KU journalism school will offer new concentration in Media Arts and Production

LAWRENCE — Recognizing the explosive need for creative content and media production, the William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications at the University of Kansas is launching a concentration in Media Arts and Production.

“Extensive research, interviews with alumni and professionals, and dedicated faculty time went into planning this new concentration,” said Ann Brill, dean of the journalism school. “We also heard from high school students looking for a program just like this. We see this as complementing and expanding what we are already doing to prepare a new generation of media professionals.”

Media Arts and Production becomes a third concentration option for students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in the school, and students will be able to start taking courses in the new concentration this fall. The other two concentrations recently had name changes: the News & Information track is now the Multimedia Journalism concentration, and the Strategic Communication track is now the Digital Marketing Communications, Advertising & Public Relations concentration. The school is planning to launch a fourth concentration in fall 2023 for students interested in sports media.

The new Media Arts and Production concentration was designed for students interested in creative roles across a variety of professional and media organizations. This includes creative media, creative services and content creation, including creative media production.

The new concentration will focus on the essential and growing creative services of the advertising, public relations and consulting industries. Now fueled even more by the “creator economy,” creative services have continued to expand and grow. The creator economy includes the movement of highly motivated, creative and skilled individuals using digital platforms to start businesses, manage brands or handle company communications across connected multichannel and multiplatform media. According to LinkedIn, in the first 11 months of 2021, nearly 147,000 premium job postings on LinkedIn in the United States carried “creator” in the title, a 12% jump year over year. In November alone, those job posts were up 220% compared with the same time the previous year.

Janet Rose, professor of the practice in the school who led the effort to form the new concentration, said strong, multifaceted creative idea and tech-savvy executional experts graduating from the Media Arts and Production concentration will be in demand in the job market.

“Companies are scrambling to hire more people who can develop breakthrough ideas and create content, stories and visuals for websites, social media, blogs, emails, infographics and videos,” Rose said. “Every industry needs talented, skilled creators to get noticed, elevate the company’s brand, stay competitive and increase sales.”

The Media Arts and Production curriculum will include required courses in creative concepting and ideation, media law and ethics, data storytelling and audience experience. Students can then choose from electives such as video and audio production, digital media tools, gamification, website management and more.

Graduates will be qualified for jobs in creative media careers such as creative director, copywriter, video producer/director, podcast and audio producer, website or digital content producer, social media content and engagement manager and many others.

“The new Media Arts and Production concentration will give our students passionate about and committed to excellence in creative work a powerful start into the professional fields and roles hungry for their expertise,” Rose said. 

Students can get more information at the school's website or email jmcrecruitment@ku.edu.