One Spark 2014 Dates and Changes

[thelakelander]

Via email....

Thanks to everyone who supported the world's first crowdfunding festival, One Spark 2013 was a huge success! It is on the heels of our banner inaugural year that we announce the dates for 2014 and some key changes that will ensure that One Spark 2014 is an even bigger success for our Creators, attendees and the City of Jacksonville.

One Spark 2014 will take place on April 9-13, 2014 in downtown Jacksonville.

To ensure that next year's festival provides an even better experience for everyone involved, we've made several enhancements, including:

- Updating categories to include Innovation alongside Art, Music, Science and Technology

- NEW prize structure! (details below)

- A more walkable, condensed event footprint including 20 square blocks with added programming

- MORE voting and information kiosks

These updates but scratch the surface of how the One Spark festival will be improved for 2014. Stay up to date with the latest announcements by signing up for our email list and following our social channels (links above).

New Prize Structure for 2014

One Spark is all about the Creators and connecting great ideas with the resources they need to make them a reality. As such, we've taken your feedback and modified our prize structure for 2014 to provide the top Creators with those BIG checks they need to be extra amazing. Here's how it goes down in 2014:

- One Spark has upped the game to include $300,000 in prizes this year!

- $200,00 will be distributed solely by public vote using the same format as 2013

- NEW! The Creator's project that receives the most votes in each category will receive a $10,000 bonus prize!!!

- NEW! A panel of industry experts will select one Creator's project from each category to receive a $10,000 bonus prize!!!

- Attendees are able to contribute directly to any project they choose

- More investors on the ground bringing millions in potential capital to the table


New Executive Director, Joe Sampson

Joe Sampson, Executive Director Hey y'all, meet Joe our new Exective Director! You may remember him as the Director of Field Ops from this year's event. He is taking Elton Rivas' place as Elton continues to keep the Spark alive serving as president of the One Spark board of directors. Joe was listed in the Jacksonville Business Journal's 40 Under 40 for his work with Sight and Sound Productions and brings years of marketing and event planning experience to the One Spark team. Joe has BIG plans for One Spark 2014, just you wait and see!

Thanks for keeping the Spark alive! Stay tuned for many more updates in the coming months...

[Charles Hunter]

Looks like they took some of the suggestions offered here about footprint and prize structure.

[CityLife]

And not having it the same weekend as Coachella.

[JaxByDefault]

Very good news about prize distribution. There were some great tech and innovation projects that got completely overlooked either due to poor location, a lack of crowd understanding, or being lopped into a too-broad category. They probably should have added another category for pure philanthropy endeavors, too.

[Cheshire Cat]

Cool online magazine article on One Spark by Arbus.  The link actually takes you to a turn page glossy of the magazine. 
 
http://www.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=173285&p=16&utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffer71953&utm_medium=facebook