We asked some of the most talented folks in the community to talk to us about projects they’ve worked on that they still think about, projects that really meant something. Have you had such an experience? Are you looking for inspiration for your next project? Check out the stories below, they are exciting, entertaining, and most importantly – inspiring.

Austin Joseph

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on—and continue to work on—is my own career. I’m a proud survivor of brain cancer. Just two years ago, I couldn’t do anything on my own: I couldn’t speak, eat, walk, or even breathe without help. Read more>>

Meesha Goldberg

One of my more meaningful projects was “Equilibrium Rites” in 2016, a six-woman hundred-mile walk through part of California’s blossoming million-acre almond monoculture as 80 billion bees were brought in to pollinate. My friends and I crafted this performance to bear witness to this harmful agricultural practice, speak directly to farmers and beekeepers along the long rural roads, and honor our interdependence with this precious pollinator. Dressed in golden robes in the middle of nowhere, we were a surreal sight. It was a hard five day journey but we were able to realize an artwork entangled in the world, created through the body and the land, and done with a lot of love. The project culminated in a gallery show of paintings, a short film, and photography by James Stark at The Hive Gallery in LA. Read more>>

Samantha Ambler

The most meaningful project I ever worked on was Steel Magnolias in 2023. My husband had passed away a little over a year before, and I was finding it difficult to be an only parent and find time for theater. I took a chance and auditioned and landed the dream role of M’Lynn. I found myself amongst the most wonderful women I have encountered in the arts. I had a director that checked in with me nightly, to ask “you’re sure you want to open this wound for everyone to see?”, as I processed my grief on stage. And I had five women, with no egos, no competition, just pure support and love. That production was the most meaningful to me because of those women. When the show was over I knew I wasn’t ready to let go of them. Read more>>

Milād Ahmadi

It’s difficult to single out one project as most meaningful, as all creative endeavors help weave the greater fabric of my work: an effort to uplift my community, create a space for feeling, healing and belonging. Rangārang NYC, “the first of its kind Persian lip-sync battle extravaganza” where you get to “watch and/or be the show” is one such example. Read more>>

Sue McGaughey

Two years ago I suddenly came down with and was diagnosed with Tinnitus and Hyperacusis along with moderate hearing loss in one ear. The first 4 to 6 months were agonizing. I was afraid of the unknown, developed anxiety and thought life as I knew it was completely over. When you live with tinnitus it’s very difficult to go to movie theaters, concerts, loud gyms or any environment that is very loud. I was very sad because I loved going to the movies and writing reviews. I felt my behavior shifting into a slight depression. Read more>>

Leslie Lefferdink

I created my “Breath Is Life” series, nine monotypes, in Spring 2022. The seeds of this series started months earlier when I discovered that a certain shape kept coming up in my sketches. The shape is simply what flowed out of my hand. I wanted to explore playing with the flower-like shape, using a variety of colors and marks. Creating this collection was something brand new for me. So many decisions needed to be made for each piece.  Read more>>

Nino Mayores

The most meaningful show I’ve done was for my close friend—like a brother to me—Ryan Manalili. On August 3rd, 2024, he had his EP release show, which he had been preparing for months. It meant a lot for several reasons: I had only just started DJing and wasn’t very consistent yet, but he still asked me to DJ the whole event. The lineup was made up of our closest friends, and we got to perform for our friends and family. It was a special night all around. Read more>>

Tong Zhang

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on so far is I Love You The Most, which was also my first experience working on a theatrical feature film. I joined the project as a producer’s assistant, and over the course of three months of prep and shooting, I got to be involved in almost every stage of the process. It was a huge learning experience that gave me a much deeper understanding of how commercial films are made, and it really marked my transition from student short films to professional feature productions. Read more>>

Birdie Busch

To be honest, I work in such a variety of projects that they all carry different deep meanings to me. But I would love to highlight a project I just wrapped on as a lead artist that is ongoing in Philadelphia. The project is called Our Market, and it is a community-centered, multi-layered, multi-year public art project created and led by local artist Michelle Angela Ortiz. The project was developed in April 2019. “Our Market” is focused on supporting the (im)migrant vendors, business owners, and neighbors that work and reside in the 9th Street Market, the artist’s home for 40+ years. The Project invests in the 9th Street Market by offering creative community strategies to tackle the issues of gentrification, racism, displacement, and erasure. Read more>>

Andy Yoder

Several years ago I was invited to do an installation for CulturalDC’s Mobile Art Gallery. It’s a converted shipping container that’s placed in locations around the city to broaden the audience for contemporary art. In my research I came across “The Great Shoe Spill of 1990,” in which a container ship dumped 80,000 Nikes into the Pacific during a storm. Luckily they floated, and a network of beachcombers developed to wash, match and resell them as they washed ashore. An oceanographer heard about this and collaborated with the beachcombers to create data, leading to important studies of the ocean’s currents. Read more>>

Lenworth Johnson

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is a portrait series titled “Faces,” which explores the complexity and quiet strength found in the human face. As a photographer, I’ve always believed the camera isn’t just a tool for capturing beauty — it’s a bridge between how someone sees themselves and how they want to be seen. This project challenged and affirmed that belief in the most powerful way. Read more>>

Jason “The Vern” Hemming

One of my favorite things growing up was listing to story book records and cassettes. For anyone younger than 35, cassettes were those things you saw mentioned in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie and even that is dating myself quite a bit for that reference. Before I saw movies like Gremlins and Ghostbusters, or watched episodes of Star Trek or Scooby -Doo. I was heavily into listening to audio book adaptations of these classics. These shortened versions usually had a narrator and sometimes the voice actors didn’t match the original actors, but they made my imagination soar. Afterward I started listening to more full audio dramas from the past, including episodes of Burns and Allen, The Shadow and the classic War of the Worlds. Read more>>

Yinwen “Wendy” Mu

Being a trailer editor for AAA top video game companies around the world, such as Lost Ark (Amazon Games), Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile (Activision), EAFC Sports, and Fall Guys (Epic Games), is always a challenge and having a lot of fun. There are many projects which are very meaningful to me, so I have to talk about a few. Read more>>

Caitlin Albritton

All of my figurative inlay jewelry pieces hold a special place in my heart since they are all woven with personal stories of growing up in Florida and growing out of personal struggles, but my recent Lake House Collection of jewelry is the most meaningful to me. Read more>>

Hunter Hart

I recently had a project called “Beyond Broadway” that was published in The Raw Society magazine. In Nashville, Tennessee, a city buzzing with music and tourism, an oversupply of musicians and underpayment by venues have made it difficult for artists to sustain themselves. Country artist Jacob Morris highlights the disconnect between the value live music brings and the minimal compensation musicians receive. Many artists, like Jacob, adopt stage personas to stand out in the competitive scene, navigating both personal identity and public performance. Read more>>

Devisha Johnson

What started as a mother’s mission to help her daughter feel confident in her own skin has turned into something so much greater. I created AutistRae in honor of my daughter Raelynn—my vibrant, fashion-loving little girl who just so happens to be autistic. Watching her light up when she dresses herself, chooses her favorite colors, and expresses her unique personality through fashion made me realize how many other kids like her are out there—kids who deserve to feel seen, comfortable, and celebrated. AutistRae was born to meet that need. It’s more than just a clothing line—it’s a movement rooted in love, inclusion, and purpose. Read more>>

Arnon Shorr

As Jewish American Heritage Month kicks off every year, I get an opportunity to reflect on a pair of personal milestones. On May 1, 2022, my first graphic novel was published by Kar-Ben Publishing. And on May 2, 2017, the short film on which it was based premiered at the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival. Read more>>

Michele Moore

While all my creations hold a special place, the ‘Kevin’ hermit crab sculptures have evolved into a particularly meaningful project for me. It began with a simple fascination with the resilience of hermit crabs and their ingenious use of borrowed shells. This sparked a whimsical idea: what if I could offer them a new kind of ‘home’ crafted from bone, the very essence of a creature’s internal structure? Simply put, what they are NOT made of. Hermit have no bones you say? They do now! Well, at least, I create them that way. Read more>>

Sandra Ramos

For 30 years, my artwork has aimed to create a visually significant and meaningful participatory experience for audiences worldwide. In my installations, paintings, prints, and animations, I highlight the relationship between the historical, economic, and sociopolitical contexts that provoke migratory waves affecting the world, demonstrating how these circumstances impact and reshape individuals’ destinies. Read more>>

Angie Benitez

I’ve worked on many projects as a multi-disciplinary artist. One of my consistent gigs since graduating from Salem State University in 2018 has been dance education. This past year, through a Cambridge-based dance collective I co-founded, The Click, I have been able to explore the intersection of my passion as a dance-maker and a dance-teacher through leading a program called “The Repertory Experience” for adults of all ages, all genders, and all experiences. Read more>>

Michael John Fuller

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my film, “Breakthrough”, which I wrote, produced, and starred in. Set during World War II, it tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a Jewish American soldier and a young German boy soldier — a story of humanity amidst inhumanity. Read more>>

Eric Tsai

In January of this year, I embarked on the biggest undertaking I’ve been involved with up to this point in my career: co-creating SPIRITUS, a chamber music festival in Long Island. The initial inspiration was simple; I wanted to create an opportunity for world-class music-making and meaningful social interaction to collide in a concentrated sphere of performance and festivities. Something bigger than a concert – more than just a gathering – a real weeklong celebration of chamber music in a community where it would be able to bring visible artistic impact. I hatched the idea with two other colleagues, and we began working together on this formidable task. Read more>>

Alison Brynn Ross

Over the past few years I have been lucky enough to shift my focus from just creating artwork to finding ways to support community connection and creativity. Through this shift I have the opportunity to work on a lot of projects that I consider meaningful, and are hopefully meaningful to the communities I work with. Read more>>

Krystal Michelle Mural Studio Krystal Maynor

Many of my projects have been meaningful in different ways. The client that I am working for currently is a client that I have painted for several times. He is also an artist and appreciates the value of creative expression. With each mural, he never micromanages or gives a lot of direction. He simply shares a general vision and then gives me the space to interpret it through my own artistic lens. It’s hard to express just how consequential this is. Read more>>

David Brown

Disconnected Realities is hands down the most meaningful project I’ve ever worked on because it came from a place of frustration, truth, and heart. I was sick of how people treat each other. The lack of compassion, the constant judgment, the way we’ve stopped truly listening—it’s like empathy and basic decency are becoming rare. Read more>>

Sarah Devoti

One of my most impactful projects has been my recent collaboration with a photographer friend to establish a Femme Creatives Meet Up. This event turned into the creative, inspiring networking opportunity I envisioned when I first entered the photography world. My journey began in 2015, in an industry largely dominated by men, with gear and styles that didn’t align with my vision or capabilities. It felt like a lengthy journey to build my confidence gradually and eventually develop a strong, supportive creative community during my college years. After graduating in 2021, I returned to my hometown, grappling with a familiar narrative while contemplating the best path forward. Read more>>

Janay Bridges

My first novel. last Train Home, has been one of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on. Not only did it teach me the importance of discipline to bring a dream to life, it also showed how capable I was of making something from nothing. I had an idea, that’s it. I learned how to plot, develop characters, and how to self-publish a book. Apart from that, it was meaningful because it was written as a love letter to my younger self. The main character was inspired by the beliefs I held in my early college years and the characters were drawn from significant people who shaped my life in my formative years. Read more>>

Taizhi Chen

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my senior thesis: painting over 240 portraits of Auschwitz prisoners on bricks and placing them throughout Manhattan, from 1st Street to 220th Street. I spent 11 months on this project. The inspiration came during the summer before my senior year, when I read Auschwitz: A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account. I remember one afternoon in particular when I was completely shaken by what I read. It haunted me for months. Eventually, I decided to dedicate my senior year to creating a project that honored the memory of Auschwitz victims. Read more>>

Renata Bosnjak

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on was Face of Happiness, a collaboration with Dr. Tatsiana Razzhavaikina. The event invited people to explore happiness through metaphorical images, with my portraits being at the heart of it. It wasn’t therapy, but it had a therapeutic effect—creating a space for reflection, connection, and personal insight. Read more>>

Julia VanderVeen

I am currently in creation of my second solo show called “Dentata.” It is about female ferocity, rage and pleasure. I got the idea last summer but I soon realized that the idea had actually been calling to me for a few years. A year or so ago, I yelled at some male collaborators for not holding space for the women in the room, and something broke free in me. I realized how angry I was and how tired I was of swallowing that anger. As soon as I got the idea to make a solo show about misunderstood mythical female characters throughout history, or “Dentata”, the show has been knocking inside of me and begging to be made. Read more>>

Karolina Kwaśniak

A recent meaningful project I worked on was an original opera-theater piece “Umbra” composed by Elliot Menard and directed by Héctor Alvarez. It was a special project for me, because I was able to combine my acting, singing and movement skills in one performance. Read more>>

Weiyi Chen

The most meaningful project for me is an ongoing fiber-based series named “Linger”, it explores the power dynamics embedded in the mother-daughter relationship. For me, this project represents a transformation point: the moment I began to look inward as both an artist and an individual, and trying to explore my inner self with memory, emotion, and identity. Read more>>

Juannean Young

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on is actually still in development—but it’s already been life-changing. It’s a creative system I’ve been building that brings together design thinking, data insights, and intuitive alignment to help creatives move from scattered ideas to structured, purpose-driven action. Read more>>

Lilian Li

When I had the opportunity to pitch a book idea to a small publisher, I knew I wanted to write a story between a grandmother and a girl, split by generations and language barriers, that could help me deal with my homesickness and relationship with my family. Read more>>

Caitlin Bodewitz

I care a great deal about the natural world. From an early age, respect and admiration for the wilderness was cultivated through my unique upbringing of being raised in a small remote mountain community in northern British Columbia, Canada. Read more>>

A G

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is F8;(FATE MAGAZINE), a yearly magazine I created to recap all of my work from the year. It started as a personal archive—a way to document the creative highs, standout collaborations, and the overall journey I was on. But as I dove deeper into building it, F8 took on a life of its own. It became more than just a recap; it became a time capsule. Read more>>

Marica Petrey

One of my most personal and most meaningful project is the current album that I’m finishing up right now, “Chrysanthemum.” It is my 2nd LP as “Girl Swallows Nightingale.” Out of all the work I’ve ever made – this album is the closest to my heart. It is inspired by my own journey with grief, sudden death of a parent and loss of close friends, the video game Gris, and a handful of my favorite Japanese ghost stories. It’s my sonic expression of what makes the heart beat, what makes the heart break, and how we heal and repeat that cycle. I’ve been working tirelessly on this record, fully producing and arranging it myself, which is a new step for me technically as a musician. Read more>>

George Hage

Any project were I get to stretch myself creatively and put as much of myself into the work is meaningful. I love when the person I’m working with is able to put their trust in me and sometimes even pull things out of me creatively that I wasn’t expecting. I’ve recently had a lot of fun exploring and pushing how I use clouds in my designs. I’ve been able to create some fun designs with Band Together for a special event shirt and backdrop and with Red Hat Amphitheater for their annual 2024 event poster, both featuring clouds prominently. Read more>>

Chad Westover

My background—academically and professionally—has always centered around scientific and technical imaging. I’ve worked with thermal cameras in laboratories, captured high-speed video for research and engineering education, and leaned over a beating heart with a macro lens in an operating room. These are the kinds of projects that excite me: precise, technical, and deeply purposeful. Read more>>

Rebecca Johnson

Many of my portraits are memorial portraits for pets who have passed away. It is blessing to be able to create a meaningful way to remember these beloved members of the family! Read more>>

Philip Fico

The Primordial Resurgence series has been a passion project of mine for the last 7 years. Paleontology has been a special interest of mine since I was a child. Even as I worked my way through college and veterinary school, I found myself always coming back to dinosaurs. I never stopped keeping up with all of the new discoveries and studies in paleontology, even after I got into clinical practice. Occasionally, I would have an experience with a patient and find myself thinking ‘how would this play out with a dinosaur?’ These daydreams eventually turned themselves into a story and became my science fiction series, ‘Primordial Resurgence.’ Read more>>

Craig Collins

My two most meaningful projects were working with two interior designers in NYC. One apartment was a penthouse in Union Square, the other was a beautiful place in Greenwich Village. i hadn’t worked with any designers before so it was challenging, but quite enjoyable . Both clients loved all of the pieces and were still in touch today. Read more>>