McCarthy Quad was ablaze in excitement Thursday night as USC Visions and Voices’ 19th Annual SPARK! Kickoff and Arts Fest rolled around. With activities ranging from an interactive animated wall to personalized portraits and an area to kick back and make custom buttons, there was something for everyone even before the main stage lit up. DJ Slaterrose, a senior majoring in dance, kindled the crowd for the first 30 minutes as the energy grew for the main acts to begin.

While freshmen were experiencing their first Visions and Voices event, seniors were preparing to start their final year. Nycoi Jones, a senior majoring in environmental studies, has been to every Visions and Voices event since the start of his freshman year and keeps coming back to the wide array of opportunities.

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“I like when they have events with concerts, but then they also always have fun, interactive things,” Jones said. “They always have the animated stuff, or there’s things that are good for photos.”

When 8:30 p.m. rolled around the emcee for the night, three-time National Poetry Slam Champion Javon Johnson came on stage to get the performances started. The evening’s slate had 11 performances listed, all by students at USC.

“We need energy back from y’all,” Johnson said. “So y’all gonna have to pick it up tonight for these wonderful slate of artists y’all have coming up. Can y’all do that? Can we get the energy up for them a little more than that?”

Following Johnson, Vice Provost for the Arts, Josh Kun, came on stage to light up the audience before the performers.

“Let them help you get lit in all that that implies,” Kun said. “Let the arts intoxicate you, alter your consciousness, hype you up, take you to a place you’ve never been before. So by the power vested in me as the Vice Provost for the Arts at the University of Southern California, let’s get lit.”

Beginning the mainstage performances was Meghan Chen, a junior majoring in popular music performance, who opened with an electric cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” before moving on to her own original song.

Following Chen’s performance, Shandela Contreras, a senior majoring in English as well as literary editing and publishing and a 2023 finalist for California Youth Poet Laureate, came up to read original poetry. The crowd was immediately engulfed in the words as they flowed through the air completely engaging everyone listening.

Excitement only continued to build as back-to-back USC Songfest winners Mariachi Los Troyanos came to the stage with trumpets, guitars, vocals and more to awe the crowd. Among their set was a warm cover of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” by Frankie Valli that had the crowd entranced.

Johnson took back to the stage to bring a powerful poem to the USC crowd, but first, he asked the audience to participate in a video for his daughter, and they happily obliged. The entire crowd yelled out to her and hands were formed into hearts, a beautiful start to a poem about that very same daughter.

Love Keyyz, a senior majoring in popular music performance and a multi-instrumentalist, was the next in the long line of immense talent. Keyyz took the crowd by storm, making everyone move inside and out.

“I can’t even have a favorite performance because literally everyone has been good,” said Stephen Lorentzen, a freshman majoring in psychology. “You know it’s a good performance when you hear your heart, your own heart, beating to it, and I feel it in every single one of these songs. It’s really amazing.”

While Keyyz had fire dance moves of her own, the quad was absolutely ignited by NSQK, a hip-hop team, who rushed onto the stage and showed the incredible power of dance in their intense performance. Once the crowd was in total awe, NSQK flipped the script to teach the audience some moves: and before anyone knew it, students were up onstage, showing what they had learned from the masterful dancers.

Once the stage was cleared of its newfound visitors, a table was brought out for LZ, a senior majoring in civil engineering, and Angela Wenyang Hou, a senior majoring in animation and digital arts. LZ and Hou worked together not only to bring outstanding beats but provide live visuals at the same time.

The next performer, back in school from what must have been a brat summer, was drag performer Rae Oblivion, a senior majoring in design. Rae Oblivion drew the audience right up to the lip of the stage with outstanding dance moves to multiple songs, including “365” by Charli XCX.

While the night was starting to come to a close, the energy did not when Luna Day, a junior majoring in popular music performance, sang a beautiful range of songs as she played both the acoustic and electric guitar.

For the final live performance of the night, student performer Moray, a junior majoring in popular music performance, welcomed the crowd “to the Moray show.” After a list of thank-you’s, Moray made sure the audience thanked one more person: “Yourselves, because I know you are gonna sing this next one,” and the crowd did, as Moray broke into an outstanding cover of “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga.

Once Moray left the stage, any semblance of a spark was now a fully blazing fire. The party wasn’t over yet as DJ Slaterrose took to the turntable for the final performance of the night to let everyone know USC is really a unique place: and in the words of Kendrick Lamar, Slaterrose’s first artist on the list, that they really are “Not Like Us.”