The Spot on Kirk, an intimate 130-seat venue in downtown Roanoke, is making waves in the local Southwest Virginia culture scene thanks to a grant the music hall received in 2024 to promote Hispanic Heritage Month.
The music listening room was one of 24 nonprofit and for-profit live music venues from around the country that were awarded a Music in Action grant from the Live Music Society in 2024. The grant was key to allowing The Spot on Kirk to attract bigger acts and further diversify its programming. It’s something the venue has been working toward, according to John Pence, the venue manager.
“I am obsessed with programming,” said Pence. “There were acts that we couldn’t have gotten without the funding.”
The $15,000 grant was used to bring acts during the celebratory month for an initiative the venue dubbed the Música y Cultura series. The funds were also used to stretch the venue’s Hispanic programming and promotions efforts beyond the designated 30 days of Hispanic Heritage Month — which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 — into December.
Last year Pence supercharged the establishment’s programming and used the celebratory month as a springboard to offer a wide array of music based around claves, handheld wooden percussion instruments that typically use a 6/8 time signature and emphasize the second and fifth beats that can be heard in everything from cumbia to bachata to salsa. Pence also booked events apart from live music, including a Hispanic comedy performance, dance parties, a networking lunch with community leaders and a paint night.
“We have definitely promoted during Hispanic Heritage Month in previous years. But, you know, I’d say it was more like a fraction of what we were able to do,” said Pence.
Building relationships
Some artists the venue built relationships with during the series will return in 2025. Grammy-nominated artist Joe Troop, who performed as part of the Latin grass duo Larry and Joe, will step onto The Spot on Kirk’s stage again in early May when he’ll perform as part of one of his other projects, Joe Troop’s Truth Machine. Those jonesing for more Latin music will enjoy another act spawned from the momentum of the series, Jstop Latin Soul, who will bring their blend of Afro-Cuban rhythms and American jazz and soul to the space in early February.
“The grant really gave us the foundation to be able to expand,” said Bruce Bryan, the venue’s founder and president. “We’ve now been established for the Hispanic community as a resource for that kind of programming.”
Bryan found out about the grant opportunity from board member Bruce Houghton, president of Skyline Artists and senior advisor to the online show and ticket finder bandsintown.com. Houghton has been involved with The Spot on Kirk since its inception in 2016.
“If you look at the people who were awarded the grant, to be in that category of venue really ups the visibility of The Spot,” Bryan said. “It kind of helped put some credibility to the Roanoke music scene as well.”
Another promotion opportunity the venue availed itself of to raise awareness of its programming was an Instagram Live takeover of the Music Society’s account with a broadcast of the Larry and Joe show. Bryan also hosted a branding and marketing webinar for small music venues in December 2024.
Leveraging diversity
The push to prioritize Hispanic programming was an intersection of interest and opportunity. Pence himself plays keys and guitar in a band called Cinémathèque, whose sonic stylings lean into a world music vibe of exotica, a genre popularized in the 1950s that draws on “exotic” instrumentation from Hawaiian to Latin to surf rock. Another board member, Kat Pascal, who champions Latino and community empowerment through an organization called Latinas Network, was a resource for Pence to build out the bookings and promotion for Música y Cultura offerings.
There was also an existing desire among the board to see how deeply it could build out the music and community programming for Hispanic Heritage Month. Bryan said that the venue had been looking to build on some previous forays it had made into diverse programming that saw everything from metal shows to spoken-word poetry grace the stage. For Bryan, it was just as much about drawing on Latin beats as bringing the community together.
“Music moves us and transports us. It breaks down barriers,” he said.
Edgar Ornelas, founder of the dance and event planning organization Salsa Noke, has partnered with iterations of the venue that predate the existence of The Spot on Kirk. He estimates he’s been working with the space for 15 years, playing and promoting Latin music and hosting dance instruction in the Roanoke community.
As part of the Música y Cultura series last year, Salsa Noke gave dance lessons before the Pan-Latin-inspired Floyd-based band Solazo played at the end of September.
“Creating music draws people together,” said Ornelas. “It’s like you bridge cultures. In a way, to me, it’s more about strengthening our social fabric because sometimes it’s torn.”
And creating a resource for the community is where Pence and Bryan would also like to see the venue shine.
At the Larry and Joe show, before the duo’s performance, a Spanish-language CPR training was held on stage and folks who attended the training got to see the music portion of the show for free.
“It was amazing to have this mixed crowd of people who came to see Appalachian string band music and then people who stuck around because they heard [the event] was Latin American folk,” said Troop.
Troop is a self-proclaimed “artivist,” and encouraging engagement is an aspect of the programming he welcomes from live music venues. “It just revitalizes communities,” Troop said.
Bryan agreed.
“I think we’re always looking for the next way we can serve the community,” he said.
