Filmmaker and Morehouse College alumni Spike Lee is underscoring his love for Atlanta with a new program. He has teamed up with The Gersch Agency to form the Spike Fellows Program, a fellowship to help students at the Atlanta University Center, including Morehouse, Morris Brown and Clark Atlanta students.
“It is with great honor, privilege, and excitement to announce the Spike Fellows in association with my partners The Gersh Agency and the AUCC. From the jump, from the get-go, I knew when (not if) 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 news release.
The fellowship program begins in earnest in January 2023 and Lee has signed on for a multi-year commitment.
The Spike Fellows Program will be comprised of five graduating students from AUCC — selected by a panel including Lee, the AUCC community and Gersh management.
The program will provide academic debt relief, industry mentorship, post-graduate internships and full-time employment, according to Deadline.
Lee graduated from Morehouse in the spring of 1979 and went on to shoot his groundbreaking film “She’s Gotta Have It,” a few years later. Widely seen as a film pioneer, Lee doesn’t get nearly enough credit for his star-discovery abilities.
The first full-length films of actors such as Martin Lawrence, Rosie Perez, Robin Harris, Queen Latifah and Halle Berry were Spike Lee Joints.
Lee said that he has always had an affinity for HBCUs, which he has tried to reflect on film.
“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.’”
Final Word
Lee isn’t the only famous filmmaker making a way for young enthusiasts in the craft. The Tyler Perry internship program is accepting students.