Eric Wallace
Eric Wallace is the founder and executive director of the Firehouse Community Arts Center. Eric was born and raised in Birmingham. He lived in the Southside neighborhood until the age of 6, then his family relocated to Homewood. He went on to graduate from Homewood High School in 2003 – after finishing high school, he attended Birmingham Southern College where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English in 2007.
While growing up in Birmingham, Eric uncovered a love for music and a desire to create with others. When he turned 19, he was determined to hit the road with his band, Wildcat Revival, so he purchased a 1987 Chevy G20 van to tour the country. Eric and his bandmates drove the van until the wheels came off (and the vehicle literally burned to the ground) – by that time, it was clear that music would influence nearly every aspect of his personal and professional life.
When he wasn’t on the road, Eric continued developing his incomparable do-it-yourself work ethic while managing the historic Lag’s Eatery in Homewood. He also interned for Operation New Birmingham (later renamed “REV Birmingham”) and served as an enumerator for the 2010 Census – all experiences that would inform the way he viewed and navigated the world.
During the mid-2000s, he nurtured new relationships and friendships through his creative and professional pursuits, leading to a pivotal invitation from a family that regularly visited Lag’s. They asked him to teach their son to play guitar and invited him to their house once a week to facilitate the lessons. This request launched Eric into a multi-year journey that combined music education, urban planning, and a commitment to inclusive community development in Birmingham.
After accepting his first student, Eric’s teaching roster expanded – quickly. By 2009, he was teaching 20 students (and still managing Lag’s full time). He was determined to reach more students and reinvest in Birmingham, so he took a step back and made a major decision. He found a historic building on 41st St. S. in the South Avondale neighborhood and decided to buy it, so he could teach guitar lessons to more students and offer an accessible space for bands and artists to perform and record. He also decided to live on the second floor.
The Firehouse was born.
At this point, he was all in. He moved into the Firehouse, taught full-time, and with the help of the community, created a groundbreaking performance space in the back of the building. For over a decade, Eric fostered community through music education, while hosting a DIY venue that catalyzed a local scene. During this time, he also performed in and toured extensively with a number of bands. Through these experiences, he had the opportunity to tour country and the world (many times over). As much as he loved the road, he retired from touring in 2019 and began deepening his focus on his work at the Firehouse.
As Eric concluded his touring life and approached the end of his first decade at the Firehouse, he explored how he could reach more young people in Greater Avondale with relatable and relevant music education. Over the years, he’d met and taught several interested students who lived near the Firehouse and recognized that they harbored a deep love for music and a desire to perform – much like he did as a young guy growing up in Birmingham. These experiences and reflections motivated him to reimagine the future of the Firehouse. He sat down with a close collaborator and friend, Chris Hines, in September 2019 and started crafting a plan for converting the Firehouse into a nonprofit organization.
He went on to form a board of directors and recruited several instructors, and, by summer 2020, the Firehouse Community Arts Center began to take shape. Moving forward, Eric and his team will offer a variety of music education programs, with scholarship opportunities for the musically-underserved students in the community, as well as sustainable employment and accessible recording for Birmingham’s working musicians. His long-term vision is a diverse and connected musical community where artists of all ages use their creative voices to shape the future.
In Eric’s own words, “Through art, you can make your way through this world in a way that’s not really articulated throughout primary school.”
You can reach Eric at eric@firehousecac.org.
