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Volt-Age

2026 Spark Fellowship

Announcing the recipients of the inaugural 2026 Spark Fellowship

Where Art and Research Meet

Volt-Age and Concordia’s Faculty of Fine Arts (FoFA) are pleased to announce the inaugural recipients of the Spark Fellowship, a new research-creation fellowship that supports outstanding emerging artists in exploring the cultural, social, and creative dimensions of Canada's just energy transition.

The Spark Fellowship brings artists into direct collaboration with researchers working across Volt-Age's interdisciplinary research themes. Rather than illustrating existing research, Fellows pursue their own artistic investigations while engaging with researchers, students, and partners to generate new ways of understanding just energy transition and to contribute to the research process in order to develop more impactful clean energy solutions.

Meet the fellows

Following a highly competitive inaugural competition, Alexandre Franchi and Pauline Lomami have been selected as the first Spark Fellows. Franchi, an award-winning filmmaker and recent Master of Design graduate, will explore how participatory filmmaking and community-based artistic practice can foster new conversations around decarbonized food production and community resilience. Lomami, an interdisciplinary artist-researcher, will examine the human and environmental dimensions of critical minerals and resource extraction, bringing artistic perspectives to questions surrounding electrification and a just energy transition.

 

Headshot of Alexandre Franchi Alexandre Franchi

Alexandre Franchi is a filmmaker, educator, and recent Master of Design graduate from Concordia University. His films have screened and garnered awards internationally. His first feature, The Wild Hunt, won Best Canadian First Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Audience Award at Slamdance. His second, Happy Face, created with people living with facial differences, won the Prix Collégial du Cinéma Québécois and was lauded by the New York Times as “interesting and dramatic, without cliché or saccharine.” Over fifteen years he has directed features, symbolic short fables, and dozens of television commercials. His MDes research-creation thesis, Quest for Communitas, developed a carnivalesque participatory methodology for co-creating films and rituals with marginalized communities. He has taught at the Weengushk Film Institute (M’Chigeeng First Nation, Manitoulin Island) since 2020. His current practice explores playful participatory creation as a vehicle for personal catharsis, community knowledge, and cultural sovereignty. 

 

Headshot of Pauline Lomami Po B. K. Lomami, Photo credit Noire Mouliom

Pauline B. Lomami (Po B. K. Lomami – Pauline Batamu Kasiwa Lomami) is an (un)disciplinary artist-researcher, educator, and community organizer from the Congolese diaspora in Belgium, based in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montréal since 2017. Lomami received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Business Engineering from the University of Namur (Belgium), as well as a Graduate Diploma in Communication Studies and an MFA degree in Studio Arts (Intermedia) from Concordia University. Their interventionist practice has developed largely, however, outside of the context of an educational institution. Their work has been presented in Belgium, Sweden, New York, and Canada, and their texts have been published in French, Québécois, and pan-African publication contexts. They have received support from SSHRC, FRQSC, Concordia University, Desjardins Foundation, the Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada (SWAAC), CALQ, and CAM. They are currently an artist-in-residence at the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art as part of the Habiter le MAC program. 

Evaluation procedure 

The Fellowship recipients were selected through a rigorous adjudication process conducted by an interdisciplinary jury composed of Haidee Wasson, Associate Dean of Research, Graduate Studies and Faculty Development, Faculty of Fine Arts; Linda Swanson, Associate Professor, Department of Studio Arts; and Marianne Cloutier, Artistic Director, Grantham Foundation. Volt-Age extends its sincere appreciation to the members of the jury for contributing their time, expertise, and thoughtful evaluation throughout the selection process.

Volt-Age and FoFA are grateful for the creativity, thoughtfulness, and care reflected in the submissions by all applicants. The quality and diversity of the applications made the inaugural competition exceptionally competitive.

Equity, diversity and inclusion

The Volt-Age Research Program is committed to advancing innovative and inclusive research by embedding Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) principles into every step of academic research, from design to dissemination. This commitment extends to all Volt-Age–funded events and activities.  

We encouraged individuals with diverse and multiple identities — including but not limited to, Indigenous peoples, people of colour, disabled people, members of the LGBTQIA2+ community, women and immigrants — to submit artistic creations. Volt-Age recognizes that BICOP artists have traditionally been disproportionately excluded from opportunities to share their work, and we aim to help elevate those voices. We are dedicated to building a community that celebrates diversity as a source of strength.  

Explore Volt-Age’s EDI resources

Volt-Age is funded by a $123-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.

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