This is the first entry about Community, in our series that explores Bump 'n Grind's 3 pillars: Coffee, Music, Community. In this entry we want to talk about why Community is a pillar and what it means to us. These entries are written by our founder - David Fogel
I took advantage of a unique opportunity at The University of Vermont and designed my own major after the honors program I was admitted to as a freshman. The major was an integrated social sciences program focused on urban planning and community development. After college I moved to Japan where amongst other things I ran an English summer camp, founded an environmental festival, opened a community space in a vacant store front and helped start/lived in the first artist live-work studio in Sapporo.
I grew up in Bethesda and when I came back home, I started working for the Cultural Development Corporation - highlighting artistic happenings in DC and working on, advocating for arts based infrastructure. Using the arts as a means of developing community was a natural evolution for me, as my mother founded Imagination Stage.
Lets define what Community is. According to the Oxford Dictionary:
1.) A group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
2.) A feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.
At Bump 'n Grind, we love our immediate community - South Silver Spring. I'd been living in South Silver Spring for nearly 7 years. At first I was working for the local Community Development Corporation, where I was the organizer of Silver Spring's Arts and Entertainment District. We created South Silver Spring's first art gallery, which I managed. I then went on to create several co-working spaces, and am a founding member of Eastern Village Co-housing. I've sat on many boards from The Silver Spring Town Center to The Urban District Advisory Board. All while running a community centric multi-media company X Culture and hosting Electronic Culture and Music events throughout the DMV for over 10 years. Bump 'n Grind was the culmination of all of these things.
I opened Bump 'n Grind because I love it here and because I felt we needed a quintessential third space. The first space being your home, the second space being your work, the third space being that place in your neighborhood where you meet with friends, family, others to scheme...dream, share ideas. Commune. To be honest, every community needs a place, or places like this.
These spaces, typically independent small businesses, are the backbones of our communities. They are the physical infrastructure that define and shape us. They are vital in creating community, a sense of place and fellowship. They bring us together and help us figure out what our common goals, attitudes and interests are. That's why at Bump 'n Grind we've hosted community meetings; politican's town halls; non-profit get togethers and fund raisers; small business vendor markets; knitting, book and visual arts clubs and countless musical events. Without independent small businesses, hosting these things - making space for these things community has a tough time happening, taking root. Without these places, these happenings our communities lack cohesion they lack soul and identity.