Every once in a while we have the good fortune of working on a project that we feel truly matters, a project that we’ll still be thinking about years from now. Maybe even something we can imagine telling our grandkids about – surely you’ve had moments like that where something you did in your professional life really mattered?
Saloni Shah
The Fabric that was Banned is a project extremely important to me and one that has influenced my practice till date. I came across the story of Chintz – the Indian fabric popularized for its vivid colors during my senior year at MICA. The story is tinted with a distressing history of transformation and disassociation which is largely neglected. The popular fabric was widely exported from India throughout Europe, however, with the fear of losing profits and protests from locals in their own country, the British Raj banned Chintz and went on to imitate the process. This fabric was stripped of its history and manipulated to be purposefully exotic, leaving behind a trail of suffering for the Indian craftsmen and economy. Nuanced iterations of the iconic motifs continue to emerge in mainstream Western media yet their origins are still extensively disregarded. I began making a series of work that builds on imagery of traditional Chintz contrasted with the English glazed replicas and modern iterations to showcase this timeline and the subsequent shift in power. Each piece focuses on a particular portion of the timeline, combining to form a continuous story unearthing this erasure. Read more>>
Sam Kelly
I’m grateful to be in a pretty unique position as a composer where I can essentially pick what projects I want to work on. Because of that, I really try to stick to stuff that I think is important. I’ve done a lot of work in the education world, and I’m working on a documentary right now about Australian wildlife! Although I love a god epic narrative, I really think most of the documentaries I’ve done are the stories that REALLY need to be told. Read more>>
Katherine Ro
The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is an independent short film called Hybrid, which my husband and I created with the support of our executive producer, Jason Edwards, and Jackson Rathbone, who also starred in it alongside me. This project was a completely new and valuable learning experience, not just because I had the opportunity to act in it, but also because of my deep involvement in the creative process. I was hands-on from pre-production to post-production, helping curate dialogue, observing how scenes were cut and edited, and understanding how each decision brought the story to life. As an actress, my role usually involves supporting the creative vision of the projects I’m hired on, but having the chance to contribute behind the scenes and add my creative input was truly incomparable—an opportunity that many actors don’t often get. Special shout out to Jackson Rathbone, whose creative input truly moved the story forward, adding meaning and vibrancy to the project. Read more>>
Eunji Lim
I have been blessed enough to be part of beautiful productions, and honestly, every single project is so precious and meaningful to me. But I would love to share three projects among my dear works. The first project is ‘Doña Mañana’. In 2021, I was lucky to be part of a member of the People’s Theatre Project, a company based in New York City, sharing immigrant stories created by immigrant artists. We, 6 actors, co-created the story together, as lead roles, guided by our great director, and we represented different ethnicities as a character. My character’s name was named by me, U-Ri, which means ‘Us’ in Korean. We told the story about human rights, freedom, education, the future, generation, love, and more. I wrote my monologues in Korean and English, and others did the same in their mother tongue. Even if we spoke different languages on stage, we could understand each other, and rather it deepened our connections. We did a New York City tour with the show, and through this production, I made my New York Theatre debut in acclaimed venues, such as The Riverside Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Whitney Museum, and more. It was a heart-warming time for us and audiences because it was the show after the pandemic. We missed each other, and we missed the theaters. Many audiences made our shows sold out, cried, laughed, empathized, and shared their heart with us. Read more>>
Leandra Crystal
One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on is the collaborative public art project with Urban Green Labs, where I created a large-scale food waste mural. This mural was part of a broader initiative to raise awareness about sustainability and environmental responsibility, and it really resonated with my personal values around reducing waste and fostering community consciousness. The mural itself was not just about the art, but about the message behind it—encouraging people to think about how small changes in their daily lives could have a positive impact on the environment. It was a deeply collaborative process, involving local schools and community organizations. It was incredibly rewarding to see people from different walks of life connect with the artwork and the message. Read more>>
Justin Nelms
I am currently immersed in my forthcoming debut solo release under the moniker MOONSIDE. This ambitious double concept album delves into the complexities of family dynamics, exploring themes of liminal spaces, fragmented memories, and generational trauma throughout its two parts. Drawing from a diverse range of genres within ambient and noise, I have employed digital granular synthesis techniques to create an immersive auditory experience. Born and raised in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, my upbringing in poverty and a sheltered environment, lead to a fascination with the intricate interplay of family relationships, particularly within the context of religion. Every aspect of this double concept album is rooted in the lived experiences, passed-down tales, and family gossip that have spanned generations. At the core of this project lies a deeply personal touch: every sound, no matter how minuscule, has been meticulously extracted from a 1970s country gospel vinyl record featuring my own family. The original record’s ten uplifting religious hymns have been transformed into 20 unique tracks, each bearing little resemblance to their source material. Through this innovative re-purposing, I not only confront generational trauma but reconciling my personal demons. Read more>>
Abraham Resendez
One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on is the “Sex in Recovery” booklet, which I had the opportunity to write and art direct. This project was especially personal and meaningful to me because it was inspired by a two-year partnership between ASHwell, the nonprofit where I work, and Austin Roundup (ARU), another nonprofit that focuses on hosting events for people in recovery from drugs and alcohol. I’ve been sober for seven and a half years, and ARU has played an important role in my recovery journey, so I’ve volunteered there in the past as their marketing co-chair and chair. The idea for the “Sex in Recovery” booklet came from a need to provide resources and support around topics that are often stigmatized or overlooked, especially within the recovery community. Creating something that not only reflected my lived experience but could also resonate with and help others was incredibly meaningful. Being able to present the booklet at ARU’s annual conference, where I knew it would reach people who might benefit from it, meant the world to me. It was a full-circle moment of giving back to a community that has supported me in my own recovery journey. Read more>>
Tierra Jones
Tierra Jones is a rising star, an actress, and award-winning producer who is quickly becoming a name to watch in the entertainment industry. Tierra is thrilled to announce her latest project, “Hotspot,” a comedy that marks her first international film! Tierra is rep by manager Alessio Filippelli. Hotspot is directed by the talented Montreal-based director Daniel Reid, “Hotspot” is poised to be a festival favorite with its unique blend of humor and heart. “Hotspot” tells the hilarious story of a frantic parent on vacation, played by Tierra Jones, who is desperately trying to locate her son in Montreal. The twist? Her greatest challenge is not the bustling city or the language barrier but finding a reliable Wi-Fi connection at a charming bistro. The production team features brilliant producer and music composer Ariadna Toledo, executive producer Patricia Chica and director of photography John Cumberland. Read more>>
April Bermudez
The most meaningful project I’ve worked on was an ofrenda I made for my father. An ofrenda (Spanish: “offering”) is the offering placed in a home altar during the annual and traditionally Mexican Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead celebration. An ofrenda is usually created by the family members of a person who has passed. Making this piece was a labor of love. My father was a carpenter by trade and a catholic. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean by me, my brother and my sister, his three children. Still it was nice to make something that was tangible to celebrate him. The piece started with a triptych which I constructed from three lotion bottles. It was then clad with chopsticks, the facade done with popsicle sticks, both painted with acrylic paint, along with the insides of the piece. Read more>>
Joy Yoon
From 2023 May to 2024 April, I had worked on my senior art exhibition, Lutalica, non-stop. Deciding the topic of the show was not difficult; it has always been something I wanted to talk about since coming to California. As a Korean who didn’t grow up in Korea, I had a sense of confusion and unexplainable emotions about my identity, often feeling detached from the traditional definition of a “true Korean.” I decided to talk about the discomfort that comes with being mislabeled and question the concept of having a fixed identity. I met different types of Korean: Korean American, half Korean, Korean international.. however people often call them. Based on their interview responses, I created an audio piece, a fabric installation, and 15 pieces of painting. Hearing them talk about what it is like to be a Korean and how they accept the culture and identity has been a striking experience. It made me realize that identity is not confined to a specific form. I realized that there is a need to embrace the complexities of identity beyond what is, in reality, a thin veneer of difference. Read more>>
Ann Bromberg
I have a background as an award-winning documentary filmmaker and photographer. Since the age of twelve, I have documented various stories on film. For instance, I have captured the story of my Dad’s grocery store in the barrio of Albuquerque, New Mexico. I’ve also traveled to Africa to capture how one woman galvanized six hundred women to sell handmade baskets in return for building the first health clinic, saving the lives of pregnant women and their children from mortality. My projects are based on love, whether it’s the love of a person, place, or community. This defines what love is and how we learn from it. A few years after filming “Mbeti: The Road to Kisesini” in Africa, I embarked on a new creative journey. I created a radio show entitled “Love is Music.” This project celebrates the transformative power of love stories and the music that connects them, inspiring us all. Read more>>
Karthik Mohan
Interpreters Wanted, a feature documentary I worked on as supervising sound editor had a profound impact on me. 14 years in the making, the film follows the story of two brothers who served alongside U.S. Forces in Afghanistan as interpreters for over a decade. Robert Ham, the director of Interpreters Wanted, was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009, where he worked with the brothers and became close friends with them. After Robert’s unit left Afghanistan, the brothers became desperate to escape the Taliban’s rise to power and they reached out to their American friends to help them. Before starting a project, I primarily look for a couple of things. First is the scope that the film gives me, to do something interesting both art wise and craft wise. By interesting, I am not only talking about grand sound design. Read more>>
Emma-jane Barlow
Over the years I have started many different projects. But the one that I have been running the longest is the First Line Poets Project, which is a collaborative poetry project on Instagram. I started it during the pandemic to create a sense of community for writers. The successful project has been running for four years now and I am immensely proud of it! There have been over five hundred writers overall and more than four thousand poems written by writers I have paired up across the world. Some writers have been in it since the beginning and I am always recruiting more writers to become part of it. FLP is a family. And it’s the most meaningful project that I have created so far. Other projects I have done include creating and running my own magazine Zest For Life at age 22, I ran it for a couple of years and it was such a wonderful expression of creativity and I got to work with some beautiful writers too. A more recent project that I started is The Magical Muse Club, which is a newsletter for writers that I created on the platform Substack. It delves into the magic of writing and explores diverse themes such as myths, folklore and witches. I have also just started a new page on Instagram called The Neurosparkly Club, which I plan to build over the next year or so to create a safe place for neurodivergent and disabled people to come together and learn and embrace their differences. Read more>>
Dylan Healy
Spirit Link is a benefit compilation album I curated and released last December through the label I run, Funnybone Records. It’s a collection of music by many of my favorite artists both in my local community and around the world. All profits from album sales are being raised for an amazing local nonprofit called Hartford Communities That Care. For 25 years, they’ve been keeping Hartford’s most vulnerable residences safe, empowered, and educated, while trying to equalize and level the playing field in a city where so many marginalized communities too often get overlooked. The album features artwork by designers Gabriela Mims and Brian Neagle; their artwork was actually just submitted for GRAMMYs consideration for best album packaging! The record features original music (most of which is exclusive to the album) by artists such as Hana Stretton, Blue Ranger, Babehoven, Nina Ryser, Mother Juniper, Darling, Ciarra Fragale, Zanders, Greetings…. and more. The songs are unreal– it feels like the perfect sampler of our corner in the music-sphere. Read more>>
Lisa Scala
I have custom made several one of a kind remembrance pieces for clients throughout my career. These memorial jewelry designs incorporate personal signs from their loved ones as well as meaningful gemstones. This personalized layer is to help bring them comfort and to honor the person who has passed. Making these pieces is such an honor and I feel like it is my calling. One of the stories that stands out for me is the women who asked for a necklace to commemorate her son. She described him as fun and fiery! I ended up setting a fire opal on sterling elongated heart shape with copper details on the front and a copper butterfly on the the back. The butterfly symbol came to us in such an amazing way. She had create a quilt square with all of the things that reminded her of her son including an orange butterfly. That day it was decided that this would be perfect for this necklace! Fifteen minutes after she had left my gallery a friend of mine came in and said “You need to come outside and see this!” “It’s the rare copper butterfly!” _B “Wait what! Are you kidding me!!!” _Me. I called the client right away and we were in tears, happy tears. So perfect!!! Read more>>
Heidi Swarthout
I’m in the middle of a most meaningful project right now, actually! I’m currently in rehearsals for Janus Theatre Company’s production of The Revolutionists by Lauren Gunderson. I’m also co-producing the play, alongside the director, my friend and – he will hate this word – mentor, Sean Hargadon. This play is especially meaningful to me for several reasons. Back in 2017, I did a one-night-only staged reading of Lauren Gunderson’s one-woman play, Natural Shocks, directed by Sean, in what would be my first of many times working with him. I was so moved by Gunderson’s writing that I started devouring any of her work I could read or see. I followed her on social media, and in 2018, she held a contest on Instagram in which she asked her followers to answer a question: Why is Theatre important to you? The winning answer would score a signed copy of one of her scripts. She received hundreds of answers, mine among them. We all carried on about how theatre was not only our creative outlet, but also our church, our therapy, our community, our greatest love, and so on. Read more>>
Angelo “scrote” Bundini
Currently I am producing a tour called BEAT. It features mega star musicians Adrian Belew, Steve Vai, Tony Levin, and Danny Carey performing 80s King Crimson music. 65 US dates in total throughout this Fall. This tour is meaningful to me for many reasons. For one, the musicianship is at the highest of levels and I’m working directly with the band on the show. Secondly, it’s the first tour I’ve ever been involved with where I’m not actually in the band though my role is to lead all things creative. Another meaningful tour that I’ve been producing and playing in is called Celebrating David Bowie. Bowie has always been a major influence on me so when I created it in 2016 just after he passed away it was a real passion project meant for one night only. But eight years later now, we’ve performed in 17 countries on 5 continents where I’ve been featured with a long list of superstar artists such as Sting, Corey Taylor, Todd Rundgren, Adrian Belew, Angelo Moore from Fishbone, Seal, Ian Asbury, Thomas Dolby, and too many others to list. But in between those tours, I’ve released a variety of albums of my own which in a way are really the most meaningful projects of them all and what I typically spend most of my year tending to. Read more>>
Arpita Sharma
One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on has undoubtedly been Rethink Desi, a platform I created to explore and discuss the often overlooked issues within the South Asian diaspora. What began as a personal outlet for deep reflection has grown into something much larger—a space for storytelling, education, and community-building around the unique intersections of identity, culture, and lived experiences. The idea for Rethink Desi was born from my own struggles of feeling disconnected from mainstream narratives that represented South Asians. Growing up, I often noticed how much of our community’s challenges—whether related to immigration, mental health, or cultural expectations—were either stereotyped or completely ignored in public discourse. As someone who values thoughtful, critical conversation, I felt compelled to create a platform that could tackle these topics head-on. Read more>>
Yanran Bi
In the summer 2023，I spent over a month in Iceland, trying my best to immerse myself in the landscape, doing research and conduct field recording. I took the following 6 months after I came back home to create this locative audio experience “Only Glaciers Know”. https://onlyglaciersknow.com/ (Mobile access recommended.) It was all started from the story of OK(originally Okjökull), who was once the smallest glacier in Iceland and officially lost its glacier(jökull) status in 2014. A funeral was held for it in 2015. I came across the story in March 2023, and started to research and prepare for this sound art project right away. “…He drove me up a mountain and pointed to the mountain top where OK was. What I saw was a grey mountain covered with scattered patches of white. Somehow I thought of the dead whale lying on a shallow beach that I encountered in northern Iceland. Its dark gray skin, exposed above the water, was worn, reminding me of volcanic rock. It looked like a tiny island from afar…“(quotes from “Only Glaciers Know”) Read more>>
Trace Turner
One of the most meaningful projects that I’ve worked on is one that I did earlier this year. It was a brand new play from Austin-local playwright, and friend, Chris Fontanes. This was a story that seemed to fall into my life at the right time, right out of the blue sky (much like the UFO crash the play is named after). The show is called “Aurora” and it follows a young woman with the same name on the day of her 30th birthday. We meet her out in a field in [Unspecified], Texas where she has constructed a radio tower, that seemingly only generates TS Eliot poems. We learn that Aurora has brought us out here for her swan song before the aliens, her ‘kin’ as she calls them, come to take her back to her home planet. I am also turning 30 later this year and I felt like I had this beautiful window into the precipice that Aurora found herself standing on; longing to know ‘the answer,’ to know what she is truly meant for. The piece is very meditative filled with moments of introspection, music, and star gazing. We performed the piece in the backyard of Paper Plate Gallery in North Austin under the Texas sky during one of the best springs in recent memory. Read more>>
Michelle Li
I really enjoy how one of my illustrated book projects turned out. I illustrated Schoolgirl by Osamu Dazai, and I learned so much from every step of the process. Although I feel I have improved a lot since then, it was the beginning when I started to incorporate more type into my illustrations. In high school, I was really into calligraphy, but it never occurred to me to combine the two in an illustration. I’m now discovering how much I enjoy blending different methods and materials to create intersections. I feel like now looking back, it was such an obvious thing to do, but I think I controlled too much of my work to really try an explore what felt right. The theme of a schoolgirl navigating the turmoils of her life felt like a goodbye piece to my teenage self, which was something I think I needed at the time. I really liked how I tried to capture each ephemeral moment of the book in images to convey the sweet but uncomfortable feelings of growing up. I also always try to make my next projects sound more exciting than the previous ones, so I hope to continue this path of learning and discovering interesting intersections to work with! Read more>>
Scott Duncan
My meta-novel and magic memoir Old California Strikes Back has been the most personally meaningful project for me…it’s the narrative of untangling my mixed ethnic background and taking back the story of Mexican and Native California. My mother’s side come from the over fantasized people called Californios “Spanish Californians” who were hardly Spanish, mostly Mexican and Native Californians (and same story for my grandfather’s side from New Mexico). I often say I’m the Chicano with the whitest name in America: people think I don’t belong to my name and outright demand to know “my tribe,” “When I came from Mexico”, or say I “just look white.” I’ve sighed when I’ve heard one or the other because that means later the week I will hear each statement from someone. Read more>>
Alex Alper
My first published novel, First Woman on Earth, is the most meaningful project that I’ve undertaken thus far. I co-authored it with my friend when I had just recently moved to L.A., and it took us over a year to finish in its entirety. The book was a catharsis as we both struggled with the realities of new adulthood. I was freshly moved out on my own for the first time, and we were kicking ideas back and forth for a couple of months before COVID hit and changed everything. Lockdown gave us a lot more time to develop what was, at the time, simply a general idea of what feeling we wanted the story to explore; that newness and scariness of getting everything you wanted growing up only to realize you still have a deep unhappiness within you, which life has only just settled down enough to let you notice it. First Woman on Earth is, to me, both an embodiment and exploration of how my early twenties felt. On the other side, I was able to better understand these things myself, and I hope the book (now newly an e-book!) also enlightens someone else the same way. Read more>>
Maximilian Schulze
The most meaningful project I’ve worked on so far is a short film called Das Sichere Haus (translation: The Safe House), which I filmed in November 2024. There are many reasons why this is my favorite project, but primarily it’s because of the artistic freedom the director gave us when developing our characters. I love it when a director just sits down with you and “talks character”. Elia Kazan always did this with his actors, and it really engages me in those first essential steps. Linus Engelhardt, the director, did exactly that. Before our first rehearsal, we explored their motivations, secrets, dreams, flaws, and hopes. That stage of the process is one of my favorites. For me, it’s what makes me “come alive.” Linus gave us almost complete freedom, which felt magical. Read more>>
Aliya Victoriya
One of the most meaningful acting experiences I’ve had was touring the U.S. in the original cast of the 25th-anniversary production of Les Misérables as Young Cosette when I was just 10 years old. It was an incredible 11-month journey across 28 states, where I performed in over 300 shows. Being on stage night after night, experiencing new cities, and immersing myself in professional theater at such a young age shaped my entire career path. It was during that tour that I knew, without a doubt, I wanted to spend the rest of my life as an actor. The role held even more personal significance for me because of the song ‘Castle on a Cloud,’ which I sang as Young Cosette. Several years before being cast my dad had cancer and he taught me that song. I used to sing it to him before his treatments, so getting to perform it in front of audiences across the country felt incredibly special. Read more>>
Ceylan Carhoglu
As a documentary filmmaker, each project holds a unique place in my heart, but two, in particular, stand out for their profound impact on me. The first is Stray, a documentary where I returned to my hometown of Istanbul and explored it through the lens of stray dogs. This project was deeply transformative. Revisiting my childhood city allowed me to reconnect with my roots while shedding light on the often-overlooked bond between humans and animals. The film not only sparked important conversations about marginalized groups in our communities but also offered a rich, moral inquiry into our collective humanity. The personal connection I felt to this project makes Stray particularly meaningful to me. Read more>>
Candice Greathouse
I get so much out of curating group exhibitions more than anything. While I love making my own work and showing it, being able to do something that feels collaborative and has a group effort to it hits different. When I curate an exhibition, I get to start out with my favorite artists and works and create a space that didn’t exist beforehand and share that. It’s thrilling to have a reason to reach out to an artist you admire and opportunities to engage with them. For example, my most recent curatorial project was MESS, in 2022, held at Los Angeles City College’s VAMA Gallery. That exhibition explored the messy aspects of womanhood, in relationship to parenting, domesticity, femininity… our lives. Among the works I exhibited were a selection of Jo Ann Callis’s iconic 1970s feminist photographs, a 15ft handknit sweater by Beth Abaravich, and an installation of dying houseplants conceived by Estonian artist Flo Kasearu. I literally cried when the exhibition was up, because the artworks were not only so gorgeous but the conceptual content was incredibly important to me to share (also hormones, my daughter was born the week after the show opened!) Read more>>
Jacob Weisenburger
I think that the most meaningful project would be my current one. I’ve released a few projects in the past and they are each close to my heart in their own individual ways, but this project is special because I’m the only person touching it. I realized earlier this year that often times if you are a person who is always extending yourself to help others, that it’s typically not reciprocated. That’s me, I’m the helper. Earlier in 2024 I was at a creative low point and reaching out to people I thought were close to me for advise/help. I learned really quickly who was actually a friend and who wasn’t. That made me mad to be completely honest, and I’m not the type to sit and simmer. I take action. In this case, that action was making an entire project by myself (minus production, shout out to BMTJ) and not reaching out to a single person for advise, feedback, thoughts, etc. I decided it was time to learn how to mix and master, I decided it was time to learn what a seo content strategy was and how to properly market myself as an artist while still showing a relatable personality. As bad as it sounds, I cannot wait to have my “na na na na boo boo I did this without you” moment. Read more>>
Solaris
The most meaningful project I gave done so far is the concept I worked on with a photographer friend of mine named Tinashe Brighton. We entered an art competition held by the National Gallery of Zimbabwe that was centred around the topics of menstruation and womanhood. It tackled the accessibility of menstrual products for everyone who needs them, the pink tax and the experiences of being someone who menstruates and how that can be a traumatic factor of womanhood. Although we didn’t win, that experience showed me that I could style for concept photoshoots and be the creative director and model for one all at the same time. Seeing it all through the talented photography of Tinashe really brought it into perspective for me. I’m very grateful for that collaboration. Read more>>
Laura Lee Gulledge
I’ve been honored to be part of many amazing projects & Artnerships I’d love to gush about! But I feel like what has the most meaning for us is always the one we’re working on right now, and the most personal… My new body of art is inspired by my UNMASKING from Autism, a recent discovery that rather turned my life upside down. Previously confusing things about myself and my art finally make sense…but it also completely changed the story of who I thought I was to realize we’d been masking our true self for decades. So I’m leaning into my art to help me process these experiences and figure out who unmasked me actually is. (Yeah I suppose I’m the real art project here, heh…) I’ve printed some of this art as a mini-book, and am developing it as a potential graphic novel. For the more I relate with my peer support community and students about this the more I feel our shared story…as I am finding the meaning of my own. So I hope I can give you a graphic novel about this journey that many of us are on—for you don’t have to be Neurospicy to struggle from hiding your true self. Read more>>