Media Arts: Potential Careers

MCAD Career Development can help you find work and help employers find you. In addition to job listings, the staff is available to meet one-on-one with students and alumni to assist with career development. Services include assistance writing and editing resumes, cover letters, and other professional correspondences; career exploration and industry research; interviewing practice; networking strategies; and industry-specific practices.

Exhibiting Artist

An Exhibiting Artist creates artwork for arts venues, including museums, galleries, festivals, community events, etc. Artworks may be acquired by museums or other institutions that exhibit them, or they may be commissioned for specific events or venues.

Practicing Artist

A Fine Artist is a person who creates original artwork using various media. Through their engagement with communities, constructive and critical contributions to the cultural landscape, artists model creative citizenship. Their work may find its place in commercial and non-commercial, public and institutional spaces such as, galleries, collectives, festivals, design firms, libraries, community centers, churches, banks, hotels, the government, and others.

Media Artist

A media artist, also known as a multimedia artist, creates art using a combination of traditional and digital techniques. Their work can be interactive and may incorporate multiple physical and digital modes. They may work as Fine Artists and/or Exhibiting Artists. Media artists may also work on teams to create and produce large scale projects such as interactive festivals, museum exhibitions, theater productions, music concert visuals, and even the olympics opening ceremonies.

Software Developer

Creative Software Developers create software which powers generative, interactive, and expressive computer systems. The work often involves the creation of custom software for artworks, web design/development , generative art, mobile apps, and video games.

Multimedia Designer

A multimedia designer, develops projects, creates art and design assets using a combination of traditional and digital techniques. Their work can be interactive, generative, utilize a variety of media techniques, and span multiple platforms and communication strategies. Often the work involves user experience design, motion graphics, interactive advertising, large scale displays and projections, social media content generation, and/or web design.

Game Developer

A game developer is an artist who creates analog and digital games. Game developers can work on many aspects of a game, including concept design, writing code for the game's engine, mechanics, and animation. They can work on the user interface, designing the players' experience.

Cinematographer

A cinematographer, or director of photography, fulfills an essential role in film production, developing and shaping the overall look and visual style of a motion picture or television series. By using camera and lighting techniques to capture the script's mood, tone, and meaning, a cinematographer translates a director’s ideas and concepts to the screen. Cinematographers work in a wide variety of genres and areas of film production, from narrative features to small scale independent films.

Documentary Filmmaker

A documentary filmmaker, also known as a documentarian, is a type of filmmaker who specializes in making films about the facts of existence and the people and phenomenon that inhabit the world at large, ranging from social issues and historical events to personal narratives. Specialized genres, such as wildlife films, also provide potential career opportunities. Technical precision and artistic vision are both vital for the documentarian.

Film Editor

A film editor is a professional who selects, cuts and assembles video footage into a cohesive story, concept, or narrative for movies, TV shows, documentaries, and other video projects. Their primary goal is to create a visual story or an evocative mood that effectively communicates the message and emotions of the film or video.

Sound Designer

Sound designers use their creativity and technical skills to create soundscapes for various media, including film, television, video games, and theater. Their work can include sound effects, music, and ambient noises that enhance a production's narrative and emotional impact.

Independent Filmmaker

Independent filmmakers create films outside the studio system. They work with a small team of trusted collaborators to realize their distinctive filmmaking ideas. Independent filmmakers fund their productions, often through grants and crowdfunding or through freelance work with clients that enable them to finance their unique personal projects.

Fine Art Photographer

Fine art photographers are artists who work primarily with photographic materials and cameras or long-term projects to create bodies of work that may sell to individuals, galleries, hotels, companies, government institutions, and others.

Commercial Photographer

A commercial photographer creates high-quality images to promote or sell products, services, or brands for businesses or publications. These images may be used in magazines, on billboards, in websites, on social media, films and TV, and in advertisements.

Editorial Photographer

Editorial photographers make pictures for publications such as magazines, newspapers, and websites that support or illustrate a story or narrative. Editorial photographs can be found in journalism, editorial features, textbooks, essays, and documentaries. Editorial photography differs from commercial photography in that it focuses on telling a story rather than selling a product or brand.

Social Media Specialist

A social media specialist develops and executes social media strategies to increase customer engagement, website traffic, and revenue. They create content, optimize company pages, and encourage community interaction on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X (Twitter). Social media specialists may also monitor site metrics, respond to comments, and oversee creative design.