Dallas philanthropist Lyda Hill He devoted most of his donation to solving social problems through science. Lyda Hill Philanthropies supports museums, basic research and programs such as National Geographic Explorers.
In the last few years, the donor has also ventured into media production: helping finance and develop “Mission Unstoppable,” a TV series aimed at girls ages 13 to 17, featuring women who excel in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. or STEM, career.
Part entertainment, part feminist career inspiration, the CBS series averaged one million viewers in its first two seasons and was nominated for multiple Emmy awards. It’s also part of a growing recognition in the philanthropic community that TV shows, feature films, podcasts and other media projects are powerful tools for reaching new audiences and shifting entrenched narratives, what insiders call “narrative change.” Donors have given at least $2.1 billion to television-related projects since 2009, according to data from Candid and Media Impact Funders, a network of donors.
Narrative change draws on disciplines such as communication and movement organization to help people rethink the stories that define their worldviews. Over the past decade, writers, filmmakers, marketing executives, nonprofits and philanthropists, academics, and advocates have increasingly collaborated on strategies for telling stories that shape attitudes or beliefs and motivate people to take action. These may include projects that will strengthen grassroots news coverage, help advocates and organizers determine the most effective ways to frame their messages, and increase representation both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
“This was completely new territory for us,” said Nicole Small, CEO and president of Lyda Hill Philanthropies, about making “Mission Unstoppable.”
The program, which premiered in 2019, presents scientists working in fields such as coding, biology and veterinary medicine as relatable role models. The fifth season premiered in October with an episode featuring a chemical engineer who creates fuel from soybean oil, a mathematician whose work became the basis for GPS technology, and a biomedical engineer who uses seashells to help human bones grow.
“We aim to create a culture shift in how girls see themselves in the world,” Small said. “We hope that viewers, whether or not they pursue a career in STEM, see themselves as meaningful contributors to change in the world and understand how important science is to the world around them.”
Changing culture is a long game, and progress can be difficult to measure. But early signs suggest “Unstoppable Mission” is a success, according to survey data from girls ages 10 to 15 who watched the show and parents of girls the same age. A technical report produced by the Raben Group last year found that interest in STEM among audiences increased by 17%, while interest in STEM courses in high school or college increased by 16%. After watching the show, 20% more viewers described STEM careers as “attractive,” while 19% more viewers said they perceived STEM careers as “creative.”
“Unstoppable Mission” is a result of the Lyda Hill Philanthropy initiative called IF/THEN, which works to help women advance in STEM and inspire future generations to pursue these career paths. Small said the startup’s name was inspired by the idea that “if you can see it, then you can be it.”
Women make up just 34% of the STEM workforce, according to the American Association of University Women, and men far outnumber women in every engineering and computing discipline by college graduates.
In partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Hill supported a group of more than 120 scientists, or “ambassadors,” working in a wide range of fields. Women receive media and communications training to help raise awareness about the work they do. Nearly 40 of the IF/THEN “ambassadors” appeared in “Mission Unstoppable.”
Lyda Hill Philanthropies is the primary funder of the program, though Small declined to share how much the donor contributed.
“It can cost millions of dollars to put on a show,” he said, adding that the foundation’s significant investment has yielded a huge return on investment. A 2021 report by Lyda Hill Philanthropies and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media found that representation in film and television plays a “profound role” in how young girls think about their future career trajectories.
But the value of production and entertainment is important.
“When you get the audience immersed in a story that has humor, has excitement, has any kind of emotional currency, it tends to be a lot more sticky than if they feel like they’re reading a textbook on that subject,” says Hearst Media Production Group, which produces the series in association with Lyda Hill Philanthropies. Bryan Curb, senior vice president and general manager of Educational and Informational Programming.
“As well-intentioned as missions may be, if you don’t get people to watch, they won’t actually be accomplished,” he added. “Our aim is to draw attention to the screen”
Unlike documentaries or feature films that the viewer may watch only once, television series provide opportunities for messages to be encountered repeatedly. This repetition can accumulate and be particularly strong.
The footprint of “Unstoppable Mission” extends beyond the half-hour weekend TV special. The clips were repurposed in bits and pieces on TikTok and Instagram, where the show has nearly a million followers. STEM Loft, a web-only series, is shared on the show’s YouTube channel, which has more than 38,000 subscribers.
Other donors, such as the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, have supported documentaries, books, television, and theater to help inform the public about scientists.
“The more people think of scientists as people like themselves, with motivations they can relate to, living lives they can relate to, the more progress we can make in healing the divide between science and the rest of society,” says Adam Falk, president of the foundation. “One way to do that is through art, not just by hitting people over the head and telling them things you think they need to know.”
These lessons can be applied to almost any problem or case.
“Individual stories can really deeply affect audiences,” says Erica Lynn Rosenthal, research director at the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California, who has studied the power of entertainment to change mindsets and culture for more than 20 years.
In recent years, Rosenthal and his colleagues have tracked how TV shows and movies influence audience attitudes about transgender people, immigrants, and health equity, among other topics.
“We know it works,” says Rosenthal. “If we understand it broadly, this is a definite ‘yes’. Narratives are always being supported, changed, shifted, influenced.”
It can be difficult to attribute long-term changes to specific shows. Sometimes researchers look at incremental indicators, using proxy indicators such as language changes appearing on social media, to track how audience attitudes are changing.
Small, along with Lyda Hill Philanthropies, hopes to collect more data on the program’s impact as its audience ages and advances in their education and careers. For now, She hopes other donors with a passion for STEM will support the project and influence more young women.
“The reality is that the trend for women and STEM careers has not moved as far as we would like,” she says. “We will have to get creative.”
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This article was provided to the Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Eden Stiffman is senior editor of the Chronicle. Email: eden.stiffman@philanthropy.com. The AP and Chronicle receive support from the Lilly Endowment for coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. AP and Chronicle are solely responsible for all content. For complete AP philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.