrow night, September 6, is Neu Romance’s second annual “Disco Inferno” - A Fundraiser for SparkCon. This year the disco ball at Alibi is the perfect setting for Castro, Mark T., Drew Diggle, and myself (Madcow) to drop the best of 70s and 80s funk, soul, and disco hits AND obscurities. For those of you in the know expect lots from SalSoul and West End records! Admission is only five bucks (it will be the best dance party in town that night), and all proceeds go towards paying off Stacy Kidd (stacykidd) for the Sept. 20 Solas show. By the way Solas is free before 10pm and has a dress code. Check out their website for more info on that (http://solasraleigh.com/). Also Saturday’s “Disco Inferno” is conveniently located in a former bomb shelter that can withstand a category five hurricane (or a nuclear assualt), and with the help of a generator and a fully stocked bar that party will happen no matter what. Be prepared to sweat!

Friday 9/5 - DJ Madcow @ Flanders Gallery
18 Seaboard location / 6pm

-DJ Castro @ Alibi Bar
14 West Martin St. / 10pm

-Chuck Love @ Mosaic (Critic’s Pick!) / 10pm
517 W. Jones St. (http://www.mosaicwinelounge.com/)
Admission $5

-DJ Madcow @ Riviera’s Loft 135 / 10:30pm
135 S. Wilmington St

Saturday 9/6 - DJs Madcow, Castro, Mark T., and Drew Diggle
Second Annual Disco Inferno - A Fundraiser for SparkCon
14 West Martin St. / 9pm Admission $5
(This show is hurricane proof)

Check out the coverage fashionSPARK is getting about the windows and brunch!

New Raleigh article

Be sure and get your ticket tonight at Designbox during our First Friday showing of Jim West’s photograpghy! Stunning enlargements of landscapes of architecture  in Spain.

Be sure to check out this years list of talented designers who be showing original works on the runway at fashionSPARK 2008!

Visit the fashionSPARK page to view the designers!

In an effort to promote fashionSPARK, its designers, and SPARKcon in general, Allison Beale has reached out to local boutiques in the area to sponsor the event through window displays featuring works by this years designers. Here are the details for fashionSPARK windows, Sep 5-12:

Tough Love, 3114 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, 919.833.0073.
www.toughloveboutique.com
Featuring: Domino, The DRC Clothing Co.

Revolver, 124 Glenwood Ave. Raleigh, 919.834.3053
www.revolverconsignmentboutique.blogspot.com
Featuring: Revamp, FYSH, lllavender

Beanie + Cecil, 412 Daniels Street, Raleigh, 919.821.5455
www.beanieandcecil.com
Featuring: Marie Cordella, Justin D. LeBlanc

Fleur, 419 Daniels Street, Raleigh, 919.828.0602
www.fleur-boutique.com
Featuring: Stacie Horton, Susannah Cox

Don’t forget to come by Designbox on First Friday tomorrow and purchase your ticket to the fashion brunch this Sunday Sep 7, 12noon at Poole’s Diner.

Here is the scoop of what is happening Friday night before the fashion show at Loft 135…

Immediate Theatre performs at Loft 135
Friday, September 19 * 6:30-7:15

Immediate Theatre is a collective of Triangle based dance artists, designers and musicians, gathered together to create spontaneous, improvised works of dance/theatre/live performance.  You never know what will happen, as each member of the collective takes the unknown and shapes it on the spot.  Performers include: artistic director Katherine Ferrier (dance, spoken word), Christina Tsoules Soriano (dance), Carson Efird (dance), KenRay Wilemon (percussion/soundscapes) and Veda Renfrow (stage and lighting design).

Come on down, grab a beer and experience some cutting edge performance before heading over to the Fashion Show!

Be sure to spread the word and join in!