WASHINGTON — If you’ve ever walked down 11th street in D.C.’s Columbia Heights neighborhood, chances are you’ve come across BloomBars. The colorful, two-story building is a safe haven for artists and art lovers alike. It's a performance space, art gallery, market and so much more depending on who you ask.
Founder of BloomBars, John Chambers, sat down with WUSA9 to talk about how the nonprofit was started, what programs it offers and what the space means to him.
"I grew up in a small town in Massachusetts," Chambers said. "My parents were educators and civil rights activists from the 50s all the way to end of my father's life."
Chambers said his mother still runs an Anti-Racism Film Festival she started in Pioneer Valley, which is on its 21st year. His parents met at the beginning of the civil rights movement in Chester, Pennsylvania, where they both were involved in activism.
"The racism and segregation was pretty bad, which is why they chose that area to start organizing," Chambers said.
Chambers said his father was charged with walking his mother home after meetings, and that's how they fell in love and began their life together—moving around the world.
After his junior year of high school, Chambers had an epiphany.
"You know, growing up pretty much being the only person of color, Black person in my grades growing up, There was an incident," Chambers said. "Well there were many incidents, but there was a tipping where I was like I can't stay here."
At this point, Chambers needed an out. So his parents enrolled him into a boarding school located in New Hope, Pennsylvania, which became an enriching experience Chambers called "life-changing." There he would meet a friend whose sister would continue to change his outlook on life and think beyond his small town upbringing.
Having seen how much of an impact diversity can make on one's education, Chambers said he knew he wanted to attend an HBCU. He ventured to Washington, D.C. with his friend to visit the Howard University campus. Chambers stopped looking at other universities and set his sights on the mecca.
"Being in a city like Washington, D.C., where so many things are happening, I could really dive into what was important to me, the issues and causes and energy of the District at a very young age," he said.
During his sophomore year at Howard, Chambers landed an internship with a small communications firm.
"They had just started their own firm and they had some old radio equipment that was donated to them," Chambers said. "So my boss looked at me and said 'hey you want to do something with this radio equipment?' and I said 'sure let's figure something out.' And we built a radio network."
The internship eventually turned into a full time job. Chambers says this is where he got his jump start working with civil rights leaders, other activists and corporate leaders. He helped build the radio network that provided news and information from D.C. to urban radio stations around the country.
After that, he went to work in the Clinton Administration on the 2000 census. And eventually moved over to a global communications firm in Georgetown that worked on big public health issues and causes.
"After 8 years of doing that, I felt a little removed from touching and feeling the impact," Chambers said. "It was macro and I was craving micro."
This was around the time of the 2008 election when Obama become president. He says that election inspired him to think about what he could do differently through the arts and through all the creatives he had surrounded himself with his entire life to effect change.
"Artists were always a part of the movement. They were at the table," explains Chambers.
So, Chambers walked away from his life as an executive at a big communications firm and decided to take on a new project: BloomBars. Chambers took inspiration from Shane Evans, a creative, children's book author, musician, and more, who had just opened a studio in Kansas City. Chambers says he flew down to help build it and wanted to build something of his own. He decided to buy the building now known as BloomBars at 3222 11th St NW.
"I mortgaged my life and my retirement," he laughed. "And made a lot of other sacrifices to get it."
Chambers launched BloomBars by holding monthly events in the space and grew it from there.
"I live around the corner, this is my community," he said. "Where better to make an impact than where you live."
Chambers says after the birth of his daughter, he realized there wasn't a lot of programming for young people and he wanted to change that. This is when he began implementing kids programs.
"We've had some really special people come through here who were already established or well-known," he said. "I'm not a name-dropper, but you would know them. And those that sorta started here and we really nurtured their growth and they've gone on to win Grammy Awards and other big awards."
Walking away from his job at the global communications firm wasn't all rainbows and butterflies, and required a shedding of ego, Chambers recalls.
"It's hard. People don't see what happens behind the scenes," he said. "What is takes to actually keep these doors open."
But despite that, Chambers doesn't regret his decision to open BloomBars.
"The people who have come through here and been a part of this experience are just some of the most beautiful and amazing people you'll ever encounter," Chambers said. "And they may never be famous and you may never hear them, and that's ok too because they believed in what they did and are doing and it's still having that same impact even if they aren't TikTok famous."
Having built the space so many years ago and constantly watching it bloom, Chambers said it's interesting to hear how people describe the space because everyone has a different definition.
"It's nice when people make it what they make it from their own experience," Chambers said.
Chambers explains that the space isn't just a venue to come in and use. Programming starts through collaboration.
"The important principle in holding space is that you need to de-center yourself but also check your ego but also make sure that everybody in that circle has that same understanding," he said. "And when that happens, that's when really magical things happen."
Chambers say you can't put a price on having a space to express yourself creatively, which is why a majority of the programming at BloomBars is donation-based.
In addition to running the nonprofit, he mentors artists and is a creative himself.
"Art helps us express the things we can't speak," Chambers said.
BloomBars has become a place of healing for many, whether they take the stage for the first time or hundredth.
"The arts is a life-long thing. You are constantly creating. It's enhancing your life in so many ways whether you choose to be a mathematician, an engineer, a scientist, the arts can always be a part of your life." Chambers says.
His hope is to have more people volunteer, donate, and generally get involved with BloomBars so that it can continue to grow.
Everyone is welcome at BloomBars. Their motto is "You Bloom, We Bloom."
If you'd like to get involved you can find out about events through their social media or website linked below:
Instagram: @youbloomwebloom
Facebook: BloomBars
Website: BloomBars.com
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