It’s been a year since entertainment executive Kyle Bowser took over the reins of the NAACP’s Hollywood Bureau as Senior Vice President. And in that year, so much has happened. Bowser has used his extensive experience in Hollywood to turn the NAACP’s major showbiz projects into reality, while also creating new partnerships and coalitions that help bring about equity and inclusion, including a new deal with the HFPA. We caught up with Bowser on the eve of Black History Month and just weeks away from the NAACP Image Awards.

Black History Month has been around for more than 30 years. When people think about that, a lot of people think of the NAACP because it’s one of the oldest institutions for Black Americans in this country. Can you sum up what Black History Month means for the NAACP?

It’s interesting you should ask that question because in some very recent conversations I was having with the staff here at the Hollywood Bureau, we talked about the contributions of some of the earlier participants in our association – from the founders to people who, over the years, have made just monumental contributions in terms of pushing the association forward. And then, as a result, pushing the social agenda forward. I think the impact or the importance of Black History Month within the NAACP is both historic and present day. I think we have to have the same degree of integrity.

People always look forward to the NAACP Image Awards here in Hollywood because it’s one of the few awards that truly honors diversity and diverse talent in Hollywood.

That is very true. The Image Awards were created for that purpose, to cast a wider net and reward excellence in the arts, whether it’s film or television or music, or even the literary arts. We set out to say, “Wait a minute. Instead of looking at a narrow artistic [window] that happens over the course of the year, let’s cast a wider net and invite more people into the tent. From our perspective, we’re just acknowledging excellence in the arts, no matter where it comes from. It just so happens that we have an appreciation for artistic contributions that are not being recognized elsewhere. 

Does it bother you that there aren’t more awards shows doing what the NAACP Image Awards do in terms of honoring talent across the board?

Yes, it bothers me to the extent that there’s either an omission or sometimes something as extreme as an erasure of what should be blatantly obvious. Certain performances are well worth recognition, and when they are omitted or erased, even from the conversation, that is bothersome, but that’s why we stepped [up] and created our show. And not only do we recognize the achievements of others in our show, but a year ago, we signed our first television development deal with Viacom CBS. So, we are storytellers and producers of content. And hopefully, someday we too will be in contention for our own Image Award.

We’re still in a pandemic so we know that the Image Awards and events will be mostly virtual, but what are some of the things we can expect from this year’s show?

We will actually kick off the week with an event that has very little to do with the arts. We’re having our 53rd NAACP Image Awards Golf Tournament, a golf invitational, and we’re expecting people from all over the country to come into town to play golf. We also are going to have a really incredible fashion show this year. We’re really excited about that. We’re obviously going to put on display some impeccable fashions from Black designers. Then, of course, Saturday is the big show. It’s a live show without a live audience. But we are having a gathering for a screening of it as well as an after-party, so we’re excited about all of that.

Has there ever been a moment that you remember where someone won an Image Award and they reached out to let you know how much it meant to them?

I’ve heard a number of artists say that winning this award means a great deal to them. In particular, what comes to mind is Michael B. Jordan said that winning an Image Award is a really important honor and distinction in his mind and in his heart. At the same time, I remember, it was last year that Regina King commented on the fact that winners of the Image Awards tend not to be afforded the same opportunities in increases in pay, or perhaps more offers being given to them for future projects as winners of other prestigious award shows.

Wow. That’s very, very interesting. Was that a little disappointing to hear?

It was disappointing, but not very surprising. We deal with this across all strata of our society that certain levels of achievement are just not afforded the same recognition as others, and we have to fix that problem.

I hear that you’ve been pushing to help create the first Black-owned studio based in Hollywood.

Absolutely. We are very, very intent on making sure that there is a Black-owned studio facility in Hollywood. The fact that there has never been one is just baffling to me, and we think that we are the right partners to make that happen. We obviously are going to need some support from others who share in that vision, and so we’re now putting together the whole perspective on how to make that happen, but we’re very intent on seeing that through.

What do you think it’s going to take to see more Blacks in corner offices at TV networks and film studios?

I think much like the drug industry, I’m talking about the illegal drug industry, you have to fight it from both the supply and the demand side. So, on one hand, we have to continue to petition the industry to not just do the right thing because it’s good for their conscience but to really understand and appreciate the business opportunities that will come about if they widen their focus and open up their business to more people. We also have to get consumers to elevate their taste for content. We have to stop taking everything that’s given to us. We have to really look at the nutritional value of what it is we ingest into our spirits and make healthy decisions about what content we’re going to support, and what content we should just flatly reject. In that rejection, I think we would send feedback to the industry that this is not going to fly. We don’t want to see ourselves in that light. We want to see ourselves in a more authentic and realistic portrayal.

The NAACP’s Hollywood Bureau has been very busy this past year – so many projects and partnerships, including one with the HFPA. Can you discuss that?

We knew that the HFPA had been in talks with many institutions about the industry and about their internal approach to diversity and inclusion and wanting to be in step with modern times. So, we reset the focus of our conversation to instead focus on the industry at large. So, we put our agenda in front of the HFPA and asked if they would join our efforts in helping to reform the entire industry. So, the HFPA is now supporting some of our initiatives. We have a long list of initiatives that we have been managing and will continue to manage for years to come, and the HFPA is now supporting those.

Can you talk about the Reimagine Coalition and why it exists?

The Reimagine Coalition is intended to be an amalgamation of advocacy groups that focus on the Hollywood sector on behalf of their particular affinity constituents. So obviously, the NAACP speaks very boldly on behalf of the African American community, but we have other organizations speaking on behalf of other affinity groups and we’ve all linked arms together. Our intention is to engage with the institutions of this industry and have a real frank conversation about diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, and to go over the plans that the institutions have already adopted for themselves and provide some commentary or recommendations, and then to also monitor how those plans are actually being implemented. In the end, we will confer upon those institutions’ certification that this coalition has deemed this particular institution to be worthy of recognition. The [HFPA] is the first institution that the coalition will vet, will engage with, to talk about the HFPA’s internal plans, and hopefully on the back end, the HFPA will receive a certification from the Reimagine Coalition attesting to the legitimacy of their plans, and the effectiveness of the implementation of those plans.

Is there one thing that the Hollywood Bureau is looking forward to or that you’re particularly proud of?

Without sounding too full of ourselves, we’re very proud of the NAACP Hollywood Bureau. We really want to be looked upon as a resource by both the artistic community and by the merchant community that commercially exploits the art. We want them to come to us and say, “You know what? You can be a very helpful resource to us in our efforts to meet our own objectives.” So, we’re proud to be able to occupy that space.