‘Digital Threads’ Makes Real Connections

By Laura Noble
lnoble@smu.edu

For the Baby Boomers, space was considered the last frontier, but for today’s college generation, the media industry says there’s still one more boundary to conquer– the digital realm.

On Sunday evening and Monday morning in SMU’s Owen Arts Center, media executives and entertainment industry representatives joined students for a dinner, lecture and networking session as a part of the SMU’s “Digital Threads” program.

During the two-day conference, media visionaries like Tribune Broadcasting’s President Ed Wilson and Ray Clark, CEO of advertising firm The Marketing Arm, spoke about the media business’ evolution towards mobile, technology-driven communication and broadcasting.

President of Inspire Entertainment, Jimmy Dunne, spoke to how this transformation puts college graduates at the forefront of the media job landscape.

“There’s so much opportunity in the arts for young people because they have an advantage over others in terms of knowing the new tools out there,” Dunne said. “In a lot of ways, their age is their weapon.”

Mary Alice Haney, fashion stylist and E! Entertainment personality, agreed with Dunne, also speaking to the economy in relation to college graduates getting jobs in the media industry.

“Historically, the one industry that does well no matter the economy is entertainment,” Haney said. “People need a way to escape and usually turn to television or other media to get it.”

Messages of this new digital wave rang true for junior Randall Kenworthy, a creative advertising major.

“It’s amazing how much new media is gravitating to digital,” Kenworthy said. “It really changes constantly.”

Speaking to the caliber of these industry leaders was the attendance of former Dallas Cowboy’s star-turned-ESPN-radio-host, Michael Irvin, at Sunday evening’s dinner and lecture.

Irvin sat among the sea of students to partake in the wisdom from the internationally recognized media moguls and sought advice from Access Hollywood anchor Billy Bush and Senior Vice President of the William Morris Agency, Lewis Henderson.

“God gave me the gift of playing ball and that has ended up giving me the gift to be a player in broadcasting,” Irvin said of his blossoming media career. “This is the new frontier, and the thing about the new media out there is it’s not wrong or illegal to get your voice out there and really create moments and events.”

Attending both Sunday and Monday’s events was first-year cinema television graduate student Claire Soars who spoke about the quality of the program’s comprehensive format and SMU’s extensive media connections.

“This was so much better than just sitting in a room listening to someone lecture,” Soars said. “Here, we can catch emphasis and nuances that really let us engage with the person.”

Entertainment consultant Terry Mackin said he was thrilled with the student response and has great hope for the future generation.

“I think we all just wanted to plant seeds,” Mackin said of the assembly of media power players. “We were here to let people know that we really want to help them learn about how to break into the industry, and I think we did just that.”