Working on something meaningful is a common desire – but how? We started asking folks to share the story of how they ended up working on a project they felt was meaningful because we wanted inspiration but also because we wondered if hearing from people from across a range of industries would help us identify patterns making it more likely for anyone to be able to find and work on projects that they would find meaningful.

Puck

I released my debut album, Best Friend, in November of last year. It’s about an abusive relationship I had, the first time I fell in love. The album was a means of being able to see myself, to climb out of an abusive mindset, and to understand how my experience is way bigger than myself – it’s a too-regular occurrence under centuries and centuries of Patriarchy. Read more>>

John Liang

Our first film RECOVERY, examined military PTSD and opioid addiction through the prism of a psychological thriller. My mother struggled with addiction for many years, but she ultimately died sober, and the film is dedicated to her. It is a film I am extremely proud of. Read more>>

Rachel Bell

I’m working on a very meaningful collection this year. It took me a while, but I have finally developed my style with painting and I’m able to translate my messages onto a canvas through the pieces I am creating. The pieces I’m working on each have their own message and meaning from love to loss, At the end of the year I will have 12 and people can see them all together,I want them to really touch people and have people be able to relate and understand them in their own way. Read more>>

Pauline Roberts

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is “Nuevas Musicas para vibrafono y electronica.” It’s an album that I commissioned as a performer through an argentine grant of four pieces for vibraphone and electronics. Due to the pandemic, the project was not able to present itself when I was still living in Argentina (lockdown was still in session during 2021). Read more>>

Lisa Marshall

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is “Oh Hello Alzheimer’s”, an international blog allowing the world into our private life during our journey. After Peter’s death, I wrote a book with the same title, which is not only a guidebook for caregivers and families, but a love story. My husband Peter and I had a rare and unique love story that many people never experience in their lifetime. Read more>>

Siefyan Wali

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my music. My songwriting credibility has enhanced over the last 4 years and I continue to keep perfecting it as I continue to write songs. I love to write songs from the heart with passion that can relate to everyday people like myself. Read more>>

Sam Bartlett

I’ve been writing and drawing books since I was in my 20s. (I am now 61) I have made mostly comix, and mostly a singly comic series called “Stuntology.” I have published 32 zines and 4 books about Stuntology, including one book with Workman that was in print for 10 years and was translated into German and Finnish and distributed around the world. Read more>>

Esther Sakyi

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is still in progress: Dreamer’s Connect, an interview series featuring creatives in my area. I initiated this series because I recognized the presence of incredible and talented individuals around me who harbored unexplored passions due to fear or limited resources. Read more>>

Elijah Taylor

Behind every piece I try to tell a story through the garments . Every piece has a story that comes with it and emotion that live through it whether it’s happiness, pain or love Read more>>

Aura Jade

In 2021 I had dropped my first mixtape titled “9” that I engineered , recorded and spent time writing and putting together. All by myself. Back then I was very new to mixing down my own music and looking back, the quality wasn’t the best, but I was proud of myself and the project was very intimate at that time in my life. Read more>>

Susie Inverso

I’m currently working on a Calendar project! It’s a fundraising project to help Rescue Puppy Yoga. They rescue puppies from high-kill locations, bring them to Denver and the Springs, and hold them in foster homes until they are adopted. They socialize the puppies and gain visibility through weekly yoga classes! Read more>>

Keri Rosebraugh

The project that has been most meaningful to me has been one based on the Theory of The Sublime in nature. In a nutshell, I was up in the high arctic, sailing around the north pole in an artist residency on an old viking boat with 25 other artists for three weeks. We each had a project in mind: mine was studying the meaning of “Home.” Read more>>

Amanda Scoggin

At Christmas each year, with the exception of the past few years due to the pandemic, I do a project through my page and my Instagram called Christmas Belles. My followers nominate someone in need during the holidays, and we take over behind the scenes. Read more>>

Audra Casebier

Currently, I am rehearsing a recital titled “Faith in Humanity” that will be composed of musical theater repertoire, and will explore the range of humanity’s relationship with faith in a higher power. The music will range emotionally from being full of trust and unwavering grace to complicated and full of scrutiny. There will be four sections: “Prayers,” “Biblical Characters (and friends),” “Faith,” and selections from Leonard Bernstein’s Mass. Read more>>

Norino Shi

The most meaningful project I’ve ever done was an illustration centered around Asian restaurants in New York City. It shows the food of many Asian restaurants, and they are scattered all over the picture like stickers. In the background is the facade of a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, and in the center are four words that read “Restaurant Workers Wanted” in Chinese. Read more>>

Juwaun Wilson

I have a couple one I would say is the commercial/campaign I have going with DTLR and another I would say is the upcoming movie I’m featured in that comes out next year. These two stick out the most to me right now with DTLR it’s in stores up and down the East coast I’ve had family in NC/Delaware/Philly/DC including stores within 10-15 mins of me it’s kind of a surreal feeling really. Read more>>

Lynn Hai, Iris Zhang and Echo He N/A

One of the most impactful projects we have been involved in is a public art initiative titled “The Song of Dragon and Flowers” by artist Chen Dongfan. The project involved painting a 64-meter long mural directly on Doyers Street, one of New York’s oldest streets with significant historical importance to the Asian American immigrant community. This street was a shortcut that connected early Chinatown’s lean corridors – Mott, Pell, and Bayard streets – and became known as “The Bloody Angle” due to frequent gang violence and shootings during the late 19th century. Read more>>

douglas busch

Genos Center Foundation: Our mission is to teach tolerance, inspire reflection and allow visitors to form new ties between their understanding of history and their emotional subconscious through the power of art. Our vision is for visitors to see the artwork and the world from a new perspective. Through art we can raise awareness, understanding and promote healing as we recognize not only the past but the present. Read more>>

Haley Texada

Outside of the first Daze iNights art show I held back in 2019, the most meaningful project I’ve worked on would be my tiny home, The D.i.N. is an acronym for Daze iNights artistry and a place that is fully equipped for the wild. I originally purchased this trailer for more space to move my paintings back and forth. Once I saw the empty box in person, I questioned how to make it a comfortable workspace that feels like home. Read more>>

Wendy Bale

I have worked on several solo projects that were meaningful and rented the majority of space in my head for months, even years, but it is a long-running collaboration that gets top billing for my most meaningful project to date. As a member of International Online Art Collective, I have been involved with a group project that has escalated to unexpected heights. The concept we began two years ago with a single 10×10″ piece, with each piece informing the next, provoking a chain reaction of other artworks—until we will have created 100 works, assembled into one big multi-media installation. Read more>>

Stephanie Blamires

I have worked on several meaningful projects over the past few years, but I have to say that the most impactful for me has been the initial design of my website and blog. The idea for this blog had been on my mind for several years, but the demands of life as a full-time teacher competed for my attention. Like many teachers, it is hard to make it towards retirement as a single person, Read more>>

Good Job.

Currently we are taking time off from playing shows, so we can start to work on our next full length album. This will be the first time that we get to collectively work on an album together. We plan for this to be the most honest and genuine music we’ve put out so far. Read more>>

Claire Huang

While all of my projects encompass many important aspects of myself, “Celebrating Crossroads” holds dearest to me. Through the lens of an Asian-American artist, the collection commemorates the yin and yang of balancing two or more different cultures. In Chinese culture, the “yin and yang” is the phenomenon that balances two contrasting forces in unison and is represented through the “Dragon” and “Phoenix”. Using those as my driving motifs, I handcrafted bespoke jewelry pieces, masks, and a ‘red envelope’ clutch to convey my story. Read more>>

Thomas Crain

Probably the Lazarus Toys haunted house. When my partners and I went independent in 2016, one of the first haunts we designed was Lazarus Toys. We were so passionate about it that when we rebranded from Meagan’s Monstrosities for something a little more official sounding, we chose Lazarus Creative Co. just for the brand synergy. Read more>>