Bernadette “BJ” Lark’s CommUNITY Arts Reach empowers Roanoke through culture, creativity and connection.
Recent stories in local media have shown growing violence in Roanoke; however, the stories about the individuals and organizations coming together to help combat it are equally important. Bernadette “BJ” Lark, founder of CommUNITY Arts Reach, has a unique philosophy and says that we “see the violence every day. We must commit to caring about ‘who’s missing and why?’”
This philosophy was born from her Gullah Geechie culture, one that’s rooted in family and community. Born and raised in Allendale, South Carolina, where the Gullah Geechie culture originated, Lark moved to Roanoke over 20 years ago and noticed that the Northwest area of the city she was living in was a cultural desert. A cultural desert, according to Webster’s, is “a space lacking opportunities to engage with art, music, theater, literature and community traditions.”
Lark states that she realized there “were no real Afro-centric programs or arts. The arts are a universal language that offers goodness to all it reaches; it is the entree, not the dessert.”
From this desire to preserve arts and culture along with viewing the negativity and violence going on around her, CommUNITY Arts Reach was born. CommUNITY Arts Reach (CAR) has been around for years, and in 2020, CAR became a 501c3 non-profit organization. Lark explains, “Prior to that, everyone was volunteers and just coming together; there was no money but I wanted the program to grow, and this was the most direct path.”
CAR programs intentionally target underserved communities because there is a need for programs to be accessible to all and their mission is rooted in equity. The programs that CAR offers are therapeutic to the communities, and the families that violence touches. The organization recently received a grant through the Gun Violence Prevention Commission, meant to support initiatives aimed at preventing gun violence in the community.
Funds from this grant help CommUNITY Arts Reach offer programs eliminating isolation and providing the ability for kids to come to the programs. Recently, participants in CAR’s programming attended a field trip to the African American History Museum in Washington, D.C., with the help of grant funding.
All programs and ideas are inclusive. According to Lark, “inclusivity doesn’t only mean the way you look, it’s collaborating on agendas and the willingness to see and include other people’s vision.” A result of this inclusivity manifests in the form of collaborative programming with Roanoke Cultural Collective, Points of Diversity, SERV (Standing for Equity in the Roanoke Valley), and Roanoke City Public Schools.
Some of the organizations upcoming events include:
- March 14 – Poetry Night with Poems and Coffee (Building Bridges over Barriers)
- March 15 – Antonio Rocha – Storyteller, The Malaga Ship: a story of Maine and the Middle Passage
- April 5 – Dinner Theater
- December 5 and 6 – Black Nativity by Langston Hughes
CommUNITY Arts Reach is always looking for volunteers from the community to meet where the children are in their After School Programs at Villa Heights Monday through Friday. The programs all involve visual and performing arts. They are a non-profit, so monetary donations are always welcome. Lark states, “CommUNITY Arts empowers the community through the Arts, helps preserve culture and ensures access to those who are underserved in the community. This is critical work.”
CommUNITY Arts Reach is located at 3025 Frontier Road, NW (the back of Preston Park Elementary School) and you can find more information about their programs on their website at https://artsreach-community.org or on their Facebook page.
