One Spark Returns

Last year’s One Spark festival was rife with innovative ideas, incredible local talent and nearly transformational excitement for Jacksonville culture. One Spark was founded in 2011 to connect ideas with resources and has managed to make the concept of crowdfunding into a fun and important event that gives festival-goers the opportunity to profoundly craft their community.

We spoke with Joe Sampson, One Spark’s Executive Director, about this year’s events–and he left us well beyond excited. Though it was certainly a success, Sampson says they learned from the inaugural fest. Based on feedback from last year’s attendees, creators, venues and volunteers “we condensed the festival footprint from nearly one-square-mile of Downtown Jacksonville to 20 blocks that will be packed full of entertainment and 78 venues.” Because of even vote distribution, they “made key improvements to our crowdfunding and awards structure. Last year the $250K crowdfund was pretty evenly distributed without any huge winners.” This year, he says, “at least 11 creator projects will leave One Spark with $10,000 checks, or $10,000 awards in each of our five categories (art, innovation, music, science, technology) for the top vote-getters as well as $10,000 juried awards in each category… The project with the most contributions will receive an additional $10,000.” Like last year, they’ll also still have a $200K crowdfund distributed solely by popular vote from attendees. And, says Sampson, “We’re also really excited to have $3.25 million in potential capital funding on the table for One Spark 2014 Creators.”

Though you can no longer be a Creator this year (registration closed February 21) you can vote for Creators and walk the fest April 9-13. One Spark 2014 will have even more to see. “We had more than 900 creator projects that registered this year, a huge increase from last year,” says Sampson. The matchmaking process hasn’t yet closed as of this printing, but there will be more Creators in a smaller footprint. You can begin browsing One Spark 2014 Creator Projects now and mapping out your One Spark experience on their website at www.BeOneSpark.com.

For those that haven’t been, Joe Sampson sums up the experience: “One Spark 2014 will look like a real-life version of Kickstarter combined with a more intimate, connection-focused version of SXSW and the biggest Demo Day you’ve ever seen.”

Apathy is so three years ago. One Spark gives you the opportunity to be a part of meaningful change in the form of attending and participating in an amazing festival. “The reality,” says Sampson “is that there are several teams that have offices, teams and sustainable businesses that are working in Jacksonville right now that were mere concepts prior to the inaugural One Spark. When I consider how that’s going to look as it grows and multiplies over the next 5 years, I get really excited about Jacksonville as an entrepreneurial hub.” Don’t miss it! You can learn more at www.BeOneSpark.com.

Three Things With Joe!
Joe Sampson, Executive Director’s Top three things he thinks you should know about One Spark:
1. One Spark is for you. Whether you’re into art, innovation, music, science and tech or food, fun and festivals, there’s something for everyone. You’ve never seen Downtown Jacksonville like you’ll see it from April 9 -13, and you’re not going to want to miss it.
2. The Creators are and will always be the epicenter of One Spark. We’re focused on connecting people of action with the funding and resources they need to move their projects forward.
3. You have the power to decide which Creator Projects receive funding. Be there to vote, contribute and engage. Learn more about participating as an attendee at BeOneSpark.com.

The three reasons Joe says One Spark is important for Jacksonville:
1. It puts Jacksonville on the map as an innovative city and home of “The World’s First Crowdfunding Festival.” With just one year behind us, we’re already starting to see a lot of positive traction with national media.
2. For the creative community, One Spark provides an outlet, a platform to connect withfunding and resources, and I think it provides a bit of an ego boost, sort of a “hey, look at what we’re creating here.”
3. For the startup community, it’s becoming the center of an incredible ecosystem with a lot of amazing companies and teams that are launching here in Jacksonville. They’re creating jobs, they’re building brands, and the word is really beginning to spread throughout the country that Jacksonville is really onto something.

One Spark has taught Joe three things:
1. Anything is possible.
2. Manage 360 degrees. From the creative community, startup scene and key stakeholders to our board, team, investors and community leaders – everyone wants a seat at the table.
3. Be a passionate human. If you strip business down to its core, you find people – humans from all walks of life. Learning to listen, understand and help people is critical to the success not just of One Spark, but of any brand that’s built around people.