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.

Michael De La Torre

the most meaningful project I have ever worked on is our newest endeavor, the Jelly of the Month Club Music Academy. It is online cartoon music lessons for kids disguised as fun filled cartoon episodes complete with original songs about musical concepts like rhythm, notes, rest and scales. Over the last 10 years we have performed at schools all over California and seen first hand the decline in funding fo the arts in public schools. Read more>>

Josh Lewis

The most meaningful project I’ve had to work on is the Name/Birthstone Bracelet collection. Read more>>

Liene Bosquê

I’d like to believe that all of the projects I embark on are meaningful in one way or another, but whenever a project involves public participation, for me, its meaning multiplies. My project Collecting Impressions is such a case. It consists of socially engaged walks where the public is asked to actively engage with their surroundings. The project reflects on the complex relationship between cultural history, urban landscape, and its citizens. Read more>>

Sue Ryan

Perhaps the most meaningful project I’ve worked on was a request for my fine art relationship work for a family whose father had recently been diagnosed with a progressive, fatal illness. He wanted photographs of the family, and him and his boys individually while he was still in good shape. The session was amazing – they were all very irreverent and it was funny and joyful, not sad. The images we got were just beautiful, and I delivered large wall art portraits for them. Read more>>

Jojo Alderson

I Like to think that all my projects are meaningful. They are meaningful to me. My art lets me process thinking, evolve and be me. My goal is for the project to shine and reflect something of my essence or thinking at a certain time in my life. And to evoke something in the viewer. Something familiar, a question, an answer, excitement of beauty and/or inspiration. Read more>>

Keer Zhao

I have been fortunate to be deeply involved in a variety of creative endeavors, spanning interactive installations, AR/VR experiences, live performances, and virtual productions, leveraging my expertise in crafting 3D visuals using Cinema 4D and Unreal Engine. Read more>>

Adyera Robinson

The most meaningful project that I’ve worked on was my Senior Project for College. For that Project, I wanted to challenge myself in terms of finding models for the project and shooting in a setting that I’m less familiar with: studios. I adored how everything came together in the end and it is a project I’d like to continue in the future. Read more>>

Ramone Palmore

The edge of the Horizon a filmed directed my good friend Henry Liptov The film THE EDGE OF HORIZON,” I Play the Role of Dr. David Thornton a brilliant but morally compromised physician who finds himself trapped in a web of debt owed to a ruthless mafia. While he deeply loves his daughter, Sarah, he abuses his wife, Laura, pushing his family to the brink. Read more>>

Fundi Legohn

My most meaningful project was working as Performing Arts Director at Oxnard High School. I started teaching as a music educator in Los Angeles Unified Schools in 1980 and taught music at Bethune and Carver Jr High Schools and Jefferson High School. I had successful programs which led to many of my students becoming successful, thinking individuals and able contributors to society. Read more>>

Catherine Richardson

In 2019-2021 I was creating a body of visual work that was to showcase the minerals and elements extracted from our earth that are involved in the building of mobile phones. Our exhibition was held at The Seager Grey Gallery in Mill Valley California, July 2021, a significant venue. Our artist talk pulled in a large crowd. Read more>>

Kathleen Arthur

The most meaningful project worked on has to be Getting my name more known and as especially as a Designer and having it finally paying off and being seen so the whole world could know the importance of being humble and patiently waiting on that One opportunity to happen with God’s Grace accomplishing what he has in store and has already written that special path given just for me. Read more>>

Santhosh Ram Mavuri

I hail from a humble background, where my family has been engaged in the age-old trade of handloom sarees. While I nurtured a deep-seated dream of becoming a filmmaker, I took a daring leap of faith and journeyed to the bustling streets of LA, driven by an insatiable desire to unravel the intricacies of this craft. Yet, even in the glitzy world of Hollywood, my heart whispered the name of my hometown and the people I yearned to help. Read more>>

Marc Nieto

I spent awhile recording one-off tracks for myself for many years and I also helped many others record their songs as a producer and engineer. And I shadowed successful acts during my first time to Los Angeles. And at that point, I was inspired to record my own original music and release it as one cohesive and thoughtful package. Read more>>

Von Hubbard

There was a long period of time where I was just putting out albums and singles merely because I love the craft. From time to time I noticed I’d make a project to be performed or for commercial success. In all honesty it took the pandemic to help me refocus. Not having an avenue or outlet for creativity can be challenging. Read more>>

Juliet Lemar

In April 2020, a few blocks away from my apartment, I noticed a row of tents forming along the sidewalk outside the gate to the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus. This wasn’t a typical homeless encampment; it consisted of one row of 54 matching tents, each tent proudly displaying an American flag, and inside each tent was a Veteran. Read more>>

Ivana Bajic

I spent nearly 20 years as an event and film producer, enjoying a successful career with big studios and renowned contemporary artists. However, as time went on, I began to feel a sense of emptiness. I yearned to apply my knowledge and skills to something new and different, moving away from the repetitive and similar projects that had become routine. Read more>>

Yi Zhu

Whenever someone brings up meaningful projects, I immediately think of “Voxelated Vignettes” at Gong Gallery. It’s all about diving deep into life’s intricacies using pixelated art. Two pieces really stand out: the ‘dandelion’, capturing nature’s fleeting beauty, and the interactive ‘vending machine’ where visitors peel away stickers to reveal a unique narrative. Read more>>

Mengqiao (Esther) Zhang

My thesis film, which I’m currently working on, is the most meaningful project to me. It began not just as a script or an idea, but as a deeply personal journey. I always believed that stories are best told when they resonate with the storyteller, and this film was precisely that for me. Read more>>

Angelia Allen

The upcoming “Action Summit” in November 2023, which was sparked by the ‘Conversation Summit’ earlier this year which Allen is heavily invested in, aims to address critical issues facing the youth. With a focus on raising awareness and curbing violence in underserved Dallas communities, Angelia firmly believes in the power of leveraging influential platforms for social change. “Awareness is the first step towards a brighter future,” Allen stated. “If we possess the means to amplify the voices of those in need, then it’s our duty to do so.” Read more>>

Wendi Kai

The most meaningful project I worked on was in college. I was taking a letter press printmaking class. I had always wanted to try this seemingly archaic type of production. It was as tedious as I had expected, which has always steered me away from printmaking. I did enjoy the lead letters and the process though. Read more>>

C. H. Smith

My first published work, The Princess Knight, was purely a passion project. It served two main roles to help me in a time I needed a creative outlet, but also and more importantly, to honor children and their parents that are fighting against extremely tall odds. After the unexpected success of my debut, I thought to try and capitalize on my momentum and write a series “to market.” Read more>>

Naman Gupta

As artists, when we put something out there, whether we like it or not, we influence people and shape perspectives. So it almost becomes our responsibility to entice hope through our work or at the very least don’t squash it. The key being, to do it in an entertaining and commercial way. Read more>>

Chrysa Kovach

In August 2020, I began co-facilitating the Cochlear Implant (CI) Music Hour as part of my master’s degree program in Community Music at the University of Southern California. The CI Music Hour is an initiative of the USC Keck School of Medicine’s Bionic Ear Lab, which studies speech comprehension, pitch perception, music appreciation and the way sound signals are processed in cochlear implants. Read more>>

Nicole Porter

Calming a Panic, the second album produced by You and Us. Fun, upbeat kindie rock composed to bring children and families into the moment, all the while inspired by mass art therapy child trauma response across the United States. The songs are written to encourage freedom of expression and in the most playful form offer creative solutions for upset feelings. Read more>>

Kelly Takunda Orphan

The most significant project I’ve had the privilege to work on is the creation of the album, ‘Mafaro eZimbabwe,’ a collaboration between my band based here in the San Francisco Bay Area, California-The KTO Project- and 15 masterful musicians from Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo who we collaborated with in 5 different studios and three different countries. The title of the aalbum translates to “the joy of Zimbabwe” in the Shona language, and the album is set to be fully released on November 10th, with two singles already available. Read more>>

Andrea Alonge

I was asked to create a textile installation for Meta Open Arts to be installed in one of Meta’s employee headquarters. My work is centered in connection and relationships, especially within the context of the digital age. This request gave me a physical space for a tactile work that would be surrounded by people whose jobs entailed creating a digital space for connecting with others. Read more>>

Alexis McFate

As an artist, I love to infuse meaning into my projects to give extra texture and connectivity to the viewer. I believe that even when the meaning is not obviously spelled out, you can feel it there. Meaning enhances the emotion that we connect to within a piece of any style of art. When I design a tattoo I approach it the same way whenever the client allows for my input. Read more>>

Jamil Morgan

Brandy and I met through a mutual friend on set at Concrete Studios LA. I had been asked to style an artist for an upcoming shoot, and the artist was Brandy Haze. The process was seamless. Her and I then decided to exchange contact information, and soon scheduled a short meeting over coffee to simply speak about future projects. This is how I was hired to style Brandy Haze’s official music video, ‘Say Something’. Read more>>

Anthony Ortiz

Back in 2021, I worked on narrative music video project that was one of the most fulfilling and meaningful projects I’ve ever worked on. It was a music video for the industrial rock band Vertigo Shock for a song named “Without A Face”. Read more>>

Micah Bentley

My newest batch of songs I’ve been releasing have been some of the most meaningful so far. I attribute that to the hardship, vulnerability and presence these songs reflect from my recent life. Read more>>

Kecia Donnelly

My name is Kecia Felix Donnelly, but you’ll also know me as K Sea Ya, my artistic name. I was born and raised in Brazil and currently live primarily in California. As an interdisciplinary artist with a solid foundation in performance art, I focused on self-investigation and transformation in the social field through conscious individuals. Read more>>

Susan Eisner Eley

One of the most meaningful projects I have ever worked on is an installation called “Wordfall” by Francie Hester, created for the lobby of the Josie Robertson Surgery Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering, NYC. “Wordfall” was created by Francie and her studio mate Lisa Hill to commemorate Brendan Ogg, who passed away from a brain tumor at the age of 20. In the face of his illness, Brendan wrote a collection of poetry entitled “Summer Becomes Absurd,” which reveals the energy of youth, the wisdom of one who has met and acknowledged mortality, and an embrace and celebration of life. Read more>>

Annie Pisapia

There are 2 projects that jump right out for me. Fresh Kills director Jennifer Esposito and Whos Annie director Sophia Peer. Both I met randomly and both wound up to be huge for me. I met Miss Esposito on Instagram yes. She in boxed me and started following me back and one day i get a text. I have a role for you in my film. It was during the pandemic. Read more>>

David Levine

During my 40-year career as a marketing consultant in the drum industry I’ve been very fortunate to work on several projects that I (along with most drummers) consider game changers: the development of percussion education and diversity, the plastic drumhead, the double bass drum pedal and electronic drums. However, the most meaningful project for me— and the one I feel has had the biggest impact on others— has been Hit Like A Girl. Read more>>

Courtney E Gardner

Healing Arts while I was a museum Director in Virginia. We provided art therapy for veterans at the Hampton VA Hospital in patient PTSD unit. Our program was invited to be a part of Creative Forces, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and the Department of Defense. Creative Forces was evaluated. Read more>>

Nehemy Manigat

The project that holds a special place in my heart is “S E C U R I T Y.” Although this project has yet to be realized in its entirety, is in motion and carries a profound meaning for me. It represents a significant shift in the focus of my artistry and the utilization of my platform for a greater purpose. Read more>>

Fran Siegel

Residency fellowships have become essential for the evolution of several meaningful drawing projects. As these elaborate installations evolve over time and engage in-depth research, I aim to understand specific locations within a historical and cultural context. Read more>>

Norry Niven

As a commercial Director, the Super Bowl is an important stage where upon one likes to exhibit one’s work. During my long career, the Super Bowl commercials seem to be the ones by talk about the most. A few years back I got six commercials on the Super Bowl for the same client. that client happened to be Fox, the network where the Super Bowl was being broadcast. Read more>>

Samuel Nalangira

I had the opportunity to be a part of a project called Dance of Hope where young kids from the street were given the chance to have a better life. They were given structure, routine, education and food. This program was specifically to teach them music and give them skills to do something in their life when they grew up. I choreographed all of our productions and taught them how to drum, dance and play Ugandan traditional instruments. Read more>>

Angie Who

I was a shy kid who secretly dreamed of performing. I had this book about a ballerina and I studied the page where her reflections in a mirrored studio went on and on. I wanted to move like that. I did some ballet classes as a child, my mum called me her fairy elephant. My sister got head shots and an agent at one point, she went to auditions and classes. I was too shy to even suggest how much I would love that kind of opportunity. Read more>>

Mary Rose Deraco

I worked on a series of paintings in solidarity with struggling with inequalities, discrimination and abuse. movement. The series was entitled “The Truth is My Name” and was a symbolic depiction of the surprised unraveling of subconscious memories sparked by the #Metoo movement and the Dobb’s decision. A pervasive culture of gender discrimination, the disenfranchising of women’s reproductive rights and decades of hidden societal patriarchal norms, have inspired survivors to speak out, tell their stories and fight for justice. Read more>>