About SPARK

SPARK is a eight week long artistic development residency for individual artists creating work for young audiences. Artists receive a $2000 stipend, a $250 materials budget, access to Filament Theatre’s space and stock, and administrative and artistic development support from Filament’s staff and youth artistic teams throughout the residency. Artists are anticipated to work 70 total hours over the lifespan of the residency (10 hours of prep, 60 hours of project development).

About the selection process

Filament Theatre creates work for, by, and with young audiences. With SPARK, youth also curate the entire experience. With support and skill-building from Filament’s artistic team, a curatorial team of 3rd-8th graders are entirely responsible for the selection of up to two SPARK artists. At least 1 out of 2 residency slots will be allocated to BIPOC artists.

Artists of all disciplines are encouraged to apply. The youth curators invite you to stretch the boundaries of your imagination to create something truly new and original. The youth curators are particularly excited about innovative, unexpected, and unusual work for K – 3rd graders, but will consider projects for young people ages 0 – 12. In 2025, the SPARK curatorial team will specifically be looking for one project that is in the beginning stages of development and one project that is in a more intermediary stage and is looking for fresh eyes and fresh focus to take it to the next level.