News
Tara Lopez appointed as The Spark Arts for Children’s Executive Director
Following a competitive recruitment process The Spark Arts for Children are excited to announce that Tara Lopez will join the organisation as its new Executive Director from May 2023.
Tara will lead the development, finance and communications functions of the organisation.
Tara re-joins The Spark having spent the past 2 years working on mass inclusion project ‘Critical Mass’ for Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, with a short-term secondment to Arts Council England as part of their national diversity team. Most recently she has been working with West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to consult on the strategy around the Commonwealth Games Legacy Funds for Culture.
The new leadership role of Executive Director will strategically drive the organisations development, operations and communication functions. Joining the leadership team at the start of it’s next phase as a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England.
During a key strategic period of development, Tara joins the leadership team alongside Christopher Gorry (Artistic Director), Trina Haldar and Daryl Beeton (Associate Directors) to deliver the mission and vision of the charity.
”I am over the moon to be joining The Spark Arts for Children as Executive Director and cannot wait to begin supporting Chris and the team in realising the bold and ambitious plans ahead. The Spark, and in particular Vital Spark, hold special significance for me personally, having been involved in the early days of the programme's development, and I am thrilled at the opportunity to bring all that I have learnt and experienced since my time with the organisation back into this exciting new role.
Tara LopezExecutive Director
”Tara demonstrated an outstanding level of rigour, passion, understanding and relevant experience during the application process. The panel were blown away by the tenacity and strategic understanding of the local and national landscape. I am so excited to start working with her, to realise the future of The Spark together.
Christopher GorryArtistic Director
The Vital Spark behind everything we do
We believe that all children should be able to experience arts and culture, and that they should be able to see themselves represented in these experiences. This is not yet the case for every child and we’re committed to changing that.
Our response is Vital Spark, and it's at the heart of everything we do. Vital Spark is about challenging and changing the lack of diversity in children’s arts and culture; it’s about diverse-led artistic decision making; it’s about not being afraid to stand up for what’s right.
We do this by supporting artists who are currently underrepresented in children’s arts and culture. We also work with partner organisations to create world-class opportunities for these artists and share best practice.
