SPARK!

SPARK! is a nonprofit organization with the mission--to ignite the spark of creativity inherent in all children. We provide children from second grade to high school with a fully immersive creative environment and hands-on learning that develops their self-definition as creative individuals. When children self-define as creative, they have higher self-esteem, better problem solving skills, and go farther in their education.

Our team of local artists, architects, sculptors, and engineers have worked together to transform the sub-basement of the historic South Side on Lamar building into an impressive and wildly imaginative environment. Part of the interactive and unique environment of SPARK! includes a climb, crawl, and slide sculpture that gets the children physically engaged and gets creative juices flowing. Made out of recycled and repurposed materials, the sculpture spans over 6,000 feet and climbs 26 feet toward the ceiling. Children can scale up a capsized ship, walk over wavy bridges of car hoods, crawl through rebar tubing, glide down spiral slides, and climb across a 200 square foot spider web suspended 18 feet off the ground. Exploring the environment gets the children’s adrenaline pumping and jump-starts the creative learning process.