On the eve of Jacksonville’s One Spark 2014, officials announced Thursday that the “world’s crowdfunding festival” is going international this fall with an event in Berlin, Germany.
Elton Rivas, co-founder of One Spark, made the announcement to a Florida Theatre crowd of several hundred, who applauded loudly at the news of the European festival. The event will take place in mid-September.
“One Spark is a global platform for doers that has the potential to empower ideas anywhere, and One Spark Berlin adds a critical outside market validation component to everything we’ve built in Jacksonville,” Rivas said.
“If you want to launch ideas, generate traction in real-time through crowdfunding and get connected to the funding needed to grow your ideas, One Spark is the place to do it, no matter where One Spark is,” Rivas said.
Berlin has many of the same elements that made One Spark successful in Jacksonville, Rivas said, including creators, artists, sponsors, academics and excitement for the event.
Several cities around the world expressed an interest in a One Spark festival.
Thursday’s event took on the appearance of a mini-festival with food trucks lining the street outside the theater.
Inside a live band, Canary in the Coalmine, a group that is performing at this year’s One Spark event, provided live music.
Mayor Alvin Brown told the crowd that city departments are doing all they can to help make the Jacksonville event a success.
Organizers are preparing for the 2014 One Spark, which is scheduled April 9-13 in Downtown Jacksonville after last
year’s successful inaugural crowdfunding festival.
This year’s One Spark has attracted 632 creators from across the country and around the world to showcase their ideas. Last year, there were 406 projects in art, innovation, music, science and technology.
Rivas announced this year there is $310,000 in guaranteed crowd funds, unlimited individual contributions and $3.25 million in potential capital investment for participating projects from several investors, including Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan.
Rivas also unveiled a new One Spark app and announced that A&E plans to do a documentary on this year’s event.
“One Spark provides a real-time crowdfunding platform for creators to truly connect with their backers, and now five creators from One Spark Jacksonville will receive the opportunity to engage a major international market,” said Joe Sampson, One Spark Jacksonville executive director.
The top creators who receive $10,000 juried awards at One Spark Jacksonville will receive guaranteed participation in One Spark Berlin, plus a plane ticket to get them there, Sampson said.