SPARC ART
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ART COMMUNITY EDUCATION SOCIAL JUSTICE SINCE 1976 Baca, filmmaker/director Donna Deitch and Artist/Teacher Christina Schlesinger.
The Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) was founded in 1976 by renowned artist and educator, UCLA Distinguished Professor Judith F. SPARC accomplishes its mission by producing, preserving and teaching methods to create community-based, public art. SPARC’s intention is: to examine what we choose to memorialize through public art, to devise and produce excellent artworks responsive to articulated community needs through innovative community participatory processes, that include creative visualization and collaborative teams composed of local residents of all ages. SPARC is proud of its rich legacy of artwork that provides an ethnic face for our city. SPARC’s public projects, which are national and international in scope, now number in Los Angeles alone in the 100’s and are considered among the most important landmarks of our city. For over 35 years, SPARC has been working in Los Angeles’ communities, including poor and immigrant communities with youth and their families as participants in the production of public monuments – artworks that make their stories evident to local, national and international audiences. Through the expansion of the American historical narrative, SPARC seeks to create understanding between diverse ethnic groups and respect for the significant contributions made by diverse populations that make up a nation of immigrants. SPARC has remained committed to its values as a socially responsible organization utilizing art to bring about social change. It remains committed to helping communities find their voice, giving them public expression, and having others hear it; while breaking down barriers, real and perceived, between and within communities. What SPARC does is as much about community transformation and creating permanent sites of public memory as it is about public art.
What would happen if we invested in our communities? If we used art as a means to dream, uplift, and advocate for marginalized people’s histories and futures? Empower our young people by telling them what they CAN do, instead of what they CAN’T?
Since SPARC’s founding, we have committed ourselves to creating sites of public memory.
According to our co-founder, , creating sites of public memory is defined as community-created monumental public artwork, such as murals, that recover and display the hidden, erased, or unrecorded histories of marginalized groups, asserting that the land itself holds a collective memory of what things once were, what they are now, and what they could be in the future.
SPARC's 50th anniversary honors our historic contributions to the art, philosophy, and practice of muralism, while presenting an ambitious vision for the organization’s next half-century as the nation’s foremost advocate of socially relevant public art.
SPARC thanks you for celebrating a historic 50 years of operation with us ✨
This celebration video is directed and edited by Isa Moreno, assisted by Mia Sofia Orengo.
Music by Score Wizards.
05/21/2026
✨ SPARC is hiring! ✨
We are looking for individuals to fulfill the following role:
- Manager of Research, Education and Programs 📚
Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of our creative community!
🔗Visit www.sparcinla.org/jobs/ or click on the link in our bio for the full job description and to apply!
Join us in shaping the future of SPARC and making a difference through your expertise and dedication!
05/21/2026
On this day 50 years ago, May 20, 1976, three visionary women—Judy Baca, Christina Schlesinger, and Donna Deitch—signed a piece of paper. That paper officially incorporated the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC).
They didn't just start a nonprofit; they ignited a movement. They decided that Los Angeles’s walls belonged to the people whose stories had been erased from the history books.
For 50 years, SPARC has preserved the world's largest multi-ethnic civil rights archive, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with community struggles, and painted monuments like the Great Wall of Los Angeles.
Join us in celebration of this historic day! Make a gift to SPARC today to fuel the next 50 years of radical public art!
🔗 Link to donate in our bio ✨
✨Looking for a free event this Saturday in Los Angeles?✨
SPARC's Artist-In-Residence, , will be hosting a collaborative printmaking workshop, all experience levels are welcome!
🗓️ Saturday, May 16
⏰ 12pm - 2pm AND 3pm - 5pm
📍 685 Venice Blvd. Venice CA 90291
🔗 Link in our bio to register! 👋 We'll see you there!
04/08/2026
✨ Grateful for such a meaningful evening in community
Presented by the California Native Vote Project () and The Chapter House, in partnership with and , this panel centered Native Art, Power, and Movement, and was held in front of the “Why Alcatraz Matters” and “Wounded Knee” details from The 1970s: A Decade of Defiance and Dreams, part of The Great Wall of Los Angeles by Judith F. Baca—grounding the conversation in history, resistance, and continued cultural presence.
A huge thank you to our incredible panelists—Kris “urban rezlife” Longoria, an artist, writer, and mother serving as Lead Exhibit Advisor for The Occupation of Alcatraz; River Garza, an LA-based artist whose work draws from traditional Indigenous aesthetics; and Monica Zavala, a multidisciplinary artist working across muralism, illustration, painting, sculpture, writing, and digital art.
Special thanks to moderator Jana Schmieding—comedian, actor, and podcaster known for her work on Rez Dogs—for guiding the conversation with care, insight, and humor.
Thank you to everyone who showed up and held space with us ✨
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Address
685 Venice Boulevard
Venice, CA
90291
Opening Hours
| Tuesday | 11am - 5pm |
| Wednesday | 11am - 5pm |
| Thursday | 11am - 5pm |
| Friday | 11am - 5pm |
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