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Members of the South Pasadena Arts Council, along with city officials and South Pasadenan arts advocates gathered at the site of SPARC’s new gallery and permanent home at the Fremont Centre Theatre building at 1000 Fremont Avenue. The space is located behind Fiore Café, facing the parking lot where revelers gathered for refreshments, live music, a raffle while exploring the new gallery. The new space is much larger than their previous space inside the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and boasts at least 50% more wall space for exhibits and ample parking.
SPARC founder, Lissa Reynolds, could hardly contain her joy. “It’s wonderful! I’m so excited that I have my theatre in my building and now I have SPARC in my building.” Reynolds, along with her husband, James Reynolds, owns and operates the Fremont Centre Theatre building and Lissa has her administrative office right next door to the new SPARC gallery. “Yes, this is a business building but there are wonderful, creative people here – from Fiore Market Café to Young Stars Theatre, to our florist, Moss and Meadow, and now SPARC – it’s a creative building and we all love each other. And we’re almost all women,” she adds. “It’s so cool.” She goes on to explain that the move is a significant one for SPARC on many levels. “They can now be here every day and we can do other things in this space like acoustic music events, poetry readings – and we can now do it seven days a week.”
Lissa and her husband live within ten minutes of the building and she says, “This is my second home and really I’m here more than I’m home!” I suggest that she is truly a South Pasadenan through and through to which she says, “I love South Pasadena. You know, like so many people, we came here for the schools, fully expecting to move back to the Hollywood Hills area after our son graduated. But we love it here so much, we don’t ever want to leave. It’s like a family.” Lucky for us, they planted those roots here many years ago and in the decades they have been in our community, those roots have certainly grown deep into the very foundation of our city, especially when it comes to the growth of the arts.
Having their own space has long been a dream of SPARC President, Sandy Kitto, who tells us, “it gives us a sense of permanence in the community. And now we can curate not only art, but book signings, spoken word, and give local artists a space to use. We will have sponsored events but we will make the space open to artists who have a certain vision that they would like to share with the community. So, it’s growth – it’s expanding our mission.” The pieces all seemed to fall into place at the right time and Sandy says, “I’m very excited for the community and for the organization and proud of what we will accomplish.”
If you are an artist seeking a special gallery to exhibit your work, the first thing to do is head over to SPARC’s website at SoPasArtsCouncil.org and fill out the contact form to get things rolling. In fact, all are encouraged to visit the site where Sandy tells us there are many ways to get involved and support arts in our community. SPARC offers scholarships in the arts for South Pasadena High School graduates every spring and of course offers dozens of public art activities and events throughout the year as well as running their art gallery. Arts advocates can choose to make a donation, join the monthly giving program where you can sign up to give as little as $5 a month or as much as you would like, purchase the art in their gallery, and soon SPARC will be offering a trustee program for those who would like to ensure the continuation of SPARC by giving at a higher level – so keep a lookout for all the details.
Most of all Kitto encourages everyone to come out to any and all of SPARC’s many events and to keep up with all things SPARC by following them on social media.
We are very lucky to have such an active arts advocacy group in South Pasadena and a grateful community thanks SPARC for all the art they have made possible in our fair city.
Congratulations to SPARC on their new home! May it be a gathering place for South Pasadenans for years to come.
