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.

Eric Harabadian

Although I’ve been involved with many meaningful film projects and music recordings, perhaps the most meaningful is my current documentary film “We Thrive.” I say that because it is the third documentary co-directed and produced by my wife Lisa Hagopian and it is the most personal. We are both of Armenian descent and in “We Thrive” we tell a story about Armenian-American musicians and the healing powers of music. We do that through archival and historical footage of the tragedies of our ancestors past and the attempts at exterminating an entire race. However, all these many decades later, we’re still here and thriving through music and cultural perseverance. We share our personal stories and struggles and share the personal stories of many of the subjects in the film. Read more>>

Tre’ Mutava

My latest album, “The Reality,” became a major spiritual journey as I dove deep into why I am the way I am and embraced the man I’m meant to be. I go into detail about conversations I’ve had with myself and God and come to terms with many of the challenges from my childhood. Read more>>

Christina Ebersohl-Van Scyoc

I am currently working on a two-part project, combining my love of musicology research, musical performance, and collaboration. I am interviewing Egyptian Art musicians—specifically composers and performers—currently and recently active in Egypt to create a written and published compendium of Egyptian Art Musicians representing the three generations spanning 1930’s to today. Additionally, an exciting artistic performance collaboration with Egyptian pianist, Seif El Din Sherif, is in the works; we will perform a series of concerts in Cairo and Alexandria, as well as his alma mater in Switzerland that model the integration of Egyptian Art and Western classical music. Read more>>

SoulArty GTH

So I only have one full project out, SoulArty SZN. It takes you on a bit of a journey through my emotional spectrum and showcases some great artists alongside myself. Being my first solo project I felt like it was important to let the audience into my life. Read more>>

Amanda Crary

When I was in graduate school, I spent a lot of time turning my creative process inside out and exploring new ways of “making something.” Instead of picking up a paintbrush and making a painting, I began to search for other ways to convey meaning. A lot of the themes I was interested in at the time were about fleeting moments, togetherness, and gestures of love and care. Read more>>

Blake Barr

Gemstones have caught my interest from a young age. Whether a gift or something i had found on my own , always there was meaning attached to that particular object. Memories of my father , or memories created since carrying a stone seemed the linger with the piece and move with me as i transversed times, feelings and situations, Meaningful projects to me , are ones that were created with intention, Collaborating with clients to produce a final product that has its natural value , amplified with intentions promote a sense of completion and meaning for me. Read more>>

Kyle Turner

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on is my EP Just Getting Started Vol 2. I felt as if my flow/cadence improved overall from the first iteration. It has great meaning to me because I actually recorded all 4 songs on the mixtape which was more hands on in getting the sound I wanted to achieve. I had a good friend of mine to mix and master two of the songs (Pain Into Passion/Feelin Myself) and the other two (Ride or Die/Rage Mode) I decided to leave it the way it was cause I liked how the vocals turned out on my computer. Read more>>

Alli Grosberg

Throughout my artistic career I’ve created functional and meaningful art and jewelry. I love the idea of celebrating events in people’s lives with art. Most of my art can be customized for this reason. People love when they see their name or a meaningful message or symbol within the art. Whether it’s honouring a new mom, grandmother or teacher, I create the perfect piece the captures the gratitude of the person giving the gift. I work closely with my clients to create the perfect piece! I love working with colour and multi media. Read more>>

Jen Scott

I am honored to have the opportunity to share with your readers the journey behind my passion project, “Trickle & Flow.” I am the Creator, Writer, Showrunner, a Producer and Actress in this upcoming Canadian crime series. Trickle & Flow” began as a simple idea—a mystery TV series titled after a play on words. However, during a car ride, my love for action and cop dramas took the project in a thrilling new direction. This decision marked the beginning of an adventure that has surpassed my wildest expectations. “Trickle & Flow” is a series that seamlessly blends witty comedy, action, and drama, adding a unique twist to the traditional crime drama formula. Read more>>

B’Angelo H.

Hello world My name is B’Angelo and I would love for you to get to know me. Born and raised from Mississippi but live in Atlanta GA. I’ve always had a passion for style and fashion, so I had to find myself and go for what I know. It all started with a name and how I wanted the world to see my perspective of style. I was inspired by confidence inspiration moods and expressions. I knew I wanted to create & live by those 4 words. What it means to be confident? What / who inspires ? What’s your mood? Simply express yourself! I’m a Wardrobe Stylist, Creative director, and Photographer. When booking me for any of my services I plan to solve & satisfy all of your needs and set the tone to your vibe. Be you and stay true to yourself. That’s what I always remind myself is to stay true to myself. What sets me apart from others is that others is not me. Read more>>

Grace Wriggles

Writing, Directing and starring in my film ‘Podcasters’ was a massive learning curve for me. I wrote Podcasters in 2020 during the Covid Lockdowns when we all had a lot of time on our hands. My creative passion has always leaned towards comedy – in both performance and writing. In 2022 I crowd-funded over $6000 to get the project produced, thanks to so many generous donations from friends, family and people in the industry. We worked with the amazing Short Stack productions, who helped bring my vision to life. Our insanely talented crew, Brittany Grey and Christian McCarty, really made the whole project come together in a way I didn’t expect. After a successful family/friends preview at HOTA, we are hoping to throw Podcasters into the 2024 festival run. Read more>>

Movmnt Band

On April 28th, 2023, we released our brand new album “Space Transit!” The sound of the album is a combination of Jazz, Funk, Neo Soul, and World music. We really wanted to take the listener on a journey to space using a lot of synths, riffs, and colorful musicality. Featuring Shaun Martin (Snarky Puppy, Kirk Franklin), Mark Lettieri (Snarky Puppy, The Fearless Flyers), and Murphy Leon, “Space Transit” is a one of a kind musical ride that we’re proud of. Read more>>

Riley Day

I began writing music from an early age. I’ve always enjoyed writing in sheet music because the language is detail-oriented and just looks so beautiful on the page. Throughout my early 20s I started writing specifically for a horn/funk band (5 horns, guitar, keyboard, bass, drums) because I knew several players on those specific instruments that could read and would be willing to give my music a try. By then I’d had enough exposure to big band ensembles to understand the components of jazz, but what really struck me in my formative years was playing in the double bass section of large orchestras. The through-composition, organic forms, and color combinations of the late 19th/early 20th century music was when I think music really broke free of its chains and took flight. I like to think that my project, Daydream, is inspired by American jazz and European Late-romantic music…with the occasional dubstep drop when no one’s looking… Read more>>

Sophia Maria Izquierdo

The most meaningful project I have worked on so far in my studies and career has been my senior year thesis collection at Columbia College Chicago. I designed a collection where I had complete creative control from idea to execution. I was dedicated to creating a fashion collection I was proud of and one that represented me. My senior thesis collection, ‘Versatility x Livery’ is inspired by Japanese drift car graphic wraps and the connection between the modification of both cars and fashion. Two of my personal interests and the similarities they share. By altering how a garment is styled, a person can make the garment unique to themselves, similar to how a car may be modified to fit the drivers personality. Read more>>

Clark Valentine

Part of my artistic practice involves collaboration with artists from around the world. I am a founding member of the I Found U Collective. Since 2020, our nine artists (who live on four different continents) have worked together to create collaborative projects which investigate the social and political dynamics of our current digital world. In June of 2023, I spent nearly a month in Soriano, Uruguay, via invitation from the Department of Culture. While there, I worked with I Found U artists to build a collaborative installation titled “La Tormenta.” This installation will be on view through early 2024 at the Museo Maeso in Villa Soriano, Uruguay. Read more>>

Sarah Sunfire

I’ve always been passionate about Greek mythology, and in 2018, I wrote a novella-length retelling of the Hades/Persephone/Demeter myth called “A Softer Darkness.” In my retelling, Demeter is the suffocating, abusive mother that Persephone can’t break away from without help, and the maligned Hades helps her to understand her own strength so she can be free. I paid a lot of attention to poetic language, took time building the love story, and did some research so that Persephone’s bedroom in Hades’ underworld palace was furnished in an accurately Greek-of-long-ago style. But it was an extraordinarily personal story for me to write, even within the mythological framework, and it stayed in my Documents folder for several years, unacknowledged.  Read more>>

Eric Keller

While I’ve been lucky to have a few meaningful projects in my career I think the one that has helped me define a purpose for the artwork I create was actually a digital biology textbook I worked on from 2012 to 2014. This is because the project introduced me to the writing and philosophy of the great entomologist and evolutionary biologist E O Wilson. The biology textbook was meant for Apple’s iPad. It never got the attention it deserved but the process of creating animations for the textbook has influenced everything I’ve done since, especially within my own personal artwork. E O Wilson pioneered research on eusocial insect societies and revealed an important but overlooked principal that is that cooperation and altruism is just as much a product of evolution as competition. Read more>>

Talanje

The most meaningful project I have worked on, and is something I am currently working on, is my comic zine, Instincts! Instincts! is a collection of short comics about the intricacies of life from a feminine lens. I never had a dream of being a comic artist, but in college, I ended up picking it as my major because I felt as though I had something to learn there. Even though I had no intention of picking up comics as a career, I got very invested in it and for my final project, decided to create a zine of mini-comics, called Instincts! I mostly created Instincts! because I would get a lot of feedback about my work being to indie to fit into a specific niche, so I had to create my own. Read more>>

Jeanelly Concepcion

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on has been rebranding as a Conscious Content Creator and going independent to create an impact in the sustainable lifestyle and fashion space. The backstory behind this project is rooted in my journey as a blogger nearly a decade ago. From the beginning, I wanted to use my platform to promote sustainable living and ethical fashion choices, but I soon realized that the space was dominated by limited perspectives, unattainable standards, and lacked diversity, making it inaccessible to BIPOC creators like myself. Read more>>

Zak Osmond

Over the last 3 years, I have been involved with the annual Tent Party hosted by the Neighborhood House in Salt Lake City, UT. Neighborhood House offers nationally accredited toddler, preschool, afterschool, and summer programs for children aged 15 months to 12 years old. They also provide daycare and support services for adults needing supervised care during the day. Through this event, this organization has successfully raised large amounts of money and support from many individuals within the local community. It has been amazing to meet and observe many people who have been impacted by this great initiative and actively give back to those in need. The next Tent Party will be Saturday, September 16, 2023. Please visit www.nhutah.org for more information and come party with us! Read more>>

Sam Martin, Meghan Laubach

We had the opportunity to work with Diana Jarrar of MagicDates on a rebrand. Her current brand identity and packaging “followed the rules” in terms of what worked for retail. Lack of color (white background, black text), standard sans-serif fonts, and an unmemorable logotype. It was overwhelmingly generic and lacked a brand story. Read more>>

Brielan Gale

My business, Queenbee Vintage, started with a love of vintage clothing that grew into a deeper passion for sustainable fashion. While I enjoy sharing beautiful garments with my customers, I also want to create a greener method of consumerism. Many of the pieces in my collection are at their last stop before the landfill when I find them. These items are often discarded for being stained, torn, or considered no longer functional/fashionable. Once I collect the pieces, I clean, repair, or upcycle them into a functional state, so they can then be resold and reused. Read more>>

Kimberly Turner

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on was the revisitation of my graduate thesis work. My graduate school experience at Indiana University Bloomington was pretty tumultuous. I started right after undergrad and didn’t fully know what I was getting myself into. I didn’t have a plan other than wanting to be a photography professor. Read more>>

Jo Anna Kloster

I’m excited to share that my debut coming-of-age novel LILY UNLEASHED and the mission behind this story is going smashingly. This novel was inspired by the love of my puppy mill survivor, Cagney. He was rescued by a champion for underdogs, Mary Palmer, president of North Central Maltese Rescue in Racine. After eight months of living locked in a cage, this tiny dog had suffered great emotional trauma, akin to human PTSD, and came with multiple behavior issues. LILY UNLEASHED is the story of a young girl, inspired by the love of a puppy mill survivor, to speak up for him, and all the other dogs still locked in cages. Themes of friendship, bullying, and loss are explored. Read more>>

David Tripp

I may be a juggler with too many balls in the air. But there are a number of projects I’m exploring at the present: 1. As a first time gallerist, I find ownership of The Gallery at Redlands in Palestine, Texas filled with adventure. I am still learning how to balance my time as a productive artist with marketing the other artists who have joined my gallery. I have also joined a coop of artists to form the new Studio 48 located inside Gracie Lane Boutique in Arlington, Texas. I have two generous walls on which to hang my framed watercolors along with a cabinet on which I have additional paintings and my 5 x 7” greeting cards. I will be offering watercolor lessons monthly in this new space. Read more>>

Liz Barick Fall

In 2018, I was invited to participate in a collaborative exhibition called Dear Womanhouse, which was a tribute to the original Womanhouse from 1972, the feminist art installation and performance space organized by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro. The Dear Womanhouse show was a commentary and expression of gender bias, and a reflection of contemporary female experience using WH72 as a point of progressive/stagnant comparison to present times.  Read more>>

Brittany Wilder

Currently I’m working on an ongoing series of paintings titled “(Today is)”. Each day I spend in my studio I paint the phrase “and it never will be again” As in: Today is July 19, 2023, and it never will be again. Part optimistic rallying cry, part nihilistic declaration, this phrase is a way for me to bestow permanence to my fleeting days. Read more>>

Randall Shreve

My latest album, Excessively Refined is the most meaningful to me for a lot of reasons. I started working on it years ago. I had never written so many songs for one album, but I kept pushing the songs aside and replacing them with new ones, and it seemed like a never ending process. There were so many setbacks, and I couldn’t visualize the album for so long. I realize now that what was happening was that I was healing from my past trauma and therefore growing faster than I was writing. Read more>>

CHIA LING YANG

One of the most meaningful and exhilarating projects I’ve had the pleasure of working on was a fashion film for Fendi, which proved to be one of the biggest campaigns of my career. As the creative lead, I was entrusted with overseeing all aspects of the design and animation process, from the initial brainstorming sessions to the final execution. Read more>>

Rickshon

Currently, I’m working on a new instrumental album called “HOOPLIFE.” It’s inspired by my love for basketball and how I use it now to stay in shape and healthy. Music and sports have always been a part of my life, and dark energy tried to derail both of my passions throughout my experience. When I hoop by myself I feel free of all my problems, work, and responsibilities. Playing music during my workout keeps my energy high. One day I said, “Why don’t I just make an album just for this type of moment for other people.” This is the first time I’ve gotten to blend two things that have shaped not only my body and mindset, but my spirit. There are life lessons from artists and basketball players alike that have helped me on my journey and hopefully this album can help other people. Read more>>

Alex Hamburger

One big meaningful project for my was my debut quartet album And She Spoke released in 2021 which was a collection of music inspired by the diverse and ever changing concept of the female voice. “Featuring original compositions heavily inspired by poetry written through the female voice and personalized arrangements of female-written compositions, And She Spoke pays homage to the Black American Music tradition, citing Alex’s background and mentors as fundamental inspiration, while providing a fresh outlook with palpably incandescent energy.” Read more>>

Cheryl Testut Cuellar

A very good friend invited me to participate in a community art project for the One Pulse Foundation. Lafayette and Rushford was recruiting local artists to decorate 49 ceramic doves, which they would sell in their store, donating all the proceeds to the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting. It was May 2018…my husband had been battling Alzheimers for more than 8 years. I’d cared for him at home for most of that time, but had finally given in and placed him in a nursing home under hospice care. It had been a difficult few months for me, but I reluctantly took home a dove, and vowed to do something creative with it. Read more>>

Victoria Sueiro

A Meaningful Journey of Empowerment and Connection. As I sit down to reflect on the incredible journey of hosting the Mindfulness and Crochet Summer Picnic, words fail to capture the profound impact it had on me. This project, which brought together two empowering women and a community of like-minded individuals, was an experience filled with beauty, mindfulness, and heartfelt connections. Through this message, I hope to convey the depth of meaning this event held for me and the honor I felt in being a part of it. Read more>>

Alma Landeta

I’m currently working on a mural for the San Francisco LGBT Center titled Joy is the Fuel. This is a meaningful project to me as a nonbinary queer that moved to San Francisco from Florida 12 years ago seeking a more supportive community. San Francisco has not only been a safe haven for me as a queer person, but it has also inspired me to dig deeper into my art-making. Making this mural for such an important community organization, at such a hyper visible spot, in one of the queerest places in the world is an absolute dream come true! Text on the mural reads: Joy is the Fuel for Our Collective Strength. As attacks on queer and trans people continue to rise, it is when we come together that we can celebrate our resilience. We dare to be joyous in the face of violence. Read more>>

DeeLeww

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on thus far is releasing ‘A Short Read To Help You Grieve’. In 2012 I lost my dad. In 2022 I lost one of my best friends, Donell. I thought I healed after my dad but once I lost Donell, I cracked completely open and realized I was not healed at all. I battled internally, becoming a high functioning depressed person. I went on to do a 6 month tour with the Harlem Globetrotters and in the midst of performing every day and figuring out the pieces to my soul every night, I found inspiration to create what I wish I had… a relatable voice. A Short Read To Help You Grieve is the book I wish I had. So you ask why this project is meaningful? It is meaningful because it is a project that has and will continue to help many on their grief journey and ease some of the pain along the way. Read more>>

Vyolet Jin

My most meaningful project is undoubtedly my recently completed thesis, an exploration of negative emotion. I have always experienced emotions intensely, especially negative ones. When these emotions become overwhelming, I yearn to ground them and engage in heartfelt conversations with them, much like sitting down for a comforting talk over a sweet drink. In my thesis project, I embarked on a journey to connect with my negative emotions and explore how to infuse them into my artwork. Read more>>

Yiran Wang

Throughout my graduate journey, I have developed a series of three artworks centered around a core concept: exploring the nature of pain. TITLED is an installation project about Emotion Studies that delves into the figurative expression of negative emotions experienced by human beings. Through the abstract representation and mechanization of gestures such as poking and squeezing using paper and motors, my intention is to unveil the fragility and irreversibility inherent in both paper and human emotions, drawing a metaphorical connection between the two. Read more>>

Lioness TeLaine

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on thus far is my independent sci-fi film Dynasty The Movie, starring the American renowned rapper Lil Flip. It’s a 90-minute science fiction film and is the first installment of the franchise and is also my directorial debut. I executive produced, directed, wrote, and starred in this action-packed film and it’s by far the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done for myself and in my career. Read more>>

Mari Giacopelli

As a LGBTQ+ photographer, making work that relates to my sexual and gender identity will always be a priority. This usually manifests in collaborating with other queer artists and models, but for one of my last series’ before graduation, I decided to step outside of my comfort zone, and explore self-portraits. For years, I avoided this type of photography. I wasn’t sure how my commercial roots would translate to fine art photography, and outside of that I worried that I simply didn’t know how to exist in front of the camera, translating my three dimensional figure to a two dimensional frame. Read more>>