Downtown Jacksonville again will host the One Spark crowdfunding festival in 2014, with April 9-13 scheduled for the event's second year, organizers announced Tuesday.
In addition, the event will incorporate feedback from attendees, creators and venue surveys from its first year to enhance the five-day festival and have a new day-to-day management official.
Joe Sampson, field operations director for the 2013 event, will lead day-to-day management as executive director for the 2014 event, taking over for Elton Rivas, One Spark co-founder and current executive director.
Rivas will serve in an advisory role and serve as president of the organization's board of directors while working on Jacksonville-based ventures to help provide capital for early-stage companies, according to a news release.
Enhancements for the 2014 festival will include:
• Creator categories will be art, innovation, music, science and technology. The initial event featured three categories consisting of visual art, performance art and technology and engineering innovations.
• The prize structure will include a $200,000 guaranteed prize, distributed based on the public vote. In addition, five $10,000 bonuses will be awarded to the top-voted creator in each category and five $10,000 juried prizes plus immediate individual contributions from attendees.
• A "more walkable, concentrated event footprint" that will have 20 square blocks and additional programming.
• "Millions in capital investments" available for creators from private investors and equity firms.
• Additional voting and information kiosks. The initial festival had more than 50,000 votes cast by festival attendees.
Throughout the year, the organization will host events leading up to the festival and work with organizations that have shown interest since the inaugural event.