  With a possible angular resolution down to 0.1-0.2 millisecond of arc using
the 330 m baselines and the access to the 600-900 nm spectral domain, the CHARA
Array is ideally configured for focusing on precise and accurate fundamental
parameters of stars. CHARA/SPICA (Stellar Parameters and Images with a Cophased
Array) aims at performing a large survey of stars all over the
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. This survey will also study the effects of the
different kinds of variability and surface structure on the reliability of the
extracted fundamental parameters. New surface-brightness-colour relations will
be extracted from this survey, for general purposes on distance determination
and the characterization of faint stars. SPICA is made of a visible 6T fibered
instrument and of a near-infrared fringe sensor. In this paper, we detail the
science program and the main characteristics of SPICA-VIS. We present finally
the initial performance obtained during the commissioning.
