“She Does Something in the Arts”

The Shift in Creative Career Depiction in Mainstream Media

As I prepare to teach another semester of Design Career Readiness at Miami University, I’ve been thinking about how I first became interested in design. I knew from an early age that I wanted to work in a creative field, but I wasn’t sure what career options were out there. Then I saw Halle Berry’s character, a graphic designer, in the 1992 movie, “Boomerang.”

When I was growing up, creative careers were everywhere in television and movies. In “Flashdance,” a young woman pursued her dream of becoming a professional dancer while working a day job as a welder. “Fame” followed students at a performing arts high school. “Ghost” featured Demi Moore as a ceramic artist. “Sex and the City” gave us a fashion designer and “The Relic” focused on an art curator.

Looking back, what stands out is how much time these stories spent showing the work itself. Audiences watched rehearsals, creative blocks, failed attempts and moments of growth. The stories weren’t necessarily about the creative process, but the creative process was always part of the story.

Visual artist and community activist Sara A. Crawford remembers being inspired by “Love Jones,” a 1997 film featuring a love story between a poet and a photographer.

“It wasn’t just the romance,” says Crawford. “It was the way creativity was treated as a way of life. The poetry, live music, visual art and the emotional depth of the film made the creative process feel sacred. Years later, it inspired me to create Visual Melodies through Blondie Mansion, an experience that brings together live music, spoken word and live visual art to evoke that same intimacy, vulnerability and connection. I wanted people to feel what ‘Love Jones’ made me feel.”

Creative professionals still appear on screen, but they seem less likely to drive the narrative. Many contemporary characters work in fields that are intentionally broad or loosely defined. Their jobs help establish who they are, but the work itself often stays in the background.

Take Netflix’s “Russian Doll,” where the main character’s career as a game designer is mentioned, but we rarely see her actually doing the work or even caring much about it. Even when creative careers do appear, they often feel incidental rather than essential to the story. Productions centered on creative work are also more likely to find niche audiences than become mainstream cultural hits.

A recent exception is “Only Murders in the Building,” which featured a cellist with the New York Symphony Orchestra. Spoiler alert: she also turned out to be a serial killer, an occupation that receives much more mainstream media representation these days than professional artist or arts administrator.

For much of the Twentieth Century, a successful movie featuring a dancer, photographer, curator or musician could shape how an entire generation thought about creative work. Those stories introduced professions that many viewers had never encountered in their everyday lives.

William Donnelly, associate preventive conservator at Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, remembers seeing Sigourney Weaver play a paintings conservator in “Ghostbusters II.” Despite an ancient, evil spirit taking possession of a painting she is actively restoring at the Manhattan Museum of Art, seeing that profession portrayed on the big screen inspired at least one child to pursue their future career.

Discoverability and Feedback Loops

Today, discovery works differently. Recommendation engines influence what we watch, social media platforms influence what we follow and search algorithms influence what we learn. Technology has fundamentally changed how people discover media and, by extension, the careers they encounter along the way. If you aren’t already pursuing a career in the arts, the algorithm has little reason to put that content in front of you.

Some may argue that being a social media influencer is a creative career, so young people are actually seeing more creative careers than ever. That’s true to a point. However, influencing is only one type of creative work and is rarely framed as an artistic career in the traditional sense. It also highlights a shift described by Crawford:

“Today, we often see the outcome; the success, the brand, the hustle, but not enough of the creative process itself or the emotional journey behind making meaningful work. I miss stories where art wasn’t just the backdrop; it was the heartbeat of the narrative.”

Research in career development has consistently found that people are more likely to pursue fields they understand and can envision themselves entering. Seeing the creative process on screen helps people imagine themselves in those roles. While no single factor explains declining enrollment in creative disciplines, greater visibility almost certainly helps.

According to data from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, arts bachelor’s degrees peaked around 2013 before declining across several disciplines, particularly fine and studio arts. There are many reasons behind those numbers, including rising tuition costs, concerns about student debt and changing workforce expectations. A lack of mainstream media representation may not be the biggest factor, but it’s certainly part of the conversation.

Most people have a basic understanding of what lawyers do because the legal profession is represented throughout popular culture. The same is true for doctors, detectives and business executives. The arts sector, meanwhile, has an entire workforce that remains largely invisible.

Museum educators, arts administrators, curators, grantmakers, producers and community engagement professionals have careers that shape how culture is created, funded and experienced, but they rarely appear in mainstream stories. This may explain why most of my family still couldn’t tell you exactly what I do despite a career spanning more than three decades. They simply say, “She does something in the arts.”

If people don’t find creative careers through the stories they consume, cultural leaders need to make those careers visible. That could mean advocating for more authentic portrayals of creative work in mainstream film and television. It could mean investing in creators who want to tell those stories or in improving overall infrastructure in the arts.

Representation improves when creatives have fair pay, stronger labor protections and sustainable careers. When creative work becomes ordinary instead of a mythic aspiration, more people can imagine themselves doing it.

The next generation of artists, curators, arts administrators and cultural leaders is out there. The question is whether they can see a path that leads them here…even if it shows up in a cheesy 1990s-style montage.