The 20th Annual SPARK! Arts Kickoff and Festival, hosted by USC Visions and Voices, illuminated McCarthy Quad with purple LED lights and student talent on Thursday evening. Before the performances started, guests were met with various creative activities and an energizing pre-show DJ set by Kaufman School of Dance student NINABUTTERFLY. 

Nine different performances, all by Trojans, were scheduled for the night ahead. Large crowds of students rushed to the barricade while others settled in for a night of crafting, but the lively energy lasted well into the night’s end at 11 p.m.

“I’m getting pretty much good vibes,” first-time attendee and journalism Master’s student Val Vidal said. “There’s a lot of undergrad here, and I think everybody’s just excited to be here.”

Around the perimeter of the quad were tables from USC art schools, USC Libraries, the Performing Arts Committee and USC Museums. Promotional tabling from the USC Arts & Climate Collective encouraged students to join its 2025 cohort, and Visions and Voices publicized its Arts in Action grants. Samples from local food vendors and big-name beverage brands were available throughout the evening. 

The USC Roski Visual Narrative Society’s mini portraits were highly sought after, with lines wrapping around nearly half of the quad. Senior game art major and VNS member Sofia Goodson explained that their booth’s keepsakes were extremely popular in years past, with lines reaching up to 90 minutes and some students walking away empty-handed due to there being a high demand and a small timeframe to purchase. Their booth also promoted multiple Roski electives and the club’s Spring 2025 anthology of student work for purchase.

“I want people to know that there is a strong artistic community within USC, and that even if you’re just casually interested in drawing, that you can make friends through art,” Goodson said.

The evening’s host was Luke Swan, a sophomore majoring in acting for stage and screen, who riled up the audience and welcomed all the different acts to the stage. The opening act of the night was doctoral violoncello performance candidate Olivia Cho and interim President Beong-Soo Kim, both on the cello, playing Vivaldi’s Concerto for 2 Cellos. 

Kim and Cho were accompanied on stage by three junior dance majors, Andrea Rodriguez, Faith Aguilar and Julia Lowe. The dance trio swiftly followed their first performance by leading the crowd during the Kaufman Dance Challenge to a song by 310babii. 

Junior popular music performance major Sophia Condon, after running onto the stage in a dark suit and patterned tie, hypnotized the audience with her original works and covers, each showcasing her experimental rock-pop vocals. 

Bass player Bailey Thomas and guitarist Joseph Armstrong are both juniors in the same popular music performance cohort as Condon. 

“These are some of our closest friends, and I think that really translates on stage because we’ve done gigs for people outside,” Armstrong said. “Although you can have great experiences with people that you don’t know super well, there’s just something to be said about getting to do something like this with people that you love.” 

The pair, as part of Condon’s supporting band, foster their love for music by continuing to care about performing on stage for a live audience. 

“Being on a stage is different. It’s an experience I don’t think you get doing anything but like, there’s a certain energy, especially playing music,“ Armstrong said. “It’s a different kind of human connection that I don’t think you get anywhere else doing it. It’s a beautiful, beautiful thing.”

As the night progressed, more excited crowds gathered by the stage, ready to hear whatever act was gearing up next. 

“People will never lose the desire to have live music and have that type of connection because it’s so different than listening on Spotify,” Armstrong said. “I just hope they connect with it [and it] makes them want to see more live music.” 

Editor in Chief of The Sack of Troy, Jackson Parker, started the comedy portion of the evening, receiving laughs from the audience. More musical acts, like the hip-hop fusion performance by recent Thornton graduate Shorty-G, proved Thornton students’ love for music doesn’t stop after graduation. 

Soph Cimmino, a senior studying philosophy, politics and law as well as comedy, followed, delivering a “not family-friendly” comedy set with a storytelling focus. 

“I’m doing the set that I did for my ‘Stand Up 2’ class, because it’s battle-tested,” Cimmino said. “I know that people find it funny. As I said, it’s definitely like the biggest stage that I’ve performed on for stand-up.” 

Later, Swan directed audiences’ attention to the vibrantly exciting joint-drag performances from Eppie Nephrine, a sophomore majoring in biomedical engineering and Kolypso, a sophomore majoring in east asian languages, who donned abstract costumes. 

The closing musical performance by indie rock band Small Talk and one final dance party by NINABUTTERFLY ended the night on a high note. 

With the blend of talent and artistic style on display at SPARK!, there was something for everyone to appreciate, Cimmino said. 

“It’s good for especially new students to see that there’s an arts community here for them,” said Cimmino. “It’s also nice to see people like you on stage. I think that it’s also a very diverse breadth of different performers that we have in terms of both genre and style.. I think that it’s good for people to see that they can be on stage here.”