Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Sparks, Lesley
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
Lesley Sparks is a former Kodak Canada Employee who began her career at Kodak in 1980 in the mailroom at the Mount Dennis location, while simultaneously volunteering with street youth and actively photographing. By the mid 1980's, she had moved to the technical support area, where she identified a need from high school teachers for help setting up photography programs. Sparks pitched an initiative for a formal education program at Kodak Canada, which was accepted, and became the School Programs Director in 1990.
Working with a Teacher Advisory, she developed education programming including lectures, workshops and exhibitions (including the annual Images of Who We Are exhibition of high school photography).
Kodak cancelled all education programming in 1997 and Sparks left Kodak Canada. Since that time, she has worked extensively with photojournalism, holding various roles in the Contact Photography Festival, World Press Photo, and the Hot Docs Film Festival.