We The People First Fridays
Speak to My Soul: Live from the Red Rose
Friday, June 2, 2023 | 6:30 P.M.
Steinman Hall | Ware Center
FREE
3rd Annual “Live at the Red Rose” presented by Speak to My Soul and A Concrete Rose. A stunning showcase of artists using live art, spoken word, music and dance, hosted by Lancaster’s First Poet Laureate, Evita Colon. Artists include King Prolifik, The Griot Giant, Mr. Nomics, Queen Phierce, and Zaearie, along with special guests.
EVITA COLON is an award-winning, multi-hyphenate creative entrepreneur and Lancaster City’s first Poet Laureate. In addition to being a published poet, she is the owner/founder of various creative enterprises such as Speak to My Soul LLC, BLK Voices Magazine, and co-owner of A Concrete Rose, the nation’s FIRST Black bookstore, micro-winery and intimate performance space centering the African Diaspora. She is a consultant for creatives seeking to build businesses of their art and created The Soul Tribe under her creative agency, Speak to My Soul LLC, to provide tools, opportunities, and resources for Black creatives in their creative entrepreneurial journeys. Via Speak to My Soul LLC, Evita has trained and collaborated with artists to provide youth with empowering workshops that focus on using expression to heal themselves and their communities. She has written, directed, and produced 2 theatrical productions and authored a book by the same title of her play, Speak to My Soul: A Montage of Voices. She also executive produced and wrote the Speak to My Soul: A Montage of Voices soundtrack released in 2022. Evita is a member of the International Flo Poet’s Collective under the mentorship of Grammy-nominated singer/poet, The Floacist of Floetry. As a master of words and musicality, she has songwriting credits with musical legends such as Common and DJ Jazzy Jeff and has performed with the likes of Adam Blackstone, Janet Jackson’s band, and James Poyser of The Roots.
Of many accolades, Evita has been awarded the NAACP Presidential Social Justice Award, YWCA Women of Achievement Award, Lancaster Optimist Club Humanitarian Award, and Susquehanna Style’s Woman of Strength Feature. She continues to use her creativity as a catalyst for change and the foundation for much-needed conversations that push society forward.
THE GRIOT GIANT is a giant that has been thru it. Inspiring people to keep pushing forward no matter how hard it gets. Be true, be genuine, and help where u can so this world can keep turning in a positive direction.
QUEEN PHIERCE (Ceshia Elmore, M.Ed.) is an Activist, Educator, and Artist based in her hometown of Philadelphia. She is also known as Queen Phierce- a professional voice actor, public speaker, and event curator of safe, brave spaces to educate and empower Black Women and femmes personally and professionally. She has cultivated the poetry group #4P: People, Poetry, Potluck, and Prose since 2010 as a safe space for Black Queer folks in Philly. She published her first collection of poetry in 2019, My 3rd Luv: 11 poems for the heARTIST in you. She is Lead Community Organizer with New Voices for Reproductive Justice, a 2022 Unstoppable Voters Fellow with the Center for Artistic Activism, and a 2023 Bartol/Marrazo Teaching Artist Micro-Grant recipient. She confidently locates herself as a Black, Queer, cisgender woman.
ZAEARIE (Eliza Marie Perez) is a Lancaster born Artist, bilingual singer/songwriter and musician. She was a student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Music before it became The Ware Center. Afterwards, she released her first album, When I’m With You as Little Lola back in 2011. After the passing of her child’s father, her mission as a single mother was to keep going no matter what. Zaearie creates classical inspired piano compositions of music that stems from pain and is a channel for her mental health. Wearing her heart on her sleeve, she creates a space of healing for all who have endured similar traumas, difficulties in love and life challenges. “The hardest things to talk about are often the most important.”
