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?

Kristin Roach

 

Spanning over a decade, the Junk Mail Migration project is the most meaningful project I’ve worked on. Frustrated with my own onslaught of junk mail into my home and my own financial limitations for purchasing art supplies, I became obsessed with figuring out how to make it usable. You see this unsolicited material (now the working title for my next book) is acidic and plasticized, and not the most malleable art supply. All this work with junk mail sparked a curious line of inquiry… where did this huge pile of junk mail come from? and through that question deforestation’s impact on birds breeding in the boreal forest was thrust into my consciousness. Read more>>

Marisa Alvarado

I would say two things. I am a photographer and artist so there have been quite a number of experiences that have been meaningful.Read more>>

Tiffani Beck

Every painting I have the opportunity to create is so special and meaningful. I work with the client to make their vision come to life. I send out a questionnaire to my live painting couples and let them tell me the scene they’d like painted, the people (if any other than themselves) they’d like included and any other requests they have. I work tirelessly to capture the magic of their day and the joy it brings everyone (including myself) is just the cherry on top of their perfect wedding. Read more>>

Andrea Glenn

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my first music EP titled “METANOIA”. I started this project back in 2020 during a peak in my spiritual journey. I questioned my existence, my purpose, my passion and if a generational curse was present in my family. It brought a lot of subconscious fears, ambitions, suppressed thoughts and memories to the surface which caused me to analyze all of it. I realized that my mind was very different and that I had deeper connection to the universe that I was able to tap in to. To me this experience was super meaningful because it allowed me to understand myself better and the personal power I was capable of. Read more>>

Toyosi Onabamiro

My most meaningful project was for a client who wanted a special look for her MBA graduation.. Why it was so meaningful to me because my client hardly wore makeup, and to see the look on her face after our session was priceless. Through working with her, I got to uncover the beauty that had always been there and that’s the beauty of makeup. Make up only enhances what’s already in there. Read more>>

Adolph Soliz

Projects with a strong meaning are the most powerful. I find you’ll be more invested in the project and you find a drive to make it the strongest it can be. I think all of us have been in situations where you ” have to ” do a certain project and with little to no personal investment in the project or idea it can be hard to stay motivated. But that’s why I think personal projects are important to have. Find something that you can loose hours doing…sure it will bring its own challenges but that’s the fun of it all. Figuring things out and making things work. I’m sure others may think ,”nobody will like what I like” but I think that’s just someone talking themselves out of taking a risk. There’s an audience for everything.!! Tale the risk!! Create what means the most to you and see where it takes you!! Read more>>

Tianze Sun

During the past few years, I edited more than a dozen of short films, documentaries, commercials, and music videos. Some of the short films I have edited such as “Dog Lover”, “Object of Desire”, “Paeonia”, and “Freehold” went to major film festivals in the States and abroad. Including Brooklyn International Shorts Festival, Jersyshore Film Festival, Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, New Port Beach Film Fest, Tallgrass Film Fest, International Puerto Rican Film Festival and etc. Winning Highland Park, Broad Humor, DTLA, Rhode Island Film Festival and etc. Read more>>

Brigitte Boucher

Some of my most meaningful projects have been those that explore personal identity, particularly self-portraits. Any work of art becomes more meaningful when it resonates with viewers and communicates something relevant for them. One of my biggest joys in sharing my work is hearing how it impacts viewers and helps them open up something in themselves. Read more>>

Primal Moon

The most meaningful project we’ve worked on, has definitely been in the current album that we have been crafting for a year. Every detail of every song has been thought through, edited, revised, and changed in many ways. We’ve been able to find the perfect sound for our songs to come to life. We’ve argued, agreed, and shifted style to create these tunes. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I hope that it reaches the people that feel like their at a loss, or caught up in the 9-5 while putting their dreams on the back burner. Read more>>

John Leo

The most meaning project I worked on was my recent project called “La Vie en Rose”. The idea started with a song I was listening to in January called ‘El Cantante’ by Hector Lavoe. Due to my music background, in classical piano, I really loved the orchestra part of the song and thought I could make a great video to this music. I then was scrolling through instagram and came across a picture at the Nemours Estate. I thought that this place would be an awesome place for a photoshoot and videoshoot. Read more>>

Lauren Nitka

In February 2021, I was still training kickboxing and jiu jitsu at my local MMA gym. We had slowly gotten back to our schedule with our small community coming out of the pandemic restrictions. Students had just returned to my elementary art classroom two weeks prior, after being virtual for almost a year. And my Wednesday night church group was starting to see new faces, people looking for community and healing after isolation. I was finally starting to feel like I had a grasp on my life after going through the whirlwind we had all felt in 2020, especially as a young teacher just out of college. Read more>>

RAYLR

Our Debut EP “Chasing Something” was a very meaningful piece of work for us. This was a culmination project of multiple years of dreaming and a lot of hard work. Two of the tracks, “Safe One” and “What We’re Here For” were catalyst tracks for the band. They were the songs that got us all together and eventually turned us into a band. The project led to many firsts for us and has been incredible to look back on the process we underwent in its creation. Read more>>

Melina Harris

Absolutely! I want to talk about how the Sweet Juice Collective got started. Sweet Juice is currently the love of my life. In March of 2022, the four founding members of Sweet Juice found ourselves playing separate shows around the city and coordinating set times to share our overlapping group of friends and bandmembers. Later that night, we sat in one of our favorite DIY venues, the Pharmacy, commiserating about our frustration with the larger musical events in the area being centered around capitalist values and cis-het, yt supremacist culture. Our friend Katie Briggs, of BunnyHopPHL, happened to have a truckload of food leftover from a catering event they had worked earlier that evening. They brought food into the venue, openly sharing with anyone that walked in. A warm feeling spread throughout the room like wildfire. It was that night that we decided to create a diverse and inclusive event that could blend the healing characteristics of live music with excellent hospitality and community outreach to create a unique and immersive experience. We wanted festival goers to leave not only entertained, but excited about being active members in their community. Read more>>

Helenna Santos

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on was a short film I produced, co-wrote, and co-starred in called “Similitude”. This was a project that was purely art for art’s sake. It was an experimental project that was filmed primarily with just 3 people in the middle of California’s arid deserts over the course of numerous trips from LA to Joshua Tree. Many of the other projects that I produced have been with a “market” and end-goal in mind, like distribution on a specific platform, but this film was made just for the love of storytelling and was incredibly rewarding because there was no pressure when it came to financial expectation, investors, or accolades. Read more>>

Kendra Seawright

I’ve been tattooing since 2015. Early on, while speaking with clients during tattoo sessions, I was hearing a pattern in stories of tattooers in my city that had taken advantage of their trust and bodies. They would go in for a tattoo, usually their first experiences in a shop, and were being told to undress excessively or offered a discount for tattoos in exchange for sexual favors. The stories I was told were usually from or about young women and about the same 2 or 3 shops. Read more>>

Amy Queen Chappin

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve ever worked on was a painting of a baptism.

The Young woman being baptized was named Poloma. She was a translator for a preacher in the Ukraine who worked with Eastern European Missions, (EEM). They print Bibles in Eastern European languages and give them to people all over Eastern Europe for free. The schools are asking for them there and using them in their everyday curriculum. Read more>>

Aaron James

I’m currently finishing up shooting of a mini-doc that I’m tentatively titling “Paint What You Feel”. The premise of the mini-doc is centered around this public demonstration that I do by the same title, where I stand in a place of high foot traffic, blindfolded with my shirt off, holding a sign that says “I’m a product of you, paint what you feel”. Beforehand, I set out several plates with various paints and brushes around me for passerby’s to use to paint whatever they may be feeling on my body. Read more>>

Trey Rogan

So far, it’s been my feature film I have been writing for two years, and now am in the process of getting it off the ground. It’s quite an experience to cast actors, previsualize, and collaborate with others in my field. It is going to be an uphill battle for sure, with monetary cost falling squarely on my shoulders– at least initially. But strangely enough, I’m excited about this. Making progress on something I have thought about near constantly for years warms my heart. The story is also near and dear to my heart — with themes grounded in family, death, and regret. Universal ideas that we can all relate to, in one way or another. Read more>>

Lisa Niver

Mary Tyler Moore said, “Take risks, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.” Read more>>

Zen J. Jackson

When I first met my daughter, Rosie, she held a ragged stuffed rabbit in her arms that was once her mother’s when she too was a little girl. I took on her father’s role in his absence, and Rosie, her mother, and I became family. As a survivor of sexual and physical abuse, it became my mission to protect Rosie and provide comfort and sympathy to all children and our inner child. Read more>>

Philip Vaiman

Being a professional musician, and spending most of my life learning, mastering and perfecting the art of violin playing seems like an endless task. And indeed it is. The road, the journey is endless and sometimes feels like the more you know and can do, the more you still need to work on. That’s when envisioning new programs, collaborating with wonderful artists opens up this outlet for pure joy of creation. And, of course, hearing back from the audience members who felt touched and moved by music, definitely makes it worth while. Read more>>

Austin Isshac

My Career in the music business started in January of 2017. I got my first job as a backline tech for the band STYX, through an amazing teacher of mine named Joe Fiorello. I attended Musicians Institute in Hollywood, CA, (2014-2017) to follow my dreams and study Drums and Audio Engineering. After graduating, I worked 5 months as as backline tech, which consisted of: Loading and Unloading Semi-Trucks, Setting up and tearing down stages, and being a Spotlight Operator at times. This allowed me to develop amazing connections outside of school, while meeting like minded individuals, especially musicians. These connections have grown tremendously through my 6 and half years in the business, and through some, it has allowed to my play, record, and perform with bands and artist’s professionally, while still working as a sound engineer. Read more>>

Yiwei Leo Wang

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on is the exploration of the multi-layered nature of party and nightlife culture, which is a recurring theme in many of my works. This project reflects my observations of social phenomena such as the influence of clubbing and dopamine. Read more>>

Ryan Warner

In late 2021, I hit a creative rut in my photography business. The pandemic had stagnated much of my commercial work, and my days felt rudderless, searching for purpose. I needed a new project to bring me energy, get me out of my headspace, and kickstart my love for photography again. I’ve always been fascinated with the creation process related to artists and artisans. I began a series featuring local PNW artists and makers in their studios and workspaces. I was tepid initially because I’m pretty introverted, but also because the project felt somewhat invasive. I received a good amount of interest from the outset, and I’d travel around Seattle and down to Portland to meet with folks and take in their process, each in a two-hour session. After each session, the series felt more fulfilling and revitalized my creative energy. This project aligns with my interests as a means for intentional connection with talented individuals and a way in which I could visually advocate for them as artists and small business owners. These sessions were unpaid, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Fast forward nearly two years later, and I’ve shot over 35 artists, makers, and small businesses for this series with no intention of stopping. This series has given me great foresight into the photographer I want to be and what work I’d like to search out moving forward. Read more>>

Deja Simpson

The most meaningful project that I have worked on is a Single Release called “Tie My Hands”. This song was inspired by the transitioning of my little brother due to gun violence in my community of the Bronx, New York. This unfortunate event is what motivated me to take my career as a Performing Artist seriously and be brave enough to follow my dreams because my little brother did not get that opportunity. The song is a love letter to every little boy and little girl growing up with the challenges that Urban inner cities bring; rising above it in self-love and free expression. Read more>>

Cecilia Artioli

During my exchange period at Chiba University, I had the incredible opportunity to work on a project that would shape not only my career but also the lives of the people in Thailand. The challenge was to design a new building for public use that would integrate various functions, including a library, a hostel, an information center, and other public spaces. The project was part of a competition, and to my delight, I was awarded the first prize. Read more>>

Adrian Gaston Garcia

In 2022, I collaborated with Gabriel Mata, a local DMV choreographer to produce Joteria: Our Untold Stories… Inspired by the traditional Mexican bingo game, Joteria brings to life a new set of characters, (re)imagined based on our experiences. Each character tells a story that is accompanied by some form of movement, with the purpose of making queer Latine culture seen and heard on stage. Joteria premiered as a sold out show at the Atlas Center for Performing Arts 2022 INTERSECTIONS Festival and also had six runs at the 2022 Minnesota Fringe Festival. Read more>>

Nimah Gobir

This year, I had the privilege of being accepted into the Museum of the African Diaspora’s (MoAD) Emerging Artist Program. As part of this program, I collaborated with curator Selam Bekele to curate an exhibition of my works. Currently, the exhibition is on view in MoAD’s salon gallery and will be open until August 20. This opportunity stands as a significant milestone in my artistic career, as it is my most substantial exhibition to date, showcasing works I have created over the course of nearly a decade. Read more>>

Megumi Naganoma

I started the Doodle Book series on accident. The series wasn’t originally going to be a series. It began as a single sketchbook and a way to cope with my mental health. Read more>>

Asha Dahya

There are three projects I recently worked on and am currently working on that are meaningful for different reasons. Read more>>

Emma G

I’ve always turned to music and songwriting as a way for me to express my innermost thoughts, feelings, and ideas… but it wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized just how meaningful music is for me. Not only has music been my love language, and means of communication for as long as I can remember: but writing, performing and recording my own songs has also helped me: Read more>>

Sydnie Chandler Monet Collins

As someone who believes in creating what you don’t see, I took it upon myself to recognize the negative atmosphere during the pandemic and create a platform that promotes youth positivity! Perfect Timing Podcast was born after my mom challenged me to create change during a dark time, and the name reflects how our lives and those that surround it all work in God’s perfect timing. For the past 3 years, I have interviewed young entrepreneurs, motivational speakers, activists, authors, change-makers, and more trailblazers from Generation Z to showcase that positivity still exists within Covid’s scary and unpredictable climate. In these interviews, I have been able to explore topics of mental health and wellness, entrepreneurship, STEM, human rights, current events, financial literacy, the arts, and so much more! Read more>>

LaQuisha Hall

As the artist behind Confident Canvas, I have taken on many meaningful projects. The most impactful projects are my annual #RevealYourTeal and #RestoreYourRoyalty campaigns. As a survivor of sexual abuse and domestic violence and a 20-year advocate, I desired to bring my world of art and advocacy together. In 2014, I began by asking my social media connections to wear, use and oversaturate the internet with the color teal during the month of April, Sexual Assault Awareness Month. This was a huge success as so many joined in using the hashtag, #RevealYourTeal. Throughout the month, I received many messages from victims and survivors who were not ready yet to share their stories publicly. I considered the fact that so many found me because of the campaign; those who needed the resources, support and encouragement did not have to visit an organization’s website, which could compromise their safety. They were receiving help from a place others would not suspect and that we all frequent: social media. I decided to continue this mission in October during Domestic Violence Awareness Month using the hashtag #RestoreYourRoyalty. Read more>>

Heather Wilde

I recently finished writing a memoir with an older woman in a nursing home hospice (think Tuesdays with Morrie). She had always dreamt of being a published author, so her family honored her wish. This project was a SOUL project. I blogged about our interactions, interviews, and the divine strength of this project. As a result, Pat has acquired so many cheerleaders watching her journey. Her book will be published TOMORROW, with her book launch celebration being held on August 8th. Shhhhh- she doesn’t know, but she will be getting a key to the city from the mayor. Read more>>

Steven Chesne

Coming up as a composer and musician, I always had a love and fascination with what’s called “counterpoint” in music. This is where you have 2 or more melodies going on simultaneously, but they all work together, like pieces of a puzzle. As a kid I remember hearing the Beatles’ “I’ve got a Feeling” and being absolutely mesmerized when John Lennon’s Melody was laid on top of Paul’s melody, and they fit together so beautifully. I’ve never got this out of my head! So I’ve always experimented with this in my composing, I’m still moved by “Row, Row your Boat”! Read more>>

AJ Newman

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on so far is actually the last major project I did called “Sue Inside”. Acting is fun for me but I love to push myself and take on roles of characters who are complicated or maybe even misunderstood. For Sue Inside, I played the role of a young, suicidal man suffering from depression and other mental illnesses. The reason it was so meaningful for me is because I’ve dealt with depression and anxiety before (amongst other things) and have had people close to me deal with similar mental health issues that my character had such as being bipolar, or something in and around that field. It was important to me that I got all the little things right when playing this character. I wanted to represent this group of people who suffer from mental illness in the most accurate and telling way possible, and luckily the writing and directing helped steer me in the perfect direction to get it right. Read more>>

Malachy O’Neill

I truly believe filmmaking, at its heart, should strive to be meaningful in any way it can, whether that’s making people laugh or cry. In the last year or so, I’ve been very lucky to have been working on a few meaningful projects. It’s something that I really wanted to focus on because as a filmmaker our work is an extension of ourselves. It’s changed how I approach everything I do and now I’m more selective about where I spend my time and energy. Recently I’ve been working on a short film in Los Angeles that will have a big impact on audiences when it’s released. It was a hard-hitting story with a social outreach message that is seeking to change hearts and minds. This was a passion project from a brilliant writer/director with a very talented cast and crew and was created with plenty of blood, sweat and tears. Making a short film can often be a bit of a gamble but if you put the right people in the right places then real magic can happen. Read more>>