UPDATE:
(January 16, 2015) – An additional 12 locations have joined the growing movement lead by African-American business leaders to raise funds for students across the country to see the Academy Award®-nominated film “SELMA,” expanding the first-of-its-kind campaign to 25 locations nationwide.
Due to the generous contributions by so many of the country’s most prominent African-American business leaders, more than 275,000 middle and high school students across the U.S. will experience the critically acclaimed film for free at participating theaters while supplies last.
The new locations joining the movement are Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Central Florida/Orlando, Connecticut, Detroit, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Montgomery, Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, and St. Louis.
“Paramount Pictures is extremely proud of this film, which is so clearly resonating with audiences young and old,” said Megan Colligan, President, Worldwide Distribution and Marketing, Paramount Pictures. “It’s a testament to the extraordinary talents of Ava DuVernay, David Oyelowo and the entire cast and crew that ‘SELMA’ is being celebrated by communities all over the country.”
The business leaders who are leading the efforts in the new locations are:
Dr. Meria Carstarphen, Superintendents, Atlanta Public Schools; Dr. Michael Lomax, President & CEO, United Negro College Fund; Hala Moddelmog, President & CEO, Metro Atlanta Chamber; and Dr. John Silvanus Wilson, President, Morehouse College, in Atlanta.
ORIGINAL POST APPEARS BELOW:
As part of the ‘Selma for Students’ initiative, Black businesspeople across the country have banded together to buy tens of thousands of tickets so that high school students can see Ava DuVernay’s historic film Selma for free. Selma is Hollywood’s first motion picture featuring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as the lead protagonist.
Shia Kapos of Crain’s Chicago Business is reporting that iconic businesswoman Mellody Hobson, George Lucas, and other business executives raised $100,000 (US) to cover 10,000 tickets for teens. Kapos reports:
“’What took place 50 years ago in Selma is key to understanding much about the civil rights movement, race, equality and democracy,’ Hobson, president of Chicago-based Ariel Investments and chair of After School Matters, said in a statement. After School Matters is coordinating efforts to get teens in the nonprofit program to see the movie.”
Similar initiatives are taking place throughout the country including Washington, DC, Prince Georges County, MD and Orlando. Emma Brown of the Washington Post reports:
“The ‘Selma for Students’ effort started in New York, where more than two dozen black business leaders raised money to ensure that 27,000 students in seventh, eighth and ninth grades would be able to see the film at no cost. The tickets were taken almost immediately.
Now business leaders and nonprofit organizations in a dozen cities, including Philadelphia, Boston and New Orleans, are working together to underwrite students’ tickets to the movie.
In the District, the March on Washington Film Festival has raised more than $75,000 toward a $100,000 goal. D.C. Public Schools is developing lesson plans to guide classroom discussions about the film.”
Read more at Crain’s Chicago, The Washington Post or at Selma for Students.
Like The Burton Wire on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @TheBurtonWire.
