The Bucks County Community College Zlock Performing Arts Center has an exciting 2024 spring season planned, focusing on highlighting and representing the diverse voices of our community.
A beloved household name within and beyond Bucks County, the Kevin and Sima Zlock Performing Arts Center has taken center stage in the rise of the community’s bustling arts and entertainment sector.
The many students, faculty members, and families of the college have enjoyed a front-row seat to its success, and the venue shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. If anything, 2024 will be a crucial year for a key ambition behind the scenes.
Director of Community Programming and Events, Peter Chiovarou admitted to a lack of diverse faces, voices, and perspectives during the past few years of lineups, and officially declared representation to be an active goal for his venue. With this in mind, the schedule for Spring 2024 enjoys a vibrant look complete with fresh faces and even fresher ideas.
The show business enthusiast expressed optimism for the venue’s future. Chiovarou said there is “No particular vision” for this semester’s lineup. “I’m just looking for diverse voices to represent the local community.”
Beginning the lineup on Feb. 1 is a culturally rich take on jazz with a showing of recorded performances of “Hugh Masekela & The Mahotella Queens in Basel,” a South African trumpeter and a South African female vocal band. These figures in South African jazz bring a unique, international take on this classic American genre with their sounds of mbaqanga music and South African jazz.
This is one of two performances being held for the Zlock’s “Cultural Streaming Series,” the other being a tribute to African American Jazzdrumer and Bandleader Art Blakey.
Chiovarou was also quick to mention performances by Joscho Stephan, a talent in “Gypsy Swing” and “Gypsy Jazz” who will take to the Zlock stage on March 8, and a tribute to African American composer Roy Ayers on April 11.
The Performance Center will host many discussions as well. Margaret Montet, a Bucks Effective Speaking professor, will be hosting a discussion on Feb. 29 regarding the Bayeux Tapestry, a medieval artwork displaying the Battle of Hastings.
Having recently returned from a visit to the tapestry in Normandy, she is expected to bring an intimate look into the tapestry’s historic and cultural magnitude.
In April, the Zlock will host a discussion panel for Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project. Based on a true story, this book details the courageous acts of Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker, as she helped young Jewish children escape from the horrors of the Holocaust. Though such a story remained buried for decades, the book follows three high school girls in their quest to bring Irena’s efforts to the public eye.
Also new to the Zlock stage is the Bucks County Paranormal Conference on March 9th. This event will be the first of its kind to be hosted in the college. The hope is to attract the alien/paranormal enthusiasts within the community.
Packed with refreshing stories to tell and voices to be heard, the college looks forward to a Zlock Performing Arts Center that continually pushes the boundaries of what Newtown residents can experience. In the words of Peter Chovarou, the venue seeks to become, “the hub of culture in Bucks County.”