The Spark (magazine)
Magazine for Bristol area
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Spark was a free quarterly magazine published in Bristol, England, from 1993 to 2019. Covering green, ecological, holistic and alternative themes, it distributed over two million copies across its 26-year run.
History
The Spark was founded in 1993 by John Dawson, and published by his company Blue Sax Publishing Ltd.[1] It was printed in A3 format and distributed free of charge across Bristol and the south-west of England, covering Bath, Glastonbury and Stroud.[2] The magazine generated revenue through a directory of listings advertisements covering complementary health practitioners, green businesses, ethical organisations and related services.[3]
The magazine ran into financial difficulty after its first edition in 1993 and was saved by a group of supporters who organised £10,000 of advertising. It settled into a quarterly publication schedule from issue 14 (Autumn 1998). Print runs grew from 10,000 at launch to 25,000 by the early 2000s.[3]
The magazine closed in July 2014.[1] The title was subsequently bought out of receivership by Phil Haughton of The Better Food Company and revived in association with Bristol 24/7, but failed to find a sustainable revenue model. The final edition was published on 15 April 2019.[citation needed]
Background
Bristol's concentration of organisations involved in sustainability, ethical finance and environmental advocacy provided a natural readership and advertising base for the magazine. The city was home to Sustrans, the Soil Association and Triodos Bank, among others.[3][4]
Significance
Dominic Corrywright, senior lecturer in the Study of Religions at Oxford Brookes University, wrote a chapter on The Spark in his monograph Theoretical and Empirical Investigations into New Age Spiritualities,[5] a book based on his earlier PhD thesis,[6] using the magazine as contributing to the empirical evidence for his analysis of alternative spirituality networks in the south-west of England.[7]
In 2012 the magazine was profiled in The Guardian in a series on small businesses. The then editor outlined how the magazine won a bid to produce a festival programme, and outlined how while staying true to the magazine's values, it was possible for a small team of five staff can deliver a good quality, large scale publication.[8]
Archive
A physical archive of back copies (1993-2014) is held at Bristol Central Library.[9] An incomplete set of print copies is also held at the British Library at their Boston Spa site in Yorkshire.[10]