Live At The Rock! PANLARA

ZIYA JACKSON

5 PM - Local Artist Highlight!

Ziya Jackson is a rising senior (12th grade honor roll student) with a 3.8 GPA at James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, MD. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia and moved with her family to Maryland in 2015. As the daughter of an active-duty officer, Ziya has always had a heart to serve since the age of 5 years old. Ziya has achieved over 450 Student Service Learning (SSL) hours and prioritizes helping others before herself. Ziya is a budding artist who is recognized as a soul stirring songstress. She recorded her first song at the tender age of 7 and continues   to write songs that connect with her audience and allows them feel a myriad   of emotions. Her love of music and mathematics is a union that she seeks to   master when she goes to college. The love of giving some of her time and talents is one of her many gifts and strengths that will someday improve the lives of others. Her humble nature vibrantly flows through her   music, a gift that will someday be shared with the WORLD.

PANLARA

6 PM - 8 PM

PANLARA is an organization that provides an arts and cultural forum for youths from diverse communities in the, D.C. metropolitan area. It creates performance opportunities to market and enhance talents of artistic youths.  The main emphasis is to facilitate partnerships among community youth groups and encourage them to build businesses through their youth entrepreneurship program.

PANLARA developed and hosted an International Youth Arts and Culture Festival. Talented youth from around the globe displayed their musical skills through performances reflecting a diverse genre of music.  From fashion design to painting and sculpting, the cultural artistic expressions of the youth were on full display.

PANLARA Youth Steel Orchestra’s aim is to share their African Caribbean culture through steel pan music.  On its initial international tour, the original members traveled to South Africa to perform for school children in Soweto, South Africa, a trip that has changed their lives completely.  In addition to visiting historical sites such as Robbens Island to experience Nelson Mandela’s prison cell, Pretoria and Johannesburg, there were up close tours to the natural habitats of lions, giraffes and elephants. PANLARA members are all excellent students in the D.C. Metropolitan Area. They also arrange various genres of music for their performances and conduct regular seminars in local schools, churches and nursing homes to teach the steel drum instrument.

LIVE @ The Rock is a FREE community outdoor event from 5 PM – 8 PM, every Friday night, from July 9 – August 27, 2021. Audiences are encouraged to bring their own lawn chair and/or blanket, purchase dinner from one of our many local restaurants, and enjoy various beverages and treats that are offered at the BlackRock bar and concessions.

This series is focused on highlighting local artists and offering a safe, enjoyable, and entertaining space for the community to come together, as we all get #Back2BlackRock.