Spike Lee & Gersh Partner On Spike Fellows Program For Students At Atlanta University Center Consortium
Filmmaker Spike Lee has partnered with The Gersh Agency to create the Spike Fellows Program, a fellowship to support students at the Atlanta University Center Consortium which consists of three Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Clark Atlanta University.
The Spike Fellows Program is based on the principle that access plus exposure will create opportunities. Its inaugural class will consist of five graduating students from AUCC — selected by a panel including Lee, the AUCC community and Gersh management — who will receive academic debt relief, industry mentorship, post graduate internships and full-time employment, all provided by Gersh.
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Gersh’s Head of Culture Jayson Council will lead the program, to which Lee and the agency have made a multi-year commitment. Its first cycle kicks off this month.
“It is with great honor, privilege, and excitement to announce the Spike Fellows in association with my partners The Gersh Agency and the AUCC,” said Lee. “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 is an alum of the AUCC who graduated from Morehouse and took classes at Spelman. He says he therefore knows “firsthand” the quality of the education to be received at HBCU’s. “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,” Lee reflected. “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.’”
“As industry leaders, we’ve always taken seriously the responsibility to build a more diverse, dynamic ecosystem in which people of all ethnicities, backgrounds and experiences can thrive,” remarked Gersh Senior Managing Partner, Leslie Siebert. “We are honored that Spike has chosen us to be his inaugural partner, and we are proud to welcome the five inaugural Spike Fellows into our organization.”
“I joined Gersh to lead the charge in identifying powerful opportunities and signature moments to advance cultural competence and accelerate social impact,” said Council in closing. “As a HBCU graduate, I am extremely proud of Gersh and Spike for their commitment to growing opportunities for AUCC graduates.”
Lee is an Academy Award winner and four-time nominee who has routinely used his works as a means of reflecting on pressing social issues, including race relations in the United States. He launched his career in the late 1970s, most recently helming the HBO Max docuseries NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021½, the Emmy-winning film version of the acclaimed Broadway show David Byrne’s American Utopia, the Vietnam War drama Da 5 Bloods for Netflix, the Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It based on his own classic 1986 film and the John David Washington starrer BlacKkKlansman, which won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2018.
Like Lee, Gersh comes to the Spike Fellows Program with a long history of supporting social issues, both as an agency and in support of its clients.
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