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originally published: 08/28/2023 

(NEWARK, NJ) -- Roseville Outreach Community Corp. (R.O.C.C.) presents ROCC FEST IV on Saturday, September 30, 2023 at Roseville Presbyterian Church (36 Roseville Avenue) in Newark, NJ. This year's theme is "Living out Loud, Celebrate the Rhythm of the Drum" and features a jazz gospel concert by Alvester Garnett & Alvester Garnett's Artworks Ensemble following a student workshop.

The Roseville Outreach Community Corporation is a non-profit organization located in Newark, New Jersey, focusing on the Fairmount Promise Neighborhood.  This year's theme focuses on the drum and its pivotal place in the foundation of music and in compliment of the 50th anniversary of hip hop celebrations.

Tickets are $25 (plus fees) and available for purchase online.  The student workshop takes place at 4:00pm and the concert begins at 6:00pm.

Alvester Garnett is a world-renowned, 1st call drum set percussionist, who has performed on the Broadway shows After Midnight and Shuffle Along.  He has performed at such major jazz festivals as the Newport Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Atlanta Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, Jazz in Marciac, Detroit Jazz Festival, Capetown Jazz Festival, and Chicago Jazz Festival.

Mr. Garnett is the chair of the Jazz Committee of Local 802 NYC and has served on the NY City Nightlife Advisory Board as its only instrumentalist musician. He can be heard extensively touring and recording with MacArthur Genius and Doris Duke Award Recipient and fellow Local 802 member/bandleader Regina Carter.

 

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ROCC FEST is their annual fundraiser and celebration of art and music. In addition to the concert, the festival's featured musicians lead a free, student music workshop open to all pupils who wish to attend. ROCC FEST is the major fundraiser of the year for the Roseville Outreach Community Corp. and all proceeds from the event go towards funding their mission to support the Newark community through: monthly food pantry distributions, daily meals given out to children through the Newark Sun-Up feeding program, school supply giveaways, "Shari's Book Club" reading program @ Sussex Avenue School, and more.

The purpose of the Roseville Community Corporation, ROCC, is to provide a stabilizing anchor in a changing community through outreach. The ROCC addresses vital issues to hunger, youth development, senior care and social injustice to improve the lives and social fabric of the community.

ROCC was founded in 2017, after members of Roseville Presbyterian Church initiated an Open Gym Program on Saturdays for neighborhood boys.  Outreach to the community is not a new mission; it is an expansion of its successful food pantry, and continuing commitment to the community’s needs.

Impressed by the overwhelming response from neighborhood youth, and the already thriving Food Pantry, they viewed the needs of the community through the multi-faceted lens that compelled them to expand to a community development corporation to better serve those in need.