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.

Ábi

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my current 3-part EP, titled after my Artist name, ábi. This project has been transformative for me on both a personal and professional level. Backstory: For years, I was the lead singer in a band, which was a fulfilling experience in its own right, but I found myself at a crossroads. I began to feel the need to rethink my Artist identity and explore what it would mean to transition from being part of a group to standing alone as a solo artist. This shift wasn’t just about the music; it was about finding my voice and understanding who I am as an individual artist. Read more>>

Abigail Bruley

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on and continue to work on is the fictional world I’ve created based upon the many challenges and steps through assimilating to life after a brain injury. The original story, starring my main character “Main” has been a feature script, three short films, and a pilot for a contained series. When I first started, I was hiding behind the fact that the character “looked normal but acted weird” and never actually wrote outright that she was cognitively disabled because I didn’t have the guts to back up featuring a character that have never been authentically featured before. Read more>>

Adrienne Lacava

Writing fiction with historical events as the backdrop has fed my fascination with history and inspired my wish to invent plots with vivid characters caught up in real life struggles. I am a lifelong fan of crime fiction and unsolved mysteries, and because I live in Dallas, a trip to the Sixth Floor Museum inspired me to dig into the American myth of Camelot. I remember watching its violent, mysterious end play out on TV as a kid. Granted, I had to learn about the glamorous world of Camelot, but I knew rural Texas, and I invented a family trapped in the crosshairs of a coverup operation after the president was slain. Read more>>

Amber Mari

If i’m completely honest, the most meaningful project I’ve ever worked on, has been myself. Not anyone else’s idea. Not anyone else’s dream. My inner growth and own personal creative ideas truthfully takes the cake above all. While it feels amazing to help other people’s visions come to life through Special Effects Makeup, at the end of the day, that is their precious creative idea. Which is AWESOME that i’ve had the opportunity to work with amazing artists and help make the impossible, possible for them. Read more>>

Analia Farfan

A composer from Sicily asked me to create a ballet on his music and suddenly a friend told me his best friend passed away from Lupus disease, and she felt devastated as he was her mentor and his true friend, I immediately felt it was the perfect match for the music, originally the name of the music was “Ave Maria” so I kept the name as the original. Read more>>

Angelina Foster

“A Little Book of Brigid” has been my most meaningful project to date and its purpose and message is still growing. 2024 marks 1500 years since the death of St. Brigid of Kildare in Ireland. A Little Book of Brigid initially started small through an open call in 2023, asking writers to respond by submitting short poems which represented Brigid as every ordinary woman. We received 160 entries from all over the world, 28 poems were selected but this was only the beginning. Read more>>

Ann Morgan

My painting series Once When I Was You has been an ongoing project since early 2023, when I began looking forward to shows at the Center for the Arts Crested Butte in March of this year, and at The Art Base in Basalt, CO, which opens on November 15. Creating art is always a meaningful, intimate, expressive process for me and something I do with my entire heart – and, since I paint so large – physically, too. This series is especially meaningful as I’ve worked on it leading up to and after my fiftieth birthday. Read more>>

Carolyn King

I am currently working with staff, clients and care-givers to design and facilitate the creation of ten visual art pieces for installation in a loooong hallway of the administration building for United Cerebral Palsy of Southern Arizona. This project weaves together several threads of deeply held values for me. As a young person, I studied visual art in Central Mexico. During those formative years, I experienced the power of ‘el taller’ where artists & artisans create together. This is Value #1; the foundation of our project at UCP. Read more>>

Catherine Black

I have been blessed to have quite a few meaningful projects behind me. Of course, even the worst productions have meaningful lessons attached to them if you dare to learn from the experience – which I always strive to do. However, the most meaningful project I’ve ever worked on was my first film as a director-writer-actor; De Puta Madre a Love Story, which went into production 12 years ago. Read more>>

Charlie Sub

The formation of our indie rock band Charlie Sub & Sound Dogs is among the most meaningful things I have ever done. Not only is it the embodiment of a lifetime dream of mine, but each performance is a tribute to a family legacy and the indomitable spirit of 1970s rock. I am the proud product of an immigrant family who came to New York. They landed in the Bronx to escape the Holocaust in Europe and were driven to make their own way as entrepreneurs. Read more>>

Charlotte Verminck

I’m currently in the last phase of the post-production process of my upcoming short film “Mind of Thoughts”. It took me about 2 years to get to this moment. The journey made me experience a lot of difficult moments, but as I’m so passionate about its topic, I just kept pushing through because I’m convinced that this film had to get made. Mind of Thoughts sheds a light on what few people ever speak about, mental health and the acceptance of failure. Read more>>

Da’ante Bowman

Thank you for having me, The most meaningful project up to date is the one that I’m currently working on getting developed which Is my TV show “The Island of Misfitz”. I have just finished writing the full season and started the process of reaching out to donors, investors, and anyone willing to donate to its fully funded development by creating a Kick-starter -https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theislandofmisfitz/the-island-of-misfitz. We hope to reach our goal of funding the season of 50k. Read more>>

Dan Hudson

Our non-profit was founded in March 2021. The mission was to take stories of veterans healing from trauma and turn them into meaningful and healing songs. The first story we received was from a dear friend and veteran. Little did we know at the time the poem she provided was about surviving sexual trauma. We worked with the veteran by taking her poem and constructing a rough musical outline. We were fortunate enough to have an artist willing to not only put her touch on the draft, but to also get this now song, produced. Read more>>

Daniela Almanza

The most meaningful project I worked on was Together Forever, a drama/thriller short film three classmates and I produced for a film festival my senior year of high school (2018). It began with me spitting out a story idea and going back and forth with the 2nd writer to develop the plot. This was our big chance to create something great since it would be our last short film project in the audio video class. We were hungry to get first place at the competition. Read more>>

Darron-ray Donaldson

It would have to be working on the “One Love” movie in Jamaica. I got to work with hundreds of different people and experience what it’s like working on a project of that scale. Working on projects based of a person, or their life story, you get to see the reactions of their loved ones or the people that knew them. I can’t begin to describe what is it like hearing the reactions of others and also watching it being filmed in person. That brought a whole new appreciation for the industry and for the pride that I have being a Jamaican Read more>>

David Lenik

My upcoming Christmas themed horror feature film ‘He Sees You When You’re Sleeping’. I wrote the script and starred in one of the lead roles, alongside 1980’s horror movie legends Caroline Williams and Lauren-Marie Taylor. To have my script brought to life and believed in by the producing team was fantastic, it really has been a dream come true project. We filmed it entirely in New York State with the most incredible cast and crew and the final product is something I’m very proud of. Read more>>

Ej Yeh

“MaLaTang” is a fictional short film that just premiered at the 2024 LA Shorts International Film Festival. It’s the first project I worked on with Linda Wei, the director. Since then, we’ve collaborated on several projects and become dear friends. “MaLaTang” made me realize that filmmaking can be a way to build and connect with people, both in and out of the community. Read more>>

Fabiola Campos Campos

The project that holds the most significance for me is my most recent short film titled *My Safe Place*. I wrote and directed it, making it the first story that is deeply personal to me. Completing it over a span of two months was challenging, as I grappled with how to convey something so profound in a way that the audience would understand. This short film is based on the theme of anxiety. Read more>>

Gina Benalcazar Lopez

Two meaningful projects for me have been leading my Latin-jazz ensemble “La Orquestra Esa” and being the resident arranger and trombonist for Lulada Club. I’ve always had a passion for composing and arranging music, and it’s been my greatest joy writing for these two bands. I grew up listening to salsa, dancing with my family, and knowing all the lyrics to all the standards. It was something you just knew growing up. Read more>>

Giorgio Rossini

I am in this moment working on my most meaningful project: a film on the topics of violence in sports and LGBTIQA+. In the last decades way too many times the news report of accidents, fights and even murders because of sport rivalry, especially soccer in Europe. This seems just meaningless and without reason to me: sports should be a time to have fun, cheer, enjoy with friends and have a good time in general. Violence has no place in a stadium, or even in the streets, neither before or after any match, no matter who wins or loses. Read more>>

Isaac King

I am lucky enough to have Co-Founded my own film production company with 3 other creatives and friends, to be able to work on our projects on our terms and timeline. With that in mind, the most meaningful project I’ve worked on was the first one we did together for that company. It marked the start of something we’ve wanted for ourselves for so long. The project itself was, like many other firsts ….. rough, but we are all very proud of what we were able to achieve by ourselves, with an incredibly small budget, during COVID. Read more>>

Jay Katelansky

My most recent project “You’ve Been on My Mind” for me holds a really special place in my heart. The project is a solo presentation of my art work currently on display at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia. You’ve Been on My Mind is a poem of objects that uses Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” as a vehicle to explore universal heartbreak and the care required during and after turbulent times. Originally an anthem for personal resilience, “I Will Survive” found new meaning during the AIDS epidemic, it was a ballad of resilience for the queer community-for those suffering and for those watching their loved ones suffer. Read more>>

Jenny Canham

I’m lucky enough to be able to work on many meaningful projects that are making a difference for animals, humans and the planet. I’m really excited to have just launched the “Animal Outlook Network” – a unique training and action website for animal advocates, providing people with science-backed tools and courses to help them take impactful actions for animals. Read more>>

Jessenia Velazquez

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on I’d have to say is the one I’m currently working on. I’m producing my first show ever at this caliber called “Rooted” about a rose who grew in the concrete jungle. It’ll be an exhibition-style show that takes guests on an immersive journey through the life of the rose. It’ll narrate powerful stories of pain, rage, change and renewal, expressed through the mesmerizing movements of Ambiance Empire dancers. Read more>>

Juan Botero

I just released my 3rd album, “Out of My Head”. It is without a doubt the most meaningful project I’ve worked on, and I had the pleasure of working on it with all of my best friends. It truly felt like a family affair! I started it last summer at the end of a huge creative rut. I felt like I wasn’t making music that I connected with, and that was eating away at the joy of creating which I know is what I am here to do. I’d been searching for some kind of inspiration for quite a while, and was wondering if writing songs was going to be what I continued doing. Read more>>

Kasey L. Martin

I love each of my projects, as they are all meaningful to me in their own way. However, the film that is currently on my heart and that I’m incredibly proud of is Swimming Holes, set to release this winter. This film is a tribute to the women in my life who have passed on. I took an unconventional approach by blending documentary and narrative elements without using a traditional script. This method allowed me to capture an authenticity and intimacy that was essential to the film. Read more>>

Kelley Lotosky

I do a personal project every year in addition to my business projects. Something just for myself, to learn, grow, explore, and be curious about. That freedom to create ultimately ends up impacting my business as well. In 2022, I did a self-portrait project where I gave myself hands-on reiki treatments and then took a photograph of myself based on what came up during the session. The process and images were a return ticket to experiences and thoughts I had processed over the year of doing them. They laid the foundation for the next project.

Kim Ellis

“Annyeong, Korea!” is the most meaningful project I’ve worked on because it represents a deeply personal journey that I’ve undertaken as a Korean American adoptee. This isn’t just a story, it’s a reflection of my own experiences growing up, navigating the complexities of identity, and finding a sense of belonging. As an adoptee, I often felt caught between two worlds, and often felt a great sense of loss for the culture I left behind. But as I grew older, I realized that my unique background was something to embrace rather than hide Read more>>

Klara Poznachowska

I am very fortunate to be working with musicians who are truly inspiring and devoted to music. One of my main projects, which I’m really passionate about, is Trio Klemer. Along with Iranian clarinetist Mehrpouya Daneshvar and American bassist Lucas Phillips, we formed a music group focused on creating bridges between cultures and traditions around the world. The music we compose is not only for harp, clarinet, and double bass but also for string quartet and drums. As a trio, we have worked with many artists from around the world, gaining more inspiration and musical freedom. We are working on releasing an album next year with original compositions and arrangements. Read more>>

Kyle Epps

In this moment, my most meaningful work is with Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. With the platform and space they’ve provide I’ve felt a sense of responsibility. Being able to create two exhibitions, perform, and work freely throughout the garden has been a privilege honored immensely. As well, going through my process of study and research has led to creations spreading beyond my previous expectations. “Blooms of Light”, an augmented reality exhibition, displays work created while exploring the Garden. Read more>>

Lola Sandino Stanton

I have have worked on two meaningful projects and neiher one is more important than the other. The first one was a series of 20 portraits honoring High School students that I had known during my 13 years of teaching art in a Latino neighborhood. Many of the young people were poor, underperformers or living in homeless shelters. I painted a series of 20 portraits for a solo exhibition, Latino Kids. Read more>>

Luin Jou

In my work, ‘meaningful’ is a guiding principle that I look for in everything I do. This year, one of the most meaningful projects has been finalizing and launching my Holy Wonder deck. A few years ago, I started making my own affirmation and divination deck out of altered playing cards after seeing a friend’s collection of handmade cards. I had this moment of realization and empowerment seeing how simple and available it was to just create my own deck with whatever words or images I needed.  Read more>>

Lyla Joyce

The project I’m currently working on, which I like to call my “Back to My Roots” era, has been the most fulfilling thing I’ve done in a long time. Every project I’ve been part of has shaped me, but this one feels like the culmination of all those experiences, bringing me to my most authentic self. I began my musical journey as a rocker girl, drawing inspiration from artists like Amy Lee of Evanescence and Ville Valo of HIM. Over the years, I’ve explored a variety of genres—starting with a gothic metal band, transitioning to a Blink-182/Green Day-inspired pop-punk band, then moving on to a pop/metal fusion, and even embracing a pop/country princess phase (It was a vibe!). Read more>>