Nikki Hevesy is the VP of Media Strategies for Artists for Community Transformation, a nonprofit arts, education, and community development organization which strives to make the arts accessible to people of all economic and social levels.  She is also director, producer, and owner of Through the Glass Productions.  Ms. Hevesy was kind enough to visit our Domain of the Arts class, and to give us a presentation on the foundations of the film industry in Hollywood, as well as on how entertainment media both reflects and affects culture.

This historical portion of Ms. Hevesy’s lecture concentrated on the founding of the major film studios by Jewish immigrants who had come to the United States seeking better opportunities for themselves and their families and an escape from anti-Semitism in Europe, and how those studios helped to create the concept of the American Dream.  Still facing discrimination and stereotyping after moving to the United States, these film moguls took to producing movies that fabricated their own version of America.  These movies drew on the producers’ own hopes and dreams for the country, and emphasized happiness and optimism as the American outlook on life.  These films helped to create the impression in other countries that the United States was the land where dreams came true and where prosperity was commonplace.   

Much of Ms. Hevesy’s lecture focused on the intersection between faith and culture in Los Angeles.  She has taught several courses to groups such as the Producer’s Guild of America (PGA) on how producers can develop successful and accurate faith-based projects.  Ms. Hevesy described producers, directors, and other such “above the line” entertainment developers as “culture creators with gatekeeper roles,” meaning that they have a major influence on the content of new entertainment media.  Around 2014, faith-based entertainment expanded from a small niche market to a box office phenomenon, so those cultural gatekeepers had to learn how to respond to an audience that was hungry for faith-oriented films.  In response, Ms. Hevesy helped to lead seminars focused on helping producers understand the culture behind a faith-driven audience and on how to ensure first-voice representation of that culture within their production teams.

This past semester, I participated in Whitworth’s Smithsonian Semester program.  In the program’s Smithsonian Seminar course, we read The Museum Effect by Jeffrey K. Smith.  Smith describes the role of art museums and other such cultural institutions is to help us become better people by facilitating opportunities for personal reflection.  Museums give people the chance to engage with creative works, gain better understanding of the experiences of others, and see their own experiences reflected as well.  At its best, this sort of engagement continues outside of the stationary brick-and-mortar museums and is brought by the museum visitors into their communities.  This concept has really shaped my thinking about art over the past several months, and I was reminded of it in Ms. Hevesy’s lecture, particularly in her description of the recent developments in faith-based entertainment media.  I think this growth in the desire for faith-based entertainment shows just how valuable it is for people to be able to see themselves in and identify with the art that they are consuming.  Engaging with audiences in this way allows producers to respond to what is happening in our world, and to create art that is relevant to those who experience it.  Additionally, faith-based entertainment can help to create an intercultural dialogue between people of different faith backgrounds and help consumers to consider the beauty of cultures other than their own.  Films have the power to challenge viewers to think outside of the comfortable, and to inspire necessary conversations on important concepts such as identity and belonging.