Collaborators behind The Jaybird seek to ‘bring people together’

The Jaybird -- a community arts space on Fifth Avenue South in Crestwood -- opened in September and offers a wide variety of music, art shows, yoga classes and other events.

It also has a store selling handmade and independent publications, or zines.

The facility reflects the eclectic passions of the two married couples who founded it -- Lloyd Bricken and Lillis Taylor, and Burgin Mathews and Glory McLaughlin.

“The four of us have overlapping interests and energies, but each of us brings his or her own kind of unique interest and connections, too, maybe for visual art, or for hip hop and spoken word,” Mathews said.

Taylor runs her nonprofit, Bib & Tucker Sew-Op, in the same building, and she and Bricken live upstairs

The facility’s name pays tribute to Jaybird Coleman, a 1920s-era blues musician from Bessemer, Mathews said.

Live music is a mainstay at The Jaybird, which shows off what Bricken calls Birmingham’s “incredible performative culture.”

“I wanted a place where some of the great, homegrown music I love could be heard,” Mathews said, referring to “Alabama's master musicians” in such genres as blues, jazz and bluegrass.

The facility is not a nonprofit but sells memberships to help sustain itself.

“We're not trying to generate a profit,” Mathews said. “We’re just trying to create some beautiful, warm moments, trying to bring people together.”

Bricken said he sees The Jaybird as a place “that encourages folks to discover themselves and remember each other through craft and work together, in collaboration and celebration of their human being-ness.”

There will be more performances and special events in the space in the New Year, according to the organizers.

The art opening for January will feature photographer Roger Stephenson and painter Elnora Spencer.

Spencer is also a blues and soul singer and will perform in the space in February.

Socially Awkwrd, a collective of young hip-hop and spoken-word performers and visual artists, will co-host an event at The Jaybird in February.

For more information, go to jaybirdalabama.com or Facebook @JaybirdAlabama.