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.
Junyu Lin
The most meaningful one would be my MFA thesis project. It’s a picture book about domestic violence, which tells a story about a woman who’s living in an abusive relationship with her husband. The book depicts a day in this woman’s life. She pretended that she was still okay and tried to maintain a normal life. However, she was not. She was in trauma, she saw illusions of her husband and his violent behavior wherever she went, and she was always tired and scared. When she got back home, her drunk husband assaulted her again. This time, she couldn’t bear it anymore and killed her husband. Read more>>
Teresa Yeung
Since young, I have already developed a strong interest in Illustration and dreamed of being a graphic novelist. As my initiation, I create art to record moments of life for spreading happiness, making people resonate with me, and appreciating life. My favorite and most meaningful project is the experience of creating my original story: a little magical realm called the Lonely Island (寂生島). Originating from my dream one night, I realized it was not an existing place on earth. So, I guessed I dreamed about my utopia. Read more>>
Aaron Clift
The most meaningful projects for me have been creating and releasing albums for my progressive rock project, The Aaron Clift Experiment. Making these albums combines all the things that I love about music: Read more>>
Sherry Amour
One of the most recent meaningful projects I’ve worked on thus far has been publically sharing the ugliest parts of my personal journey as a single woman who dealt with fatherlessness, betrayal, and overcoming heartbreak through my first album, entitled Mirror, Mirror. Read more>>
Amanda Pascali
Currently, I am Palermo, Sicily; Italy’s southernmost region, halfway between Europe and Africa. I’m here as a Fulbright Fellow, translating and revitalizing the songs of Rosa Balistreri, one of the first Italian women to publicly denounce social inequality through music. Read more>>
Eli Davis
The most meaningful project I have worked on thus far is the movie “Kasi” which will soon be streaming on Tubi. It was meaningful to me because we filmed in my home town, Houston, Tx and my family was able to attend the premiere. Read more>>
Chance Heap
I started my creative journey when I was very young. I grew up loving to draw and paint but didn’t think anything of it until I was in my eighth year of grade school. I had been taking my art classes that my middle school had offered and really enjoyed them, I learned that I was developing a decent talent for drawing. At this time I was also on the cheer team for my school and had grown close with my teammates, it was a great experience and something that I had grown to love immensely. Read more>>
Grace Maher
There are two that have been especially meaningful for me. The song and music video for, “Stronger” will always hold a very special place for me. If you look up the video and watch it, you’ll know why right away. More recently though, there has been another project that has been super meaningful for me in a different way. Read more>>
Maurice Sanabria-Ortiz
We just released Kadencia Orchestra’s second album, ( The fist album was recorded in Puerto Rico in 2020) what makes this album special and meaningful is that it’s the first album that I able record with my son. We moved from Puerto Rico to the U.S. searching for a better quality of life, but the music, the traditions and culture moved with us to the U.S. mainland. Read more>>
Brooke Callery
Throughout my creative career I have had many bodies of work with a strong sense of meaning behind them. At the age of 18 my family and I watched as my grandmother fought and eventually succumbed to Alzheimer’s Disease. Seeing her slowly fade from the strong, funny and loving Polish woman we all adored to a confused, anxious and frail memory of who she once embodied was something we all struggled with. I turned to my art in order to cope with the idea of slowly losing her. I began making graphite portraits of my nanny that included bright drawings she had created in the midst of her battle with Alzheimer’s. Read more>>
Elide Arosio
Each of the art projects that I have created in my career as an artist is meaningful for me, my projects are a story that talk about my art and who I am, my thoughts, fears and what i really love in my life. What nature and all the living beings that inhabit it mean to me come to life in my last art project “SAVE WILD ANIMALS” created during Art Basel 2022 and showed at Lucid Art Gallery during Chroma art show. Read more>>
Hannah Hoffmeister
The most meaningful project I’ve worked on was a small zine I made called Shaking Hands Making art, During the winter of 2019, I spent time in and out of the emergency room with debilitating pain. My chronic illness had relapsed, leaving me weak and struggling to continue with my college classes. Read more>>
Lloyd Powell
Right now the most meaningful project to me is my Youtube show and podcast called Pie Tales. This is a platform for creatives, entrepreneurs, and anyone with a story to share their experiences with the world. The idea came to me after graduating college. I was able to reconnect with my hometown friends, many I’ve known since childhood. Each had a unique prospective shaped from years of introspection and experience. Some had businesses. Many were pursuing careers that they were passionate about. Others were still figuring life out. I thought, “why not create a space for my friends to share their experience?!” So I did. Read more>>
Jude Leighton
My childhood dream was to be a jazz saxophonist. I just wanted to play jazz in small, dark, smokey jazz clubs and that would be my full-time job. Things didn’t quite end up that way. I did study a bachelor in jazz music and I did get to perform in some small, dark and smokey jazz clubs at the time but, after finishing my studies, I realise that performing jazz w-asn’t going to pay the rent. I went on to study and become a high school music teacher. Read more>>
Esther Franchuk
My latest fine art collection “Wings and Visions” is the most meaningful project I was ever working on. The paintings in this series are a reflection of my cultural heritage. They depict women with wings incorporating narratives from Ukrainian symbolism and mythology. Read more>>
Geisha Artist/Art Teacher/ Art Advocate
One of the most meaningful projects I ay e worked on is the gallery concept I am working on currently. It wouldn’t be just my art involved as well but I’ve invited others to help display their creative energy into concepts I am wanting to be expressed in the gallery work. Read more>>
LaShane Arnett
My mother died in 2015. Two years later the idea for my first novel, The Pain Eater, sprung to mind. I would say that sitting down and writing The Pain Eater, the story of a woman who lost her mother, has been the most meaningful project thus far. It was very cathartic and happened at a time I was trying to understand the power of grief as well as release it. Read more>>
Dycee Wildman
In 2014 I was invited to be a part of an ambitious project that would change me as an artist and a person. Nashville-based musician Sarah Saturday (Gardening, Not Architecture) was looking for filmmakers to help her build what would become an utterly epic feature length, collaborative, music video film for her album, Fossils. As a rule I start all inquiries that come out of the blue with a “yes” because one never knows what unpredictable gifts and lessons may be on the other side. Read more>>
Julie Koehnen
In 2015 I returned to Minnesota many times over the course of the year for my sisters wedding and all the events that go along with it (bridal party shopping, bachelorette party, wedding, etc.) She had moved so when I returned I was taken through a new route which included St. Paul, Minnesota. St. Paul is pretty fascinating with all its history and time resistant architecture. this led me to find Summit Avenue. It’s a historical avenue and there are over 370 preserved mansions from the turn of the century (19th-20th). Read more>>
Jesse Kirsch
When the pandemic hit, I found myself working out of my home studio every day for my current full time design job and working remotely. I had just started to get some momentum with my letterpress business the 6 months prior in 2019; selling cards and prints locally at a few consignment and wholesale accounts in and around Washington, DC. Read more>>
Shaquille Roberts
Recently I shot the pilot for my series, The Other Wife. After I quit a toxic boss and work environment, I went on a 21-day fast. Doing that fast helped me get closer to God and learn more about myself. Coming out of the fast, I wrote the pilot loosely based on different things that I learned about myself. Each character has a personality trait that came from what I discovered about me. After writing the pilot in 2021, I prayed to God and said, if I can get a hospital location and a funeral home location to film in, I’ll shoot the entire thing. Read more>>
Ashley Rose
Sorry For The Weight Full Figured Fashion Show has been my most meaningful project. Why? It has allowed me to create a platform to celebrate Plus Size Men and Women across the world – allowing them to authentically be themselves and encouraging them to love the skin they’re in. Read more>>
Amira Heis
All of my songs are my babies, but “don’t call” holds a special place in my heart. It is the first song I ever wrote. Writing it allowed me to heal from a relationship that caused me to feel powerless. “don’t call” is all about reclaiming that power and setting boundaries so that you can shine like the star that you are! Read more>>
Kenny Bureaux
The project I’m working on right now. I have about three projects that i’ve been bouncing around for a few years, but this one is becoming something special to me. I treated this body of work like it’s therapy. I’m telling you what I’m going through right now or what I’ve experienced and still grieving over. The project involves some incredible hands working on it as well and I can’t wait until it’s finally ready to be shown to the world. The title of it alone makes it more meaningful to me. Read more>>
Ty Thompson
The most meaningful gig I’ve been able to play so far was for a crowd of 10,000 people at the Red Rock Amphitheater. Madison Square Garden, The Toyota Center in Houston (my hometown arena), and Red Rock Amphitheater had all been on my list of dream venues to play at for years, and it was so insane that I was given the opportunity to play a sold-out show at one of my dream venues at 20 years old. I played drums with Cochren & Co. and opened for Toby Mac, Jordan Feliz, and Danny Gokey. Read more>>
Melanie Hicks
The most meaningful project I have worked on to date is my memoir, Incongruent; Travel, Trauma, Transformation. I wrote my first book at ten years old. Over a summer vacation, in multi-colored marker, I crafted a story of a mine tragedy and the haunting of a town. While I heeded the risk aversion of my parents and did not pursue writing as a career, I knew in my heart that my calling was through words. Read more>>
Lisa Mitts
While I love songwriting, recording and performing just for the sake of the creativity and artistry itself, I started advocating for survivors of human trafficking by doing benefit concerts that were also opportunities to educate the community. My first benefit concert was back in June of 2012 having released a music video we produced specifically for this cause. The video (Where Has Love Gone?) was an original song I had written that year with R&B artist, Allen Stone right before he was signed to Capital Records. Read more>>
Sam Coombs
As someone who has overcome an earring disorder as well as been diagnosed with a chronic illness, body image has always been something I have struggled with. All of my work, especially my drawings & ceramic carvings are based on real bodies with the intention that it will help others be soft with themselves. My hope is that by pouring into & healing myself through art that I am able to spark some of that emotion in those who come in contact with it. Read more>>
Bethany Etgen
At age 50, I find my creative projects aren’t seen by me as “more” or “less” meaningful, but rather, all are meaningful in different ways. Some projects are meaningful to me personally, nobody else cares/knows/shapes these pursuits, only me, alone. Other projects I work on are for someone else – a gift, a need, a request. Read more>>
Legato White
Our service project, if you will, began organically during the height of the pandemic in 2020. In an effort to get out of the house for a bit during quarantine, 2 of our bandmates decided to roam the streets of their Tower Grove South neighborhood and play their instruments. A neighbor recorded them playing “Stand By Me”, posted it on Twitter and it went viral – amassing millions of views. That’s when we decided to put the entire band together and go out neighborhood by neighborhood throughout St Louis and spread joy through music. It warmed our hearts to be able to touch so many lives during such difficult time. The power of music was evident and therapeutic for them as well as for us. Read more>>
Nathalia
Our latest album Mil Colores feels like the most meaningful project at this time. Brian, my husband, co-writer/producer and I have been documenting our multicultural family and parenting experience in songs since 2012 when we released our first album. Mil Colores was created in the middle of the pandemic, when all our gigs and music contracts stopped, when we uprooted our family and moved across the country because the going got tough. Read more>>
Jenni Girtman
Several years ago I did a lot of photography work for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The prosthetics department needed updated marketing photography and we set up a session. These photos were so meaningful to me and I often think of the shoot and I still love the photographs. Several patients were scheduled, including a girl about 6 or 7 years old who had lost her legs in a lawn mower accident and lived in rural Georiga. She arrived in her Sunday best, including hat and was amazing with her legs. Read more>>
Aja Grant
My current project, free body, is my most meaningful project I have brought to life. My practice is pretty experimental and I am often utilizing artistic processes to learn about myself and verbalize different feelings and thoughts. Whether that is experimenting with mixed media or taking time to learn a new process, art serves as a communication tool for me. Read more>>
Rebecca Sabine Ramsey
I believe that beautiful music and meditation go together. Although I had the honor of performing with Celine Dion for 8 years and many other celebrities throughout my musical career as a professional violinist, my most meaningful project to me personally has been performing my own Violin Sound Sanctuary ® programs. I play my violin and guide meditations for people in a variety of settings; from yoga studios, luxury spas, spiritual centers, inner-city elementary schools, and nature retreats to meditations in concert and national conventions. Read more>>
Jarrett Michael Collins
I would say the most meaningful project I’ve worked on is “Willie’s Letter” written by Vanessa Westbrooke and Kiana Woodson. I play the title character Willie Lynch, A depressed, failure-ridden father who contemplates life while attempting to hold on to his silver lining: his son. It’s a powerful touching film that tells a needed story on a topic that is really important to not only myself but so many other people, which is Mental Health Awareness. Read more>>
Ale Medina
After 10 years of working for many record labels and recording studios, finally at the end of 2020 my producer Lib Danel and I reinvented an old project I started years before. I spoke to Lib Danel about starting our own record label, something I had tried in the past but without any luck. Lib Danel was on board with the idea and that’s how G-Traxx Musik was revamped. Read more>>
M.r. Fitzgerald
All of my projects are meaningful to me from the ones that I shared with the entire world to the ones that never saw the light of day. They’ve allowed me to exercise my creative muscles to explore what’s on my mind and put it on the page or the big screen. However, the most meaningful project that I’ve made thus far in my creative career is my latest short film, The Wolf. A few years ago at film school, I experienced severe trauma that sent me into a downward spiral of severe anxiety, depression, and PTSD that I just couldn’t escape. Read more>>
Imara Amour
My most meaningful project as for right now is my album “Pout it up” My whole purposed of the album is to lift people’s energy and make them want to get up from their seats and start dancing. I wanted to create songs to celebrate and experience a good time of feeling motivation and confidence. My album talks about different experiences I had but that could also relate to everyone. It also has a mix of Spanish lyrics in between songs because I want to represent who I am and have a blend of my cultures. Read more>>
Phase Meridian
One of the most meaningful projects we’ve worked on was definitely our first full length album titled “Grow. Decay. Transform.” It was a huge culmination of years of work together and the beginning of am amazing relationship with our producer, Erik Lamp of Treespeak Studios. Read more>>
Deyane Moses
The most meaningful project I have ever worked on is the Maryland Institute Black Archives (MIBA). I created this project during my undergraduate year at the Maryland Institue College of Art to uncover the erased history of the Black community at the institution. My research spanned 1826 to the present. It revealed the colleges’ racist past and uncovered some of the first students, graduates, and perspective artists. The culmination of my research, database, exhibition, and demonstration during Black History Month in 2019 prompted the school’s President to issue a letter of apology for the school’s racist past. Read more>>
Sierra Joy
As a personal stylist, I interact with people from all walks of life, from entrepreneurs to local actors looking to have their wardrobe match their personalities. One of the benefits of working with everyday people is you get to build honest relationships with clients that can spend years. The very first client I booked what a husband and wife duo who were both looking to update their wardrobe and in a way their life. They were the first clients to believe in me and my vision and worked with me through my growing pains as a new stylist. Read more>>
Dria Thornton
I was recently selected as the Houston Inspira Storyteller for Kashmere Gardens by the City of Houston Mayors Office of Cultural Affairs. I am charged with elevating the voice of the Kashmere and the Fifth Ward communities being affected by environmental injustice. Back in April I submitted a proposal to the city in correspondence with their Houston Inspira Project. I proposed as a creative, that I produce an original play or short film and title song highlighting generational health and speaking on behalf of the residents and filling in for that non existent voice of the children of these communities,. They are the ones who are ultimately the most affected in the future. Read more>>
Will Rodriguez
As with most people, Covid has a deep impact on my life. For me, it triggered a deep existential crisis that ended with a full-on mental breakdown and the ensuing search for answers. Read more>>
Karina Falcon
Right now I work in the most meaningful project as a Creatrix, The moon lodge or Carpa Lunar which is a studies center of the Native teachings and a path of decolonizing the soul by following the path of the heart. We’ve been giving online courses since 2013 and have in-person workshops around the world since 2016. We are now in a whole new chapter or season, we are dreaming the new world or paradigm. Read more>>
Ashlei Brianne
Currently working on a meaningful project/s. Engulfing myself in writings + pairing it with harmonies that flow from my mind. Looking forward to releasing new music + sharing something I love so much. Working on my latest single “Confession” reinforced the love I have for the creation process as well as sharing in it with everyone who’s path it may cross. Meaningful A.F. Grateful to be in this space I cultivate. Read more>>
Amanda Strauser
In 2021 I started volunteering as a photographer at the New Melle, Missouri farmer’s market. I went out on the weekend and took photos to help it get off the ground and have content for social media to highlight the participating vendors. The market has continued to grow each year. It’s important to me, because New Melle is home too me. It is my community and I want all the local farmers and makers to have a space that allows them to create and grow within the community. Read more>>
Alena Kononova
This story begins in September, exactly one month before my first big group exhibition in US. I decided that this time, I’ll create 5 new and unique pieces specifically for people who have chosen to start their October with our paintings at the exhibition in Austin. I wanted people to not regret that they came, I wanted to produce a natural wow effect on all the viewers of this show. Read more>>
Gina Franco
In 2018 I started a rotating mural project based in Greensboro North Carolina. I was driving downtown one day and saw a wall in a vacant lot on David st and I had an idea. I approached the property owner and told him my idea was to paint a mural every month on the wall. I started the project with the goal of transforming the walls into a photo destination wall. Every month the theme of the murals would change, creating an outdoor interactive public experience. Using my own money, I completed 14 different murals over 2 years and it was a huge success. Read more>>
Bryant Fleming
I have made projects before this upcoming one, but that was in a different name. But it would have to be my old self-titled album, which had a lot of vulnerability in it, and truth. I first started that project in the middle of covid, 2021 to be exact. After I just finished another project called Escape. And for this album I wanted to be open about who I am as a person, and also it was the year I officially came out to my parents, and a lot of love came out of that. But keeping my sexuality a secret, my hidden lies, started to fly as well, causing a little nudge in my life at that point. Read more>>
Damon Davis
The most fulfilling work I’ve ever done is hosting the “Who Am I Really?” podcast where I interview adopted people about their experience as and adoptee, and their attempts to find their biological family members. I’m adopted and I had several lived experiences that led me to launch the podcast. Read more>>
E J Carr
I lived in the West of Ireland in the mid 2000’s with my family. We made a change in scenery, in a sense, to regroup personally and professionally. I was taken by the people and the landscape and the sea, as they all have character and texture. Early on in our life there, I decided I wanted to shoot a series of images of the men of West Cork, Ireland. I saw a black and white collection of images that I would eventually show in a gallery. Read more>>
Ted Gambordella
The World’s Greatest Martial Artists….45 volumes honoring 4,500 Great Martial Artists around the World! Read more>>
Philetha Tucker
One of the most meaningful projects I have and am still working on is being the President of The Tampa Bay Juneteenth Coalition. In knowing the history of Juneteenth, which was a people who did not receive the message that they were freed from slavery after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation until two years later, it has been my desire to be a part of helping to restore and promote pride and honor to this people who have been abused, unfairly treated, and looked upon in humiliation as non-human beings. Read more>>