In July of 2015, Rotary Club of Eugene (Club) member Pete Gribskov visited the Lane Arts Council as part of the club’s Vocational Lunch Group program. On the vocational visit to Lane Arts Council, Executive Director and fellow Rotarian Liora Sponko introduced the artists-in-residence program at local schools. This program was developed to add art classes to grade schools that had little to no arts education due to a lack of funding. Pete took the idea to Club President Michael Syman Degler with the idea of using Club reserve funds to create an endeavor that would make a significant impact to the youth of Eugene. After meeting with the City of Eugene and School District 4J leadership it was decided to create a pilot program focusing on the visual arts, since the schools still had some funding for music.
A meeting with 4J Superintendent and fellow Rotarian Gus Balderas convinced him to endorse the project. A vote by the Board of Directors of the Rotary Club of Eugene started the pilot project in two elementary schools in spring of 2016. The beginning of ArtSpark saw Cesar Chavez and McCornack elementary schools add four artists to conduct two eight-week art classes!
A fund-raising auction was planned for April 2017 at the Shedd Institute for the Arts with 17 Rotarians on the committee. That event raised funds to expand ArtSpark to all the Eugene 4J elementary schools. The Club continued to raise funds for ArtSpark through 2023. The Club’s fundraising efforts were supplemented with funding from the Eugene Education Foundation and 4J. Because of this project, Eugene’s 4J Artspark program became a standard for arts education in District 4J.