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ROSIE LEE HOOKS DIRECTOR, WATTS TOWERS ARTS CENTER & CHARLES MINGUS YOUTH ARTS CENTER

Early Childhood From early childhood Rosie Lee Hooks has been exposed to the issue of survival growing up in Bessemer Alabama directly outside Birmingham. Amongst the many things that influenced her growth include seeing the KKK march through the streets of her community, on her street and concluding their march at the Catholic school that she and some of her siblings attended directly across the street from her home. She witnessed the insidious fear that they instilled in all those who experienced their presence. While in attendance Rosie Lee remembers refusing too use the, “For Colored Only” restrooms because of the unsanitary conditions. She recalls however in retrospect, “I knew that it was unjust. Every bone in my body rebelled.” She attended the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham where the four little girls were murdered when the church was bombed by the KKK. She witnessed the water hoses, dogs and the police with billy-clubs attack people who just wanted the right to be respected as human beings.

Growing Up As A Teenager As a teen her family moved to Florida and she experienced directly and through observation the rigorous life of the migrant workers who traveled season to season following ‘the work’. She was there at 4:30 am when they came into the grocery store where she worked and eventually managed to purchase items that would help them get through their day in the fields. During that time she aspired to become a brain surgeon however was discouraged by the system that informed her that the best she could hope for was a career as a nurse, thus like many she became disillusioned particularly since her financial circumstance did not afford her the opportunity to continue her formal education immediately after graduating from high school.

Rosie Lee found herself in a training program with the Federal Head Start Program that she completed and it guided her to a career in early childhood education where by she worked as a social worker aid, and a teacher’s aid and eventually a Career Development Coordinator. It was then that the world began to open up in a way that it had not before.

As A Young Adulthood

She attended junior college at Miami Dade University, which introduced and exposed her to educational opportunities provided by educational consultant firms through the Federal government. She continued to work and her responsibilities at HEW Region for eight southeastern states and this preparation was the beginning of broadening her knowledge and foundation through travel and the association with people from Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana. Through her travels she` gained a better sense of herself and perspective of who she was and how exactly she fit in the world.

When she moved to Washington D.C. to continue her pursuit of her ‘Early Childhood Education’ goals she developed and honed her sensibilities to human and rights and social justice as one who emerged out of the Civil Rights Movement and was amid the Black Power Movement. Her interests led her to become a founder and coordinator of training for the D.C. Black Repertory Company. During that time in the 70’s the company provided protest, demonstrations and resistance against racial injustice and inequality contribution to the arts renaissance of D.C. The company gave a platform to writers such as Amiri Baraka, Paul Carter Harrison, Sonya Sanchez and Wole Solinke, etc. Through their work they perpetuated the tradition of the Negro Ensemble.

She is especially proud of being an original Sweet Honey and the Rock, an internationally renowned all-woman, African-American Grammy Award-winning cappella ensemble. They express their history as women of color through song, while entertaining their audience. Rosie Lee notes that part of her training as a humanitarian came through the inner/inter actions with Sweet Honey through dialog and research, creating and singing the music. In addition they traveled uncharted waters back then going to churches, male and female penitentiaries, singing spirituals (protest songs) and songs of spiritual enlightenment ― peace and harmony amongst all peoples.

THE PRESENT

Rosie Lee Hooks brings a vast array of experience and talent to the Watts Towers Arts Center and the Charles Mingus Youth Arts Center. An actor, singer, filmmaker, Festival Producer, arts administrator, photographer, educator and a 1st degree Black Belt in Tang Soo Do Karate, Hooks is a person of artistic integrity with passion and a high regard for art, artists, musicians, youth and education. An accomplished actor and singer for more than 30 years, Hooks began her career in theatre at the D.C. Black Repertory Theatre Company in Washington, DC where she was a founding member, resident actor and training coordinator for five years. A founding member of The Black Ensemble Theatre (TBET) at Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC), her acting credits include touring the US and Europe with the Mark Taper Forum. Hooks continues to act in film, television and on stage and is the recipient of the prestigious NAACP “Image Award” as Best Supporting Actress for her role in the original stage production of 227. She is a former member of the renowned singing ensemble, “Sweet Honey In The Rock”.

Before taking her current position as Director of the Watts Towers Campus, Hooks was the Director of Festivals and Gallery Theatre for the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. There, in addition to conceptualizing and producing more than 300 multicultural, multi-disciplined and culturally specific festivals, special events and theatre programs, she developed the now 21-year-old Jazz Mentorship Program, which exposes young people to America’s indigenous art form.

Some of Hook’s first published photographs can be seen in the book, “Black People and Their Culture”, photo essays that document the African Diaspora Program at the Smithsonian Institute. She honed her skills as a filmmaker at N.Y.U., Tisch School of Film. She has produced more than 20 films, including the video Trading Dirt with Simon Rodia & Allan Kaprow with LA CityView channel 35, in conjunction with MOCA; and many documenting the culture of various ethnic communities in Southern California.

While working for the Smithsonian Institution, she produced the African Diaspora Program of the Festival of American Folklife, presenting folk and traditional artists and cultural materials, as well as performers, visual artists and arts and crafts from the US, Caribbean, Latin America, South America and Africa. As Diplomatic Liaison, she was responsible for establishing and maintaining relationships between the Smithsonian and Embassy Ambassadors for Liberia, Nigeria, Zaire, Senegal, Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Surinam, Guyana and Brazil. On “Official Passport”, she delivered the government-to-government invitations from the United States to the Ministers of Culture in many of these countries.

Rosie Lee Hooks is the Director of the Watts Towers Arts Center, the Watts Towers Tour Program, the Charles Mingus Youth Arts Center, the Exhibition Program and is curator of many of the Gallery Exhibitions.

Major Accomplishments


 * Residents Actor and co-Founding Member of the D.C. Black Repertory Theatre Company
 * Member of Sweet Honey In The Rock
 * Three time nominee and recipient of two prestigious N.A.A.C.P.Image Awards
 * A founding member of the Black Ensemble Theatre (TBET)at Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC)
 * Filmmaker of more than 20 films documenting Culture in Los Angeles
 * Appointed Freedom's Sister by Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles, CA 2011