NSU design major is a winner of Target’s 2022 Black History Month design challenge
By Sheyla Fairley
Mekenzy Linder, a Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA, Fine Arts student, was the winner of the 2022 Target’s HBCU Design challenge in which her graphic design was featured on T-shirts and sold in stores and online as part of Target’s Black Beyond Measure campaign for Black History Month 2023.
As stated in a release, Linder’s artwork, titled ICON, “explored the representation of Black culture in mass media” and is a “good example of the application of art as a tool for empowerment and Afrofuturism.”
“This project was designed to recover trends and styles pioneered by Black people that are now replicated in mainstream popular culture,” Linder said. “This process of recovery gives recognition to the original black trendsetters in popular culture.”
To purchase the T-shirt, click here.
N.C. A&T Alumna featured in Broadway musical “Some Like It Hot”
By Sheyla Fairley
NaTasha Yvette Williams, an alumna of North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, NC, has been cast in the role of Sweet Sue in the Broadway musical “Some Like It Hot.”
According to an article, the musical is a reimagining of the 1959 film starring Marilyn Monroe and follows the plot of “two musicians forced to flee the Windy City after witnessing a mob hit” and “[w]ith gangsters hot on their heels, they catch a cross-country train for a life-chasing, life-changing trip.”
Williams said she was attracted to the role of Sweet Sue because of “the character’s evolution and courage during Prohibition, believing in her talents enough to quit her job and go on the road to build an all-girl band.”
The musical debuted in December 2022 at the Shubert Theatre in New York and is expected to run through September 2023.
For more information, read the full article here.
Spike Lee and Gersh launches HBCU fellowship program
By Sheyla Fairley
Filmmaker Spike Lee, a graduate of Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA, is teaming up with The Gersh Agency, a talent and literary agency, to launch the Spike Lee Fellows Program which will support students within the Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUCC): Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Clark Atlanta University.
As stated in a release, the program’s inaugural class will consist of “five graduating students from AUCC, who will receive academic debt relief, industry mentorship, post graduate internships, and full-time employment, all provided by Gersh.”
“I know firsthand the education one receives at a Historically Black College and University,” said Lee. “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’.”
Cheyney University & AtlantiCare enhance partnership to benefit students
By Sheyla Fairley
According to an article, AtlantiCare, a health system, and Cheyney University, Cheyney, PA, are “enhancing their partnership aimed at expanding student learning and career opportunities” and “aim to create a more diversified workforce and to achieve greater health equity in communities across the region and healthcare in general.”
“Our goal with every collaborative effort is to equip our students to become future leaders in the profession they are studying and pursuing,” said Aaron Walton, president of Cheyney University. “These partnerships are benefiting our entire academic community, allowing students and educators to utilize these opportunities to create new career pathways—on and off the campus. Bringing industry leaders to our campus and providing avenues for students to access off-campus partners, like AtlantiCare, allow students to engage and acquire skills for the jobs of tomorrow.”
Read the full article, here.
Uncle Nearest to raise $1M for underfunded HBCUs
By Sheyla Fairley
Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, a Black-owned liquor brand, has launched the HBCU Old Fashioned Challenge, an initiative aimed at raising $1 million for the 58 underfunded historically Black colleges and universities, and will run from January 16 to March 31, 2023.
“As a proud Morehouse Man and member of Pi Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, I’m honored and grateful to work for a company where I didn’t need to go to the leader and say HBCUs need our help,” said W. Jay Madison, IV, Director of Legacy and Strategic Partnerships for Uncle Nearest. “Fawn (founder and CEO of Uncle Nearest) came to me and said, ‘We have to do something.’ Every one of my team members immediately embraced the mission of this initiative, and our distributors, retail stores and outlets, restaurant, hotel, and bar partners came on board. One million dollars is just the beginning. We expect to see this program get bigger and even better every year, and our hope is other corporations will join with their own initiatives to support HBCUs.”
For more details, read the full article here.
