
10:00 AM MUSICAL PRELUDE
10:30 AM OFFICIAL WELCOME & OPENING
Fair Kick off with Executive Director | Founder
Cynthia E. Exum, LPVBF Co-Chairs: Dr. Bernard W. and Shirley Kinsey
& 2015 Official Host: The Honorable Herb J. Wesson Jr., President of the Los Angeles City Council
11:00 AM CONVERSATION WITH AUTHORS: “A Writer’s Voice”
• Attica Locke
• Gary Phillips
Moderator: Rachelle Yousuf, President - Women’s National Book Association
11:30 AM LPVBF COMMUNITY FORUM:
Title: “In Celebration of the 50th Anniversary: Visions of Watts”
1965 WATTS REBELLION RE-VISITED
Panelists:
• J. Stanley Sanders, Attorney and Community Activist
• Professor Johnie Scott, CSU Northridge University
• Dr. Bernard W. Kinsey, The Kinsey Foundation for Arts and Education
• Tim Watkins, President and CEO, Watts Labor Community Action Committee
Moderator: Starlett Quarles, Host of The Dialogue & President - Urban Marketing

"Watts Riots Aftermath on ABC News 1966"
1:00 PM ICONOCLAST INTERVIEW @ LPVBF
Meet the Photographer: Interviewer TBA
with Hip-Hop Legendary Photographers & Visionaries
Presentation of Awards to Legacy Honorees
Special Announcement – 2015 Sponsor – Nielsen
1:15 PM 2nd Annual Jessie Redmond Fauset Book Awards Acknowledgements
2:00 PM PANEL DISCUSSION:
Title: WRITERS FROM FOX’S “EMPIRE”:
Panelists: Writers From Fox’s Television Show “Empire”
• Attica Locke, Co-Producer & Writer
• Joshua Allen, Writer
• Eric Haywood, Writer
• JaNeika and JaSheika James, Writer
• Carlito Rodriguez, Writer
Moderator: Novelist & Film Maker Tananarive Due
3:30 PM PANEL DISCUSSION:
Title: "LA Worldwide: Hip Hop Roots and Futures."
Panelists:
• Gaye Theresa Johnson, Associate Professor, UCLA
• Dr. Shana L. Redmond, University of Southern California
• Sam Sweet, Independent Scholar/Writer
• Dr. Oliver Wang, Associate Professor, California State University – Long Beach
4:30 PM TRIBUTE TO 80'S DANCE MUSIC & MOVES
DJ Arman Halle and other Special Guest DJ’s
Debbie Allen Dance Academy | Hip-Hop Intensive Collective:
Spotlight Break-dancers: Kid Kasper & Mr. Awkward
5:30 PM BAND PERFORMANCE: In Celebration of Black Music –
STR8 FONK featuring Patryce “Choc’let” Banks of Graham Central Station
“TRIBUTE TO THE GOLDEN AGE OF HIP HOP/RAP & OLD SCHOOL GROOVES”
6:30 PM FESTIVAL CLOSING: FINAL REMARKS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
w/ SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: 10th ANNIVERSARY PLANS
EMPIRE WRITERS FEATURING:
JOSHUA ALLEN
eric haywood
JaNeika and JaSheika James
JaNeika
and JaSheika James both graduated with Bachelor Degrees
in Telecommunication from the University of Florida. Upon
graduating, JaSheika was accepted into the ABC Talent Development Production
Associate program in Burbank, California, working with production executives
and assisting on a number of television series and pilots. JaSheika went on to
work for hit series, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES and DEXTER, and
later in post-production at ABC Studios. She was also a Staff
Writer on the show REVENGE.
JaNeika earned a Masters of Fine Arts
in Television, Radio, and Film from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of
Public Communication. It was during her time in graduate school she undertook a
thesis project titled: The African-American Female Influence In
Television. An
interview with Yvette Lee Bowser – Creator and Executive Producer of the
hit FOX television series LIVING SINGLE. – led to a mentoring relationship and working
in the writers’ room at UPN’s HALF & HALF. JaNeika went on to work under the producing
team of Jennifer Crittenden and Gabrielle Allan (SEINFELD, SCRUBS,
WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER?) at ABC Studios, and later in Scripted
Development at VH1. Finalists of
the 2015 Class of Fox's Writing Intensive, JaNeika and JaSheika are currently
Staff Writers on Fox's EMPIRE.
Attica Locke
Carlito Rodriguez
Award-winning
writer/producer Carlito Rodriguez
has contributed to various media outlets, including HBO, MTV, VH1, BET, Vibe
magazine, EA Games and the Associated Press, among others. During his tenure as The Source magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, he ushered in a new era of
authenticity to rap music’s preeminent publication, interviewing personalities
like Will Smith, Jay-Z, Diddy, Dr. Dre, Black Eyed Peas and Eminem, among
others, as well as providing his expertise for the brand’s television program, “The Source: All Access,” as a writer and
segment host. He served as creative
consultant for VH1’s “Driven: Notorious B.I.G.”,
about the life of the fallen rapper. He also co-created, produced and wrote 20
half-hour episodes of “Station Zero,” an
animated sitcom that launched MTV’s first-ever Hip Hop Week. As a Consulting Producer with BET (Black Entertainment Television), he produced
segments for “The Chop Up,” a weekly
newsmagazine and wrote and produced “Bullets and
Ballots: Official Street Cat Goes to Washington,” about the effects
of gun legislation on violence in the inner city and the
award-winning* “50 Shots: Official Street Cat
Tackles Police Brutality,” following the NYPD’s deadly shooting of
unarmed man. In 2013, he won the Humanitas
Prize/New Voices grant for his pilot “ICON.” He was a staff writer on the critically-acclaimed HBO series, “The
Leftovers,” and is is now on
the writing team for FOX’s breakout
hit “Empire.”
EVENT MC:
torrence Brannon-Reese
torrence Brannon-Reese