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.

Michelle Janas

I have been so fortunate to have been chosen to work on so many meaningful pieces over the years, but perhaps one of the most meaningful and challenging pieces to date, was a ceremonial piece for a wedding. The couple reached out to me during the height of the pandemic not sure when or if they would be able to set a date for their big day, but they knew they wanted to commemorate the day with a meaningful piece. Read more>>

Gosia Machaczka

I would consider my ongoing project HOLLOW the most meaningful so far. I have done different photography projects throughout the years, everything from product photography, talent portraits, events to music photography where I was taking pictures of some of the biggest acts there are at Bravalla festival and Sweden Rock Festival – two of the biggest Swedish music festivals. But none of them has been as personal as HOLLOW. Read more>>

Dana Richardson

I entered the field of art education thinking I needed a job to support my artmaking, but something else happened. Several years after getting a BFA in painting, I decided I needed a secure job. I found out that I was not the type of person who could be uncertain of finances and be happily creative. You have to accept the type of person you are. I began teaching art at a high school. I didn’t want to quit making art, and I felt that going into art education wasn’t quitting, Read more>>

Jolí McTerrell

As a creative director, I have the opportunity to do something special in the world of art – create a new visual narrative with my people about us — what gives us joy, brings us pain, fills us with love. Joining BlkArthouse was truly a life-changing pivot in my life. I was different. I was becoming and I wanted my profession to reflect this journey I was on as a Black woman curating this new life. For the first time, i felt like I was home. I was in my element, I was able to merge all the beautiful things that made me Joli. Read more>>

Tilly Dewey

I’ve always been a maker of sorts as long as I can remember. A maker in design school, a maker in work, a maker in my personal and home life. After design school I began my career as an Interior Designer working for an architecture firm in SLC that I had aniticapted being with for some time. During my lunch break on a usual day I felt really nauseas which was so unlike me, I went to the nearest grocery story and picked up a pregnancy test. I was pregnant… Read more>>

Tenille Blair-Neff

Each body of creative work is the most meaningful at the time that I am working on it. Each series or solo exhibit in my life has reflected a different stage of my emotional development. My first exhibit “Menagerie of the Imago” was influenced by the Tennessee Williams play The Glass Menagerie. I was in my early twenties and having my first adult experiences. It was a time of emergence and identity formation. Read more>>

Lori Fairchild

My most meaningful project has been my Buddy and Panda mystery series for children. My younger daughter came to us at age 5 and announced that she wanted to play ice hockey even though she had never been on skates or seen a game in person. She had seen it on TV and seen pictures of my brother playing when he was a kid. We looked into it and discovered there were no girls’ hockey teams for kids her age, so she would have to play with the boys. Read more>>

Jacob Daley

I have been working on an ongoing series titled “Vignettes of Joy,” where I create mini-portraits of notable people such as Lizzo, Rod (TikToker – @justme.rod), Shania Twain, KallMeKris (TikToker), Alexandria Ocascio-Cortez and more. This series highlights and pays tribute to those using their influence to spread joy and positivity in times of distress and darkness. My art style is a unique, captivating method using a modern twist on the centuries-old technique of stippling or the sole use of dots. Read more>>

Diamond Elyse

I’m in the process of creating my first album and this has been the most meaningful project I’ve worked on by far. I started writing for it during this weird time of my life, so I wanted to be intentional about the message of the album and what I chose to write about. It’s really special to me. Read more>>

Tony Artemisia

The most meaningful project I feel I’ve worked on thus far was a small collection of works titled “Silent Screams”. The Silent Screams project detailed the feeling of overwhelm, anxiety, and alarm that is caused by the surplus of stimuli from a world that is faster paced than we are evolved to handle. This concept is very important to me as I feel it is deeply felt by myself on a constant basis and I feel it is harming most people without their knowledge. Read more>>

Derrick De-Mond

Wes Diego is probably the most meaningful project that I’ve worked on to date. It’s a full feature film that was filmed in 2022 and will be going to streaming sites in April of 2023. (shoutout 360 Film Group) There was just so much that went into this project from beginning to end. There were also some major setbacks that we faced making the film but collectively we overcame every obstacle, big and small. (mostly big). Read more>>

Jojit Roy

I think the most meaningful project we’ve ever worked on is our “Life Of Vibes: A Celebration of Life” charity event. I have been able to partner and work with many individuals and organizations on putting on charity streams and events. The reason why that event hits home is because it was one of the first charities streams we were all able to do in-person since covid had taken over. Read more>>

Sarah Saturday

The project I’m getting ready to release this year is by far my most meaningful work to-date. But shouldn’t that always be the case? I hope that each new release is always my best, biggest effort in my career so far. This one, “Voyage: A Live Visual Album,” is the culmination of a lot of lessons — both creative and professional — that I have learned since my last visual album came out in 2015. Between then and now, I released a short performance piece to accompany the single I put out in 2019 called “Absence of Me,” which is where a lot of the seeds were planted for Voyage. Read more>>

bianca Bianca M Romero

I have two. one is the “spread love stop asian hate” mural thats in lower east side. being korean and spanish and growing up in east village originally I felt very affected by the rise in hate crimes during the pandemic and it reminded me there that wasnt any representation for the aapi community for me growing up so I sought out to paint a mural and take up space (literally and figuratively” for the asian community. Read more>>

Amanda Wood

What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on? Tell us the backstory so we understand circumstances/context and why it’s meaningful to you. Looking around and talking to people I know, it seems EVERYONE could use a little (or a lot) more positivity in their lives. Studies show, positive art in your space can lift your mood and set the tone of your day. Like an emotional touch-stone, it’s a reminder of the positive, beautiful things around us, beckoning people into a calmer gentler state of mind. Read more>>

NeptuneMuse

My most recent release “Heatwave” which premiered on December 2nd, 2022 was so special to me in it being my first fully hands-on project. The process began six months before the release in my sketchbook with my storyboards. I’ve had the song completed since the spring of 2021 but had been holding onto it because I had just finished my promotional period for “Jungle Flame” and decided to rest as I felt very burnt out from being in school. Read more>>

Katie, Ben, Zeki DeMatteis, MartinMooney, Alikaya

When the three of us started streaming, we knew we wanted to create a space that was inclusive, creative, and collaborative. The biggest project we have undertaken thus far is Mitra—our home-brew, system agnostic world that is being built as we stream. While the three of us came up with the initial lore, our plan was always to allow the community to build with us. Read more>>

Melissa Campbell

The most meaningful project I’ve created is my first children’s book, Maggie and the Magnifying Glass. I’ve always been a writer. I have boxes of poems that I’ve written since I was a child, but I never did anything with them. In 2017, I had a story come to me one day. I grabbed a piece of paper and started writing it down verse by verse. When I would write each verse, I would read them individually to my 2 boys. Read more>>

Angelita Itzanami Andrade

The most meaningful project I worked on has been SER. The first show, I presented as an independent choreographer. SER was meaningful to me because it revealed a part of my soul, dedicated to Fabricio Torres and mi abuelito, Arturo Andrade. Read more>>

Tom Sys

An artist always has a special connection with the pieces they have created. It’s their little baby that they bring from start to finish. I’m incredibly proud of some of the productions I’ve brought to the screen or to the stage, but there was one experience in particular that has been the pinnacle of my acting work so far. Only a couple months ago I played Colin in the devised theater production of Dominique Morisseau’s “Blood At The Root”. Read more>>

Catalina Gomez-Beuth

“Resilience in Times of Resistance” was an introspective art exhibit that recounted a time we never thought we’d live through (pandemic time). The silent, abstract days we hoped would go by quickly pierced into our essence as social creatures, compelling us to look deep within ourselves. Seeing children go through these times that defied explanation inspired me to create a series of paintings that show us the quiet, Read more>>

Amanda Christine

In 2022 I was called to start creating adornment jewelry dedicated to and influences by Goddess Mythology. Handmade pieces that are curated to hold the power and energy of individual Goddesses. How it happened was just a knowing. I was doing my usual reading on different Goddesses and going down the rabbit hole. And I came to this understanding of how powerful the jewelry we wear can be and should be. Read more>>

Duncan Vinje

I’m fortunate to have worked in several bands outside of my own endeavors over the years. Each experience was rich with lessons and chances to cut my teeth. With that, it’s hard to pin one down as being more “meaningful” than the other. However, my time with Radda Radda proved to put everything I knew about musicianship to the test. Read more>>

Arielle Morgan

I’ve worked on so many meaningful projects with so many meaningful people. A project that I hold super close to my heart is “Lexi & Annie.” This was directed by Carlie Raymond and written by Teagan Trace. It’s based on the importance of mental health. Mental Health is a topic that I’m extremely passionate about. I don’t struggle with depression as much anymore, but I definitely still struggle with the thoughts of it. I have so much empathy and understanding for someone who may be dealing with anything mentally. I still thank the amazing crew for the opportunity to just be present during filming. Read more>>

Charlie T. Savage

I have three extremely meaningful projects that I’m currently working on. URIEL a drama series is the flagship project for Nikky Production, a company founded by my business partner Norma Diana Stantion and I in 2022. The project centers around a young mortician with a rare skin condition that sends people into anaphylactic shock. She searches for ways to deal with her loneliness throughout the series while also dealing with the death of a close friend that she unintentionally caused. Read more>>

Cartier Lopez

There’s so many ways to express creativity and allow people to understand you through your art work. As a Influencer, it’s important to me that I share some of my personal values with everyone. This is how I connect with people, grow my audience, and connect with my media family! Read more>>

DJ Shannell B. (Baynard)

The most meaningful project began for me In 2020 when the pandemic began. The world changed for myself as a dj. by 2020. I was well known to the Baltimore and Washington dc area as a mobile dj and karaoke host. However, when the pandemic began, I was able to expand my client base to additional people, businesses and non profits due to becoming global through online portals such as facebook, zoom, periscope, instagram and twitch. Read more>>

Gabrielle Ortiz

One of my most meaningful projects was a photoset I did inspired by one of my good friends, CJ Martires. CJ has always been in my life since I was born and I genuinely think she is one of the strongest people I know. You know those people who will take anything bad that has come their way and somehow still hold their head up high? That was CJ to me. She is someone who I’ve grown up with and I have seen her grown up to be such a resilient and inspiring woman. Read more>>

Jennifer Hasegawa

It’s funny because my first response was, without a doubt, my first book of poetry, “La Chica’s Field Guide to Banzai Living” (https://www.amazon.com/Chicas-Field-Guide-Banzai Living/dp/1632430789). It was my life’s goal to publish a book of poetry. But as soon as I had the thought, I realized that the most meaningful project would have to be the Kau Kau Chronicles (https://www.kaukauchronicles.org/) – because it is a project that addresses a need beyond my own personal creative goals. Read more>>

N’ova J

My most meaningful project to date would have to be my debut EP, “GROUNDED”. This project represents a time of self discovery and putting myself out into the world with more godfidence than before. I have been singing my entire life but just released my first song in 2022 along with this project. It is the foundation for the rest of my music career! Read more>>

Te’Ann Smith

As a professional with over 13 years of experience in the culinary industry, I have had the opportunity to experience both the glamour of sharing my culinary skills and the deprivation of resources and assistance. My family instilled in me the importance of helping those in need, as we never know when we may find ourselves in a similar situation. Read more>>