Working on something meaningful is a common desire – but how? We started asking folks to share the story of how they ended up working on a project they felt was meaningful because we wanted inspiration but also because we wondered if hearing from people from across a range of industries would help us identify patterns making it more likely for anyone to be able to find and work on projects that they would find meaningful.

Ashley Folkner

The most meaningful project I’ve ever worked on is designing and building the “Storybook Forest” at the Book and Cover bookstore. I created a room that brought to life trees from different children’s stories (The Giving Tree, Where the Wild Things Are, The Lorax, and The Chronicles of Narnia). It is a place for children of all ages to go and be transported to a whimsical world to let their imaginations soar. One of my favorite career moments was being the first guest reader in the “StoryBook Forest” and seeing the children’s faces and reactions and knowing that my time and energy to build it was well spent. Read more>>

Jared Dillingham

I’ve become really interested in environmental issues when it comes to travel, so when I heard about a special program Hawaii started to inspire tourists to “do some good” in paradise, I wanted to check it out. Tourism is a pillar of Hawaii’s economy, but the millions of tourists a year take a toll on the islands. The Hawaii Tourism Authority partnered with hotels on the islands to promote a new “Malama Hawaii” campaign, which basically translates to “giving back to the land.” Read more>>

Melinda St Fort

“You’re are only as good as your last performance” When I heard this quote long ago it entirely made sense. You’re only as good as your “last” meaning the last thing you did, the last photo you’ve taken, the last book you’ve written that is the highest potential at that moment. I say that because my most recent project will always be my most meaningful. My single “More” came from being completely exhausted with so much in my life. Read more>>

Charlie Rohlfs

King Whisker has always been a DIY band – but when the pandemic hit we found ourselves with a tremendous amount of time on our hands. We couldn’t play live shows – we couldn’t tour – and we couldn’t go to a recording studio to cut an album… so we decided to build our own studio, learn how to record, and self produce our debut album, Relaxing with Aunt Janine. Read more>>

Melanie Dockery

A great friend of mine is a breast cancer survivor. When she started seeing my art work on Facebook she asked if I could create a sign for her Campaign ” Check to Detect ” for the month of October. Her nonprofit organization grew and I now donate a Check to Detect yard sign every year to support a breast cancer survivor. My grandmother also loss her battle with breast cancer years ago. It fills my soul to witness joy and sunshine that is brought to the breast cancer survivors. Read more>>

Erik Condoll (Crondo)

Our Black Fathers Committee started off as a Pan Afrikan study group and has evolved into so much more. We help Black Father’s and young black men in our community and abroad with mentorship, financial literacy, employment and fitness and well being. The ultimate goal is our mission to change the narrative of Black Fathers in the community one father at a time. Read more>>

Caleb Dade

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is the Black America/Black History Heroes series on my Caleb with Curls YouTube channel, which I started in February 2021. During the Pandemic, there were a lot of terrible things that occurred on the news. There was a lot of anger and misunderstanding between Blacks and white leaders. There was confusion and hurt feelings. Read more>>

Nicole Parker

Because of the nature of the art making process and my approach to education, from personal visual narratives to curriculum development for K-12+, there is always meaning in the work that I do. Educational curriculum includes cultural and historical components, along with the art making, to give context to each project. In the studio, materials used, imagery, and composition are planned out and analyzed. Something may just look pretty or fashionable, but peel away layers or spend time with a piece, a deeper meaning or symbol will emerge. Read more>>

Drathoven

Although there have been quite a few meaningful projects for me. The most meaningful would be my project that I’m currently working on titled “Feel Trip”. It’s the most meaningful because not only is it some of my best work, it’s also allowing me to tell my stories. I’m able to be very transparent and creative while inspiring people at the same time. This project will be a journey. Look out for it! Read more>>

DeEtta Jain

My most meaningful project I’ve gotten to create would definitely be “Boys to Men”. It is a six song conceptual EP I released last December. For me, the work was about gender expectation, the corners those expectations can back one into, s*icide ideation, and an overall critique/observation on society. I’ve grown to be so frustrated with the parameters of femininity and masculinity. I grew up very worried that I wasn’t gentle, soft, or attractive enough. One might say I was shackled by the male gaze and desperately wanted to fit in to that corner. Read more>>

Laurel Crowe

I try to make sure that every project I have the privilege to work on is meaningful, not only to me, but to those around me. Specifically I want to share a more recent project that will forever rank at the top for me, During the most intense moments of the pandemic, I did a lot of introspection about the specific work I get to do with young people through the Georgia Ensemble Conservatory program. I chose to begin substituting the word “successful” to “SIGNIFICANT”. I found myself recommitting to serving our students in a way that moves beyond just theatre training. Read more>>

Justin Tipton

We recently completed our first album as a band. I have an album out that I did with some very talented studio musicians, but this album we just finished mastering is the most meaningful to me because I felt like it’s a better representation of who I want to be as an artist. Read more>>

Roxy Sora

On July 2019, I created a project called “For the Love of Family and Art” together with a school for students with special needs. We wanted to provide the students and their families a day they could spend creating something together, not just pieces of art but also memories and knowing they accomplished it together, surrounded by love and support of all of the volunteers. We raised enough money for all of the art materials and recruited 30 volunteers (5 of them were artists who donated their time to help me create the art work the students would use as examples). We had live music and many vendors donated food and drinks. The project was a complete success. Read more>>

Nate Lopez

That’s a hard question because every project I do is so meaningful, because music is so meaningful to me. Music is joyous, fun, and healing, not just for the audience but for the artist as well. I hope my new solo album, Emanate, brings that for everyone. That brings me to a movie that had a profound impact on me as a kid. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is a fantastic movie. It has laughs, George Carlin, love for EVH, but what always stuck with me was the idea that someone could make music so excellent, that it would unite the world in peace. That may not be an achievable goal, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth striving for. Read more>>

Morgan O’Donnell

The most meaningful project so far is one that I am currently working on, which I am tentatively calling The Menopause Art Project. This project proposal was submitted to and selected for the City of Albuquerque’s Urban Enhancement Trust Fund (UETF) 2022 Resiliency Residency program. Part of the project entails my own individual creative exploration of menopause. The other part is where I hope to work with the City and my partner nonprofit – Puha Hibaya – to put on exhibit of women artists on the theme of menopause. Read more>>

Emily Santos

While I love this questions, I refuse to pick favorites. As a small business, every project that I have been brought on is meaningful because it allows me to live out my dream of someday becoming a Full-time Brand Strategist. My process is unlike any other and it is a deeply personal and human experience. For that, I am truly grateful and appreciative of those who trust me enough to tell me about themselves, share their experiences with me, and trust me and the process to help their vision come to life. Read more>>

Sierra Argyle

Choosing the most meaningful project is such a difficult task. Tattooing has continually brought clients to me that were seeking to get a tattoo as part of their healing journey. One of the most meaningful tattoos I have had the honor of making was a mastectomy scar coverup for the most wonderful woman. I will never forget how nervous she was when she arrived, with a friend as emotional support. During her consultation she shared her story of being diagnosed with breast cancer, and the path to her recovery. We cried, we laughed, and when she left she told me she was no longer nervous to work with me. Read more>>

Ruth Monjaras

Most, if not all, of the art that I create and display have meaning behind them. I’ve always used art as a way to channel and express my innermost struggles and emotions and sometimes even as a way to resolve those issues. However, if I had to pick, I would have to say that the most meaningful project I’ve worked on to date is my “Identity Crisis” series. It’s basically my first baby haha! Read more>>

Brune Macary

In the past year I have released 5 new singles and 3 music videos. I have been able to open up a new door to my creative work by writing and singing electro-pop music. Shooting music videos were definitely a highlight that I did not expect to enjoy so much. I have realized I love working with cameras. I love creating a look (makeup and wardrobe), and defining a character. There is nothing more satisfying than being able to translate the mood of a song into a visual story. Read more>>

Megan Bee

This year I hosted my first writing retreat, Words In The Hills. I’ve been a full-time touring singer-songwriter for years, but before that I worked as an environmental educator. I love the magic of camp; coming together in a new space, meeting new friends, exploring the outdoors, trying something new, making memories. I have been leading songwriting workshops for a while. I finally combined my love of writing, teaching, camping, and people into one beautiful weekend. The feedback was very validating. Read more>>

Maximillian Aguiar

Our newest film Hairy has been our most meaningful project so far. After the success of our previous film VENEER my creative partner Logan Diemert and I knew that our next film had to be our best yet. We had the equipment, a vague idea and a shoot date for 10 days in September. What we didn’t have was a script. With the shoot date a little over two months away we buckled down like never before. I began writing and as I was writing I would send the pages to Logan so he could secure shooting locations for the scenes, I would also send pages to actors to see if they were interested in playing characters I hadn’t even finished writing yet. Read more>>

Brett Walker

Well I created a character called Spruce Springsteen ( a walking talking apple tree) who lives in a world full of doubt, struggle, pain, and predators. GOD gave me the idea when I start spending time with HIm through studying not only the bible but everything around me when He showed me everything was made for Him and by Him. I saw alot of people speaking and living as GOD didnt exsist and it sparked my purpose as GOD intended. We live in a selfish world of me me me, I I I, and take take take, that people forgot it’s always our job to uplift and love others. Read more>>

Ravit Solomon

I’m working on an art exhibition called Starlett. This project started in Winter of 2017, when I first discovered that the flamingo is my spirit animal. With my spirit animal in mind, I thought to myself, “how cool would it be to float on a flamingo pool floatie, looking at dancing flamingos? What if there is a planet that is full of flamingos?” Sitting with this vision eventually led to discovery and birth of the first planet painting in my series, Flamingo Planet. Read more>>

Michael Jones

My most meaningful project has been my first album I released as a solo artist with my one man death metal band, Utter Scorn. The album is called “Paroxysmal Endemia”, and it released last year in August of 2021. I came up with the idea for this band in 2011, but for several years it existed only as a dream. I would tell people all about my death metal band, but I only ever had a bunch of rough recordings of unfinished songs. It wasn’t until 2018 that I decided to get serious about making and releasing a proper album. Read more>>

Red as the Sun Band

Around the beginning of 2019 things weren’t working out with our singer and we ended up parting ways. Now we were on the hunt for a replacement and our bassist (Kelly Grant) mentioned that he knew a singer through a friend. He thought this guy (Scott Mudgett) might fit perfectly in our band. Scott was our age range, looks the part, and that we had to check out his vocals. We had gotten a link to some of his recordings and after listening we immediately thought “This is our guy!” After we recruited Scott we started practicing on a weekly basis as our goal was to get show ready and start playing out. Read more>>

Trinity Johnston

The most meaningful project I’ve worked is a short film called My Soul to Keep which is about mental illness. Many people can relate to this topic and it hits close to home for me because I struggle with anxiety and panic attacks. When we were working on the storyline for this film, I was able to add what I’ve been through and how I handle my own issues. I love how this film brings awareness to mental health and how it’s important to ask questions and be very aware of what is going on in your child’s life. This was also a new type of role that I hadn’t played before which required me to go to a dark place. Read more>>

Yoa Ruiz

In 2018, I was approached by Grammy-Award winning artist “King of Salsa” RICHIE RAY about designing an album cover for his masterpiece “Salsa, Jazz & Beethoven!” The project evolved into much more and I ended up creating a one-of-a-kind original artwork, designing the album cover and inside pages, rebranding his logo, creating a website and apparel. Visit https://yoaart.com/pages/richie-ray-salsa-jazz-beethoven-yoa-art-project to check it out. Read more>>

Dani Herd

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on lately was my one-person show, “gender euphoria: a story in three peters parker,” which I developed for the 2022 Atlanta Fringe Festival. When I came out as trans a few years ago, a big part of my heart really believed my performance career was over. So, it meant a lot to be given the space to create a show entirely FOR ME. I didn’t have to go into an audition space and worry about whether or not I looked too trans or not trans enough. There was no box to fit into, because I was designing the box. Read more>>

Rajee Narinesingh

As a multi-racial Transgender woman of color, I had moments where I felt like I did not belong. Moments when I wanted to give up. Some horrible things happened to me. I was brutally beaten up by some guys who targeted me for being Trans. I had a horrible reaction to the Black Market Injections that I received. And many a time I have been ostracized for just being who I am. Thank God I have not allowed those experiences to divine me. Thankfully I had some faith deep inside of me that each person born into life does have a divine purpose. Read more>>

Doug Hoppes

The most meaningful project has been my ShadowMyths decks. When I first created them, I wanted to just have a way for me to come up with new stories. I didn’t want to do just an art book. I wanted something different (all artists want that so that they can stand out from the crowd). I realized that, if I lay down my images in a random order, they told a story. So, I used that to write my fantasy world and my first illustrated book. I was thinking: “Hey others who have the same problems coming up with story ideas could also use the decks!” So, I created the deck. Read more>>