The Culture Cup celebrates one year of bringing coffee and community
by John Reid and Jennifer Roberts
For more than a year, the Culture Cup has brought more than just coffee and tasty treats to the Gainesville community. On Wednesday, they celebrated their one-year anniversary with an event titled “A Panel of Black Culture, Art, and Science.” Along with owner Nikki Brown, the panelists were:
- Melody Starya Mobley, the first African American female forester in the United States. Her uniform is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History. She has a very inspiring story of determination and resilience that is being captured in the film, “The Dark White Forest,” which is set to premiere in January 2025.
- Wayne David Hubbard, STEM educator, aviation professor and poet. His works include being a contributor on the anthology, “Writing The Land,” which he read to those in attendance.
- Amber Miller, 2024 Black and African American History Fellow Virginia Outdoors Foundation, Bull Run Mountain Conservancy.
Throughout the event they read to the audience, spoke about what it meant to be a Black person in these unique spaces, and shared advice to the children who wanted to follow in their footsteps.
Afterwards, Brown spoke with contributor Jennifer Roberts on what it meant to host this event a year after starting. “I created the Culture Cup out of a need,” she said. “I wanted for myself and my family to be able to enter a space and feel embraced, valued and unapologetically our Black selves. I thought that maybe there were other people in my community who wanted the same thing.”
Roberts, who is a frequent visitor to the Culture Cup and has read to children there on several occasions, talked about its meaning. “The Culture Cup is so much more than a coffee shop, even though the coffee is original and delicious. It is a safe community space to listen and to be seen, heard and validated.”
“Every time I visit,” she continued, “it feels like I am coming home. I always see someone I know and I always meet someone new. It’s a special place!”
To find out more about the Culture Cup, please visit their Instagram page.
(Special thanks to Jennifer Roberts for her contributions to this story.)
