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SPARK --Jacksonville, Florida, 1991

Explosion of the Arts & SPARK by A City of Expression

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Jacksonville, Florida, Late Summer, 1991: A City of Expression (ACOE), a newly-formed arts organization on the Westside, sponsored its first event named Explosion of the Arts. This art festival was held in 5 Points, a unique part of the city's historic Riverside-Avondale neighborhood.

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This festival quickly grew from a small core group of art lovers to a full-fledged arts event in a matter of a few months. An article introducing ACOE founder Michael Miller’s planned arts festival appeared in The Westside Community News section of The Florida Times-Union on Wednesday, August 7, 1991. Readers were asked to attend the following Saturday, August 10th event and were encouraged to join the organization in creating a much-needed jumpstart for the young artists population to feature their work and gain exposure.

Riverside was known as the arts hub of Jacksonville, an eclectic mix of architecture, attractions, and residents that witnessed an influx of younger, lesser-known artists during the 1980s and 1990s. The art scene in the neighborhood was comprised of more established artists who were the main participants in the well-known Riverside Arts Festival,
prior to Riverside-Avondale achieving its historic district status in 1997.

It was during this time when the neighborhood went through a growth in the number of young couples and groups of friends that began to revitalize the old housing of residences constructed in the 1920s and 1930s. The early 1990s was the perfect time for the unity of young artists to create something special like the Explosion of the Arts street festival.

This event blocked the traffic through the 5 Points area of Riverside by shutting down Park Street from the beacon to its intersection with Post Street in addition to blocking off Lomax Street from the beacon to Oak Street.

 

A stage was created on Park Street for dancers, musicians, poets, storytellers, and other varied artists while Lomax Street contained partitions on which visual artists displayed and sold their artwork.

Eventgoers were stoked by the excitement generated this day and evening that was funded by neighborhood advertisers in the Explosion of the Arts schedule of events appropriately named SPARK.

 

SPARK was printed on two sheets of 8-½” x 17” paper folded, one light gray outer sheet and the other white inner sheet. It was created by three volunteers who happened to be employees of The Florida Times-Union.

The festival program was named, and text was written by editor Steven Gelsie; funded by advertisements sold by adman Mark Gebhardt; and contained the stunning layout by graphic designer Clair Hartmann, who was intuitive in her decision to add the wording of “the magazine of The City of Expression” under a beautiful logo she created.

 

Later, after the aftermath of the Explosion of the Arts, Michael Miller approached Gebhardt and Hartmann about the possibility of creating an actual art magazine for the group. People stepped up and The Yellow Edition of a new art publication was created in late 1991.

A City of Expression grew to sponsor more art events including Explosion of the Arts II during its existence from 1991-1992.

 

SPARK was renamed iD Magazine in 1991 and three editions were published of iD Magazine – The Yellow, Red, and Green Editions.

 

For unknown reasons, A City of Expression disbanded in 1992, leaving many group members and some of the public disappointed and wanting more from the organization comprised of artists and art enthusiasts.

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TEXT FROM PAGES 1 AND 2 OF SPARK:

Jacksonville’s Big Bang For The Arts by Steven Gelsi

This is it. The next big thing. So, it seems as the City of Expression campaign rigs its first festival into a major blowout appropriately dubbed, EXPLOSION OF THE ARTS.

It’s happening just a couple of months after the City of Expression was launched by a young artist who decided to create more venues for the arts in the River City.

So, he talked to friends, organized meetings, and people came. Hundreds of them. Black and white. Young and old. From the northside to the southside to the beaches.

They set a meeting spot in Five Points and got an organization running.

The result is The Explosion of the Arts Festival, soon to be part of a series of festivals; part of a movement.

And why not? Everybody wins from this. The artists win and the city wins. Jacksonville gets more culture. The culture creates more value & magnetism for the bigger and more prosperous.

“The City of Expression will not only offer a more pleasant Jacksonville in which we live, it will also create opportunity for economic growth, national recognition and a new role of leadership for the city,” said Michael Miller, the young artist who sparked the explosion.

New York City has its Broadway and its Greenwich Village; San Francisco has its North Beach and Noe Valley; Athens, Ga. has its rock and roll. The attributes – architecture, music, visual arts, schools, and other culture – draw people and business to cities and make them more commercially viable and alive.

Jacksonville needs to follow suit. It needs to shine. And that’s what the campaign is about.

So far, it’s off to a strong start. Lots of people come out to meetings and organizational hurdles are being overcome. Nor is the group acting alone. It’s forging ties with the Arts Assembly, the media, art galleries, and neighborhood groups.

In these times of economic hardship, racial tensions, a crack epidemic, and other problems, the only thing that’ll turn things around is to promote positive alternatives.

You can’t just say no to drugs.

You have to say yes to your dreams, too.

And that’s why so many people are getting involved with this.

Michael Miller was the spark, but the fire already burned in the hearts of Jacksonville’s people hungry to express themselves and share their music, artwork, dance, poetry, sculpture, and drama. There is still much to do, but the first big bang – the birth of a new universe in Jacksonville has begun.

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