The Spark Cast
The Spark podcast is a bi-weekly show exploring the creativity, technology, and business of CG.
The show is produced by the Spark Computer Graphics Society. Fore more about Spark, visit sparkcg.org
- Update frequency
- every 16 days
- Episodes
- 75
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
S05E14: Athomas Goldberg: Experience Maker
Starting as a lighter and later designer for concerts and plays in New York City, Athomas Goldberg never imagined he’d be at the forefront of a new form of entertainment but curiosity, necessity and …
Thu 05 Oct 2023
S05E13: Athena Georgaklis - Taking Leaps
Growing up a child of the 80s, Athena Georgaklis loved cartoons and while she knew she wanted to work in film, her career in animation came almost by chance after taking a job as an assistant at the …
Thu 21 Sep 2023
S05E12: JM Blay — Art is a Lifestyle
Hailing from a family with a long history of artists, JM Blay seemed destined to enter the art world. As if predestined, once he started drawing, he never stopped. His love of art developed into a fa…
Thu 07 Sep 2023
S05E11: Debi Wong — Disruptive Tendencies
Technology. Innovation. Interactive. Disruptive. These are not terms generally associated with opera but for Debi Wong and her team at re:Naissance Opera, these words are at the core of what they do.…
Thu 17 Aug 2023
S05E10: Henrique Reginato — Seize Opportunity
Henrique Reginato was always artistically inclined but he came to visual storytelling through, of all things, radio. After a series of false starts, Henrique found himself far from home and family at…
Thu 03 Aug 2023
S05E09: Brenda Chapman — Perpetual Storyteller
Growing up the youngest of five in rural Illinois, Brenda Chapman's passion for drawing was encouraged by her mother. Working her way through school, Brenda began her formal studies at Illinois Colle…
Thu 20 Jul 2023
S05E08: Alain Chesnais — Lifelong Innovator
Math always came easily to Alain Chesnais, something he partially attributes to genes. That ease has lent itself well to his career, helping him navigate studies in math, science, and eventually comp…
Thu 22 Jun 2023
S05E07: Elizabeth Baron — Driving Change
Elizabeth Baron fell in love with computing at an early age, a passion that led her to study computer science at Eastern Michigan University. Hailing from a self-proclaimed "Ford Family," Elizabeth b…
Thu 08 Jun 2023
S05E06: Ron Clements — Veteran Insight
Ron Clements's animation career began while he was still in high school and working part-time at the local television station in Sioux City, Iowa. An ill-fated trip to New York changed his career, le…
Thu 30 Mar 2023
S05E05: Karissa Valencia — Crafting Authenticity
Karissa Valencia spent her youth travelling between the bustling metropolis of San Diego and the peaceful Santa Ynez Chumash Reservation. Growing up with a foot in both of those worlds deeply affecte…
Thu 09 Mar 2023
S05E04: Kevin Lima — Obsessively Creating
Growing up with his grandmother in Rhode Island, Kevin Lima doesn't remember a time when he didn't draw. That passion for creativity led to puppetry and, eventually, CalArts. A successful career at D…
Thu 23 Feb 2023
S05E03: Peggy Holmes — Choreographing Animation
Peggy Holmes is proof that a career in animation can start at any age. Before animation, she had an enormously successful career as a choreographer for film and stage, even going on the road with Mic…
Thu 09 Feb 2023
S05E02: Henry Selick — Scaring Not Scarring
Henry Selick's artistic talents were noted at an early age but he shied away from the attention, turning instead to another creative outlet: music. While in college studying math and science, he redi…
Thu 26 Jan 2023
S05E01: Nora Twomey — Magic Maker
Sometimes being a studio founder means doing the work no one else wants to do: from cleaning toilets to finding the work that keeps the studio lights on. While it's been some time since Cartoon Saloo…
Thu 12 Jan 2023
S04E12: Tracey Goessel — The Movie Doctor
Tracey Goessel's first passion was medicine. Inspired, in part, by Star Trek, and with a goal of financial independence, she attended medical school and had a successful career as a clinician and tra…
Wed 13 Jul 2022
S04E11: Leonard Maltin — The Serendipitous Critic
The movies have always been a part of Leonard Maltin’s life and while a career as a critic and historian was never "the plan," he's been reporting on film for nearly 60 years. From fan zines to telev…
Thu 16 Jun 2022
S04E10: Carla Patullo — Storytelling Through Music
Carla Patullo always knew she wanted to make music. Her parents insisted that if this was the path she wanted to pursue, she needed to go to school, which is how Carla found herself at Berklee Colleg…
Thu 16 Jun 2022
S04E09: James Curtis — Accidental Biographer
James Curtis didn't set out to become a biographer but his interest in film and his passion for research led him to the job while still in university. What began with curiosity and a bit of luck, eve…
Thu 02 Jun 2022
S04E08: Maisha Moore — Open to Connections
Vancouver-native Maisha Moore has always been creative, dabbling in everything from sculpture to music. For a time, she was convinced that she’d be making music for Disney movies before finding that …
Thu 19 May 2022
S04E07: Matthew Celestial — Life is PR
If Matthew Celestial has a life mantra, it’s likely “Focus on the wins.” A shy kid who came out of his shell in public, Matthew often found himself at the centre of the group, uniting friends under a…
Wed 13 Apr 2022
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