BRIDGING: Professional Identities in Arts & Cultural Education

By: Jordan Campbell

What characterizes the most creative individuals is an ability to discover connections between apparently unrelated domains of activity—the artist in the scientist, the sculptor in the mathematician, the musician in the programmer."
-Robert Root-Bernstein

“So, what do you do?” It’s a question that, for many of us who work at the intersections of multiple fields or domains, sends us into an endless loop of existential questions:

How will I explain all the nuances of my work in a few sentences? How can I express arts jargon to non-arts folks? What will I say if I don’t have a clear answer for this? If I do multiple things, will I be perceived as being mediocre at all of them?

In a world of specialists and standardized job titles, society writ large fails to recognize that innovation is often sparked at the intersections of domains - squarely in the sweet spot where many of us in the arts & cultural education ecosystem constantly find ourselves. We are multihyphenates.

Multihyphenate: a person who has multiple proficiencies, often cross pollinating into each other to help flourish professional capabilities.

The recent widespread glamorization of the multihyphenate work identity has been featured in many notable publications ranging from the Washington Post to Vogue. A working professional isn’t happy with their life in one role, so they pick up a second gig - or a side hustle - or sometimes, a full-on dual career. Some even have a third career. And some, a fourth!

This phenomenon is certainly nothing new. Images of polymaths and “renaissance people” might come to mind: Benjamin Franklin, Maya Angelou, Albert Einstein, Beatrix Potter, and even Leonardo DiVinci all explored multiple areas of thought and made groundbreaking, interdisciplinary discoveries in their lifetimes. More recently, the talk has shifted to multiple intelligences, multipotentiality, giftedness, and the “slash” career. There is even a research team looking into the emerging concept of polyoccupationalism (say that ten times fast!). However, in all actuality, the world is finally catching up to what arts & cultural education practitioners have been perfecting for nearly a century.

Arts Hybrid: A person with multiple professional identities whose work is interdisciplinary in nature, spans multiple fields or domains, and is grounded in arts & culture.

Multihyphenates in the arts, or Arts Hybrids, have long grappled with the manipulation of schedules and career trajectories to balance their artistic, social, and economic needs. Employing a chameleon-like quality, “artists who do something else'' constantly shape-shift when they move from space to space.

The very etymology of the word “gig” (used now to describe the unhealthy and often inhumane “hustle culture” of freelancing, or the gig economy) was brought about in the 20th century by Black jazz musicians who bounced from one musical venue to another. Artists and creatives naturally tend to experiment with work modes, bending norms to piece together their creative lives. Sometimes this is out of financial necessity; other times, it is based on varied interests. Oftentimes, it is because societal barriers have been placed between certain domains where artists see connections - thus, they take on two or more distinct roles.

The pathways into a hybrid professional identity are vast and unique to each individual journey.

These hybrid creative identities take shape even when the individuals themselves do not formally recognize their multiple roles:

when teaching artists enter the classroom, they work creatively within the confines of educational standards and school policies.
when arts education administrators take weekend gigs as artists, they enrich the creative problem-solving and innovative ideas at their disposal when they return to the desk.
when community organizers curate a politically-relevant art show of their personal work, they enable their community to spark creative solutions to social challenges.

This is the power of folks who work at the intersections of arts and education. And usually, those folks have a third or fourth area they find themselves in as well.

These Arts Hybrids are cultural brokers, doing the important work of understanding different contexts and, where gaps exist, acting as a bridge.

Cultural Broker: A person who acts as a bridge or link between two or more groups of people in order to promote collaboration and produce substantive change.

In many cases, we creatives are insatiably curious and inquisitive, testing the limits of our imagination and seeking new professional opportunities. In the words of Pamela Slim:

“Suddenly it all makes sense. You realize that you are not broken or noncommittal or afraid of your own success. The reason you can’t find your “one true calling” is because you don't have a singular calling, you have many. The zigzagging, the sporadic obsessions, the weird interdisciplinary projects, they all fit now. They make sense.”

Framing the Study

As the Director of Research & Knowledge here at Creative Generation, my portfolio runs the gamut. Among my many projects spanning arts education and social justice-driven creative endeavors, the one that is most exciting to me is the exploration of multihyphenate identities among professionals working in arts & cultural education. As I build out this body of work, many unanswered questions percolate and bubble to the surface. Equally as important, I have been mindful as to differentiate what we are, and are not, talking about here.

The focus of our study on Arts Hybrids is:

An intentional study of deliberate multihyphenate work in the arts, education, and often a third area of interest/expertise
A deep investigation of the integrative and interdisciplinary work of those whose primary focus is in the arts and/or arts education, but not limited to one area
A look at the opportunities and challenges of Covid-19 on how artists expanded their professional toolkits and areas of work into new domains, fields, and modes of delivery and/or added career titles to their list of professional identities

What this study is NOT:

A glorification of hustle culture or the gig economy
Encouraging career precarity or multiple jobs for sustaining basic human needs
Implying that hobbies or interests must always be monetized or capitalized, while also not condoning unpaid work

We recognize as we look at hybrid identities that, by the very nature of the conversation, this is a privileged concept to explore. It often takes years of financial struggle, professional setbacks, and student loans to achieve success in more than one field or area of work - especially in the creative & cultural industries. This is especially true for marginalized communities. We also recognize that many individuals are currently struggling to find a single job that is able to sustain their basic human needs of food, clothing, shelter, and wellness. We do not take this lightly; instead, it is our wish that - through systemic change by governments, education decision-makers, cultural institutions, and those in power - we can create a society in which everyone has the opportunity to explore more than one area of expertise in their lifetime if they so choose.

Further, we hope to break down the barriers that prohibit transdisciplinary work across silos. We also hope to fold in the experiences of those who have already explored multiple areas but might not consider themselves bonafide artists or cultural workers (even when it’s clearly an integral part of their identity).

Looking to the Future

At Creative Generation, we believe that words matter. Through this body of work, we hope to name the phenomena that so many Arts Hybrids experience. In fact, that’s why we’re introducing the term “arts hybrids” - it emphasizes the core focus of creativity in one’s endeavors while recognizing the multitude of roles, jobs, projects, and/or professional identities that one can hold in a single body of work.

It is my belief that we should strike while the iron is hot - societies are in the midst of a reckoning of the future of work. So, I wonder…

What should a “typical” work structure look like? Should there even be a “typical” structure or is it different for everyone? Should hours be flexible? What are the benefits of hybrid work environments? How do we prioritize self-care in our work?

Workers in the arts & cultural education field stand to provide expert insights into the challenges and opportunities of identity formation around transdisciplinary work. Our shared knowledge and understanding of generations of successful multihyphenates can help liberate and lift up those - both in and outside the arts - who also find themselves at the intersections.

By: Jordan Campbell

Framing the Study

Looking to the Future

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