Every once in a while we have the good fortune of working on a project that we feel truly matters, a project that we’ll still be thinking about years from now. Maybe even something we can imagine telling our grandkids about – surely you’ve had moments like that where something you did in your professional life really mattered?

Mustafa Bin Javed

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my debut feature documentary, Papa’s Diary. It’s still in progress, but already the process has been incredibly profound for me, both as a filmmaker and personally.

The film started after I moved from Pakistan to the United States. While going through my father’s archives, I discovered his old diaries and a treasure of home videos he’d shot over the decades. This was a man who rarely spoke about his feelings, who embodied a very traditional role in a patriarchal society. Yet, here he was, behind the camera, quietly capturing our family life in ways that felt deeply tender. Read more>>

Sara Shah

Working with and growing Live For Live Music over the years has presented unlimited opportunities for *cool* projects and collaborations, but the most meaningful occurred during the start of COVID. In a matter of days the entire music industry was decimated, with shows and festivals cancelled and artists/gig workers out of work for the foreseeable future. It was a devastating and confusing time, and we knew we had to use our platform to do something. Thus, our virtual festival series was born. In a matter of days we confirmed more than 60 artists from primarily across the jam/funk/bluegrass space to partake in Quarantine Comes Alive, a one-day marathon event benefiting a COVID relief fund. Read more>>

Keller Remington

The most meaningful project I have done was a collection of music that I had written that was inspired by Lawrence T Brown’s book “Black Butterfly”. This music was supposed to highlight the struggles of the effects of redlining, racial segregation, the highway to nowhere project in Baltimore, and other related issues. Curating this music was a challenge to me because I’ve always had an insecurity about my musical composition, so this was the first time I felt like I was putting myself out there in a very exposed way. The response from the performance was incredible and I look to take that feedback I received and record this music with some of my local hero’s in Baltimore. Read more>>

Amo (Mengying) Zeng

A Book of Diaspora/Disquiet reveals the hidden emotional and legal struggles of immigration to the U.S.—a country that promises freedom and opportunity but traps immigrants in an invisible web of uncertainty and control.

The installation unfolds in two layers. At first glance, visitors see printed stories that seem to honor the American Dream—education, perseverance, success. But crucial words are left blank, creating silence and fragmentation. Read more>>

Xavier Gray

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on so far has been the Welcome Race Fans project with the Indy Arts Council and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Growing up in Indy, the 500 was always a big part of life for me. I still remember being in elementary and middle school, when honor roll students got to take photos with an Indy 500 car and go out to the track for time trials. That early connection made the race feel special. Read more>>

Derek Johnson

My friend Yulia from Ukraine owns a coffee roasting business there with her brother called Sib’s. They also have several cafes. When the War with Russia began, she reached out on social for help. I wanted to help so I suggested we shoot a day of interviews with her. not knowing what I might do, I ended up producing a 15 minute short film that was highly emotional and sensational .We used it to help raise money for humanitarian aid that she and her family received and hand-delivered. We raised over 100k and could see direct help from our efforts. Read more>>

Shane Rilling

One of our most meaningful projects has been working with Beyond Boundaries and New Earth—two incredible programs dedicated to empowering justice-involved youth in Los Angeles. Their mission is to support young people in transforming their lives, making positive choices, and realizing their potential as valuable members of their communities. Read more>>

Breanna Carpico

The most meaningful project I have ever worked on is a short animated film I wrote and am currently directing called Puddles. The story of Puddles was born in the quiet, exhausted hours of my life as an animation student, when dreams were vivid but my body was running on empty. At the time, I was juggling the relentless demands of full-time school and a full-time job. Most nights, I would come home too tired to function, sometimes collapsing on the bed still in my work uniform, too drained to even untie my shoes. Read more>>

Heather Hammer

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on is my senior model program — and not just because of the images we create, but because of what it does for the girls who are part of it.

I started the program because I saw a pattern: so many young, beautiful girls walking into my studio unsure of themselves, comparing, shrinking, second-guessing — even though they were absolutely gorgeous. In a world saturated with filters, perfection, and pressure on social media, it’s honestly no surprise. Read more>>

Miist

I’m very proud of this journey that I get to work on, along with so many musicians who also want to use their musical ability to help more people—to do more than just make good music. I’m honored to work with them, and together I hope this album can help people find a way through the difficulties that we all face.

I want it to let people know that no matter where they are or what circumstance they are in—they can affect the world around them with simple, positive actions—like smiling again. Read more>>

Emma Xhaxho

One of my most meaningful projects is a fiber-based work that memorializes my father, who passed in 2015 from illness. I used a pair of his old denim jeans for this piece and stretched them over a welded steel frame. I then layered a large-scale print of my Illinois ID over his own, merging our identities into a single image, implying a shared identity and noting our facial similarities. My father immigrated here from Albania, and I regret to say I overlooked the opportunities he created for me by coming to the United States. Still, I have a deep appreciation for them. Read more>>

Carter Agassi

There’s a different kind of experience that comes with creating something from deep meaning. It’s not just expression, but intention. The series I’m working on right now is a departure from my usual work. For the past eight months, I’ve been creating a series that pushes back against the escalating authoritarianism in America. Read more>>

ANAMARIA CABATO

The first project was the Balboa Park Centennial Philippine American Celebration in June, 2015 at the Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park. I was invited to the initial meeting at the House of the Philippines in Balboa Park in the summer of 2013. Being the Executive Director of PASACAT, I have worked with the House of the Philippines for the Philippine Lawn Program every June. I was convicted to be a part of this celebration because in 1969, my father was President of the Philippine American Community Association of San Diego when Mayor Frank Curran approached him to lead a Philippine tribute to San Diego’s 200th Anniversary. Read more>>

Jodi Jensen

My newest novel, 187 Days, is by far the most meaningful book I’ve written. I saw a need to represent more everyday heroes and heroines in literature. Ordinary people who do extraordinary things when presented with life-altering circumstances. My heroine is a lunch lady in her mid-thirties who needs to lose fifty pounds. She doesn’t see herself as brave and in the face of a post-apocalyptic landscape, she doesn’t want to save the world, just one person. The reason it’s so meaningful to me personally, is because I’ve also felt like I wasn’t brave enough to do hard things in life. Read more>>

Madison, Ava And Elle MacGregor

When Madison turned 25, she had a quarter-life crisis. It sparked deep conversations with her younger twin sisters, Ava and Elle, who were 22 at the time. Together, we realized just how confusing and overwhelming your 20s can be. Determined to make sense of it, Madison began digging for answers. That search led her to The Defining Decade by Meg Jay, a book that reframed her thinking and revealed how this decade can shape the rest of your life. Read more>>

Cait West

I’ve almost always been a writer in some way. When I was a child, making up stories was a way to escape and imagine other ways of being. I always wrote fiction, but while studying writing in college, I was drawn to creative nonfiction, and that’s when I started working on my memoir, which is the project that has been most meaningful for me. Read more>>

Christopher Matthew Spencer

The most meaningful project I have ever undertaken is my first directorial effort, the short film The Red Market. At age fifty‐five, after retiring from a romantic business career, I resolved to dedicate myself to the art of filmmaking. My friend Clay Wilde encouraged me to begin with a short project rather than risk a larger investment on a feature. Although I initially intended to move straight into features, his encouragement convinced me to “give it a whirl” and see what I could achieve on a smaller scale. Read more>>

Alex Arck

Every creative project I’ve had the opportunity to work on has been fulfilling in its own way. But if I had to choose one that stands out, it would be my most recent multimedia release, Arck Industries. The project began as a concept album and later evolved into a science fiction novella. Read more>>

Yelena Zhavoronkova

Living in Northern California for 35 years, I wasn’t aware of the harsh climate of beautiful Lake County until recently. It’s an amazing place with stunning landscapes, very hot summers, and quite cold winters. Not many regular California plants can survive and prosper there. There are only a couple of native trees proven right for the area, and the grasses are very strong and adaptive. To continue the genome process in these extreme circumstances, nature has developed a special way: creating strong vessels to save the seeds of future generations and hold them until conditions are right to spread them around. Read more>>

Bryn Power Lux

The most meaningful project I’ve ever worked on was photographing a trip with members of my local church to a small village called Sintaro in southern Ethiopia, several hours from the capital, Addis Ababa. This village is part of a long-standing partnership between my church and a local Ethiopian nonprofit, and it’s a community I’ve personally supported for over five years. Read more>>

Flora Saldivar

I recently had the incredible opportunity to design a silk scarf with Echo NY. What makes this collaboration so powerful is that $100 from each sale goes to a charity of the artist’s choice. I selected Canopy NWA, an organization dedicated to creating a welcoming community for refugees and providing them with the resources they need to build new lives. As an immigrant, supporting this mission and helping others like myself who haven’t had the same opportunities I’ve had is incredibly meaningful to me. Read more>>