This is major!
The renowned director is launching a fellowship program for students at the Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUCC), Essence reports.
Spike Lee is creating opportunities for HBCU students! He partnered with a talent firm, The Gersh Agency, to create a space for future filmmakers. “It is with great honor, privilege, and excitement to announce the Spike Fellows in association with my partners The Gersh Agency and the AUCC, [which includes Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Clark Atlanta University]. From the jump, from the get-go, I knew when I opened a crack in the door, I was bringing as many Black and Brown folks with me in front and behind the camera,” Lee said in a statement.
Through Spike Fellows Program, five students pursuing film careers will be chosen from the AUCC and will receive debt relief assistance, build industry connections, post graduate internships, and full-time employment.
“I know firsthand the education one receives at a Historically Black College and University. I am who I am because of my grandmother (Zimmie Jackson) and my mother (Jacquelyn Shelton Lee) who both graduated from Spelman College. I am who I am because of my grandfather (Richard Jackson Shelton) and my father (William Lee) who both graduated from Morehouse. It’s on the campuses of Spelman and Morehouse where they met, fell in love, and got married. As my elders often told me, ‘Deeds not words’,” Lee continued.
The program will be led by the head of culture at Gersh Agency Jayson Council and is projected to start this month.
We love to see Black people creating opportunities for those coming up behind them. These students are bound to hit the ground running now that they have an even bigger village behind them!
Photo: The Atlanta Journal Constitution / Associated Press / Morehouse College