Inspiring Conversations with Pawan Mishra of Lune Spark Center for Creativity

Today, we would like to introduce you to Pawan Mishra.

Hi Pawan, we would love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in a very small town in India. I used to write stories, and there was no one around me who was a professional writer that could guide me. I often thought that being an artist was a gift – that you could never learn art; you were born with it – because that’s how the media often portrays it. I studied at IIT Kanpur and pursued a career in FinTech, but the writer in me remained alive, and I kept writing as a hobby. When I lost my father in 2013 at the young age of 69, I became very serious about my purpose in life. I resolved to build a platform for artists that I did not have while growing up – to teach aspiring artists the skills they need to thrive and offer them opportunities to develop mentoring relationships with working artists. In 2015, I soft-launched Lune Spark (a loose translation of my father’s name in Hindi – the literal translation would be Moon Light). I started supporting young aspiring authors on the side while managing my full-time corporate job. It was not until 2020 that I was ready to launch my full vision – I left my corporate job and started building the first Lune Spark Center for Creativity in Apex. Covid caused multiple delays, but I was able to launch it in August 2022. Fast forward 9 months, we now offer over 30 courses to anyone older than 7 years, employ a staff of over 20 people, run highly recognized weekly and daily camps, and have served more than a thousand unique customers. We have become a much sought-after local brand in the area for art education, and we are working on launching 2 more centers in the next few months.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
“Who needs art? Open up a STEM center instead, or you will fail.” Most people would tell me this. However, I was lucky to receive the support of my close friends and family. The road has been full of bumps – as soon as I finalized the building space, Covid hit the world hard, and everything on the project started getting delayed. Our original target to launch was January ’22, and we were delayed by 7 months. We launched in the last part of August ’22 and lost the entire summer season that year – there couldn’t have been a worse time to start a business like this! But we knew we would be successful. The overall financial markets had been continuously going through a challenging time, making it hard for a startup that needed good investment during the ramp-up period. The technology service provider for our website backed off right before the launch (after working for months, they couldn’t deliver the features we wanted since day 1 – I had only a week to build the website) – and I worked day and night to do it in time (thanks to my technology skills). Hiring was also a big challenge because we only wanted performing/professional artists who were still passionate about their art. I interviewed over 300 people to hire a handful of staff – it was very challenging – but I worked round the clock and had great results: most of our original teachers are still with us, and our students love them!

We’ve been impressed with Lune Spark Center for Creativity, but for those who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I am the founder of Lune Spark Center for Creativity. Our mission is to “inspire, encourage, nurture creativity, innovation, and self-expression in students of all ages.”

We are marching toward our mission by providing high-quality art education at a state-of-the-art center, with many award-winning practicing artists as teachers.

We primarily offer three services:

1. Weekly Classes in Art, Music, Drama: We have classes for three age ranges: 7-11, 12-16, and 17+ years. These classes run on a monthly subscription model with a 50-minute class every week. The first session is a free trial class, which allows the instructor to assess the student’s skill level and recommend the most appropriate batch for them. We take students through 5 levels of skills, from beginner to master level.
2. Weeklong & Daily Camps (Trackout/Summer/School’s Out): These camps are for kids aged 7-12 years. They provide an opportunity for kids to learn quality art education while their schools are out. During these camps, kids create their own short movies, learn animation, and engage in art and craft activities. We also collaborate with ISI Elite Training – their coaches train Lune Spark Campers three days a week on light exercise.
3. Studio Services: Lune Spark provides professional-grade audio services such as song recording, mixing, and mastering. This is ideal for aspiring musicians who have composed a song but don’t have a place to professionally record or master it at affordable prices.
   

What sets you apart from others?
We are a place where every student is special and receives direct mentoring from practicing artists. We run group classes that provide a productive learning and thriving environment for students while keeping the class size small enough for personalized teaching. Many of our students have already made leaps in their skill sets – for example, some who didn’t know much about music production are now recording their own albums during their classes, thanks to our Emmy-winning artist Timothy Word (aka Sonny King). We have similar success stories from all other disciplines as well.

What are we most proud of about your brand?
There are many things, but I would like to point out two here:

1. NASA once conducted a study that concluded that only 2% of adults retain the creative genius they were born with (at age 5, 98% of kids are still creative geniuses). We are proud that we are working on changing that average positively in the local area where we operate by engaging children in right brain activities from an early age of 7.
2. Mental health is becoming a bigger issue with every passing day. We have received heartfelt gratitude from many parents for what we do every day to help mitigate this issue.

What else would you like to share with our readers?
A couple of things:

1. We offer 30+ courses under one roof, allowing students to learn what they want and exercise their creative freedom to the fullest. For example, we have a student who initially came for “2D Animation,” but quickly realized that taking the “Character Design” course would help improve their animation skills, so they joined that course as well. A few weeks later, they joined “Creative Writing” and “Digital World Building” courses, followed by “Music Production” – this helped them become a more holistic artist capable of producing fully done short animation videos.
2. One issue parents face at other places is that by the time they go back home after dropping off their kid, it would be time to drive back to pick them up. Our center also offers adult courses – many parents attend another class at the same time their kids are in a class – and they love that they can use their time more productively!

What matters most to you?
What matters most to me is a world where everyone finds a platform to connect with the best in their area of creative interest – so that we can counteract the severe loss of creativity the world is going through today. By supporting the growth of creativity, we can bring more hope, love, and joy to this planet.

Pricing:

• Weeklong Camps: $295/week (sibling discount)
• Daily Camps: $90/day (sibling discount)
• Art Classes: $185/month
• Studio Services: Call for a price quote
• Group Camps: Call for a price quote

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lunespark.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lunespark1/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LuneSpark
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lunespark/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/LuneSpark
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lunespark