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.

Matthew Hinsley

I think one of my most meaningful projects has been building for-credit daily music education programs for youth incarcerated in the juvenile justice system. We began building guitar education programs in public schools in 2001 and by 2009 they’d expanded across the city of Austin. The UT Austin School of Social Work did a social impact study that year, and we got introduced to someone whose career had been studying the impact of various programs for incarcerated youth in the Americas. Read more>>

PAT WILLIAMS

My most meaningful project to date would have to be writing and producing my first solo EP, ‘Inclusive, Vol.1’, as an independent Jazz artist. Throughout my career as a professional musician, I’ve supported numerous other bands and artists in multiple capacities: whether it was recording drums for albums; producing and arranging music; or as a band leader and Musical director. Now, having my own band and writing my own original music, I was able to take all of the experiences I’ve learned and utilize them on my own project. Read more>>

Ian Patrick O’Connor

I would have to say the “Transcend” body of work. The series spawned out of a feeling during mediation, and took me a few years to develop before I ever made an image. Now after 5 years and 30+ photographs made, when I see the body of work as a whole it brings me great joy. Also the reception of the work from the viewers and owners of prints confirms my intention that the images can bring peace and calmness into their lives. Read more>>

Budro Partida

In my nearly 25 years in media production, by far the most meaningful project I’ve worked on to date is my first real feature film titled “Bloody & Bruised: The Untold Story of The Back Room”. It’s a full-length documentary about a famous metal club that existed in Austin, TX for nearly 33 years that helped serve as incubator for up-and-coming acts that would go on to become national headlining bands as well as a second home for all of the dedicated patrons and fans. Read more>>

Heather Luttrell

I’ve been so so so lucky and honored to spend most of my musical career playing in a band with my Father, Ralph Luttrell. He is also a Luthier at his guitar shop in Roswell and makes resonator guitars. There’s nothing like the joy and connection that comes with it… how our voices blend in tone and how our “musical feeling” meshes on stage. I am a very lucky little possumdiva to have had him at my side opening for such acts as Lynyrd Skynyrd and John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett and Brandi Carlile. Read more>>

Cece Cole

Over the last year, I curated, planned, and produced Every Day is Earth Day, an outdoor exhibition. With help from my friend Jaclyn Taylor, the effort culminated in a neighborhood/community arts event with live music by young artists Honey Bananas, Tatum Shum, Conner Shumway, and Jojo Daly. It turned out to be a great day of conversation and engagement!! A series of community tables with conversational prompts moderated by ASU Curator Emeritus Heather Lineberry were scattered throughout the exhibit area. Read more>>

Gwendolyn Houston-Jack

As a portrait artist/photographer, it’s easy, in my opinion, to lose your creativity. Every portrait session is unique, but the task can feel the same after a few sessions. I decided I needed to find my creative edge again and push myself to new limits. In 2021, I started a personal project called “Every Kind of People.” The goal of this project was not only to create portraits of people as they are where they are but to do so with film. Read more>>

Amber Hodge

The Art of Killin It has been the most recent and meaningful project ive worked on to date. This immersive show is a BIPOC murder mystery comedy that takes place inside Hardigan Manor. I am the art director and photographer of the production and not only did it challenge me, it showed me I was even more capable than I originally thought. To make it even better, watching people of color in a story that hasnt been done before, make people laugh and look for clues all at once is something I would of have never dreamed possible until this project. Read more>>

Katie Henry

It was always been a dream of mine to lead a women’s retreat in Central Oregon. I grew up in Oregon and have been going to the Central Cascade mountains my whole life. As I started gathering ideas for offerings in my business, I knew that women’s retreats in these mountains would be a part of it one day, but I thought that day was really far off. Last summer my friend and I went camping in Central Oregon and as we were feeling the magic of the mountains, I said to my friend, “Hey, maybe we should try to lead women here next summer,” She responded, “Let’s do it!” Read more>>

Ausha

I truly believe the most meaningful project I have worked on (and continue to work on) is just the entire conceptualization and curation of my own brand as an artist. Especially as a bassist you often find yourself in supporting roles both musically and creatively. Participating in a lot of for-hire work musically felt as though it didn’t leave a lot of room to develop my voice. I struggled finding that for a long time and really felt myself starting to lean more and more into identifying and developing the way I represented myself as an artist. Read more>>

Emmanuel Gillespie

During the summer of 2019, I was commissioned to create a life-sized sculpture for the city of Dallas of Mr. Ernie Banks. The Ernie Banks commission has been one of the most meaningful projects for me as a creative for several reasons. One being that this project has been a staple in our community due to its location in the city. This sculpture is housed at the Booker T. Washington High School of the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Texas. As an alum of Arts and a current resident and native to Dallas, this entity was extremely important in accepting this commission. Read more>>

John Goodwill

My most meaningful project was recreating the elite knight from the game Dark Souls. It’s meant everything to me. It represents not only my interests but my determination, dedication and artistic ability. I was ready to give up on pursuing art. I felt like I didn’t “git gud” fast enough to keep up with other artists and being self taught it felt hopeless. It was was my goodbye to my dream so I went all out. It wound up having the opposite effect and creating that wearable piece of art changed everything for me. Read more>>

J Valentyn

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my current project; Digital Retail Fashion Weekend’22. It is a passion project I began in the year 2017 once I discovered the need for positive self-image within the fashion industry and on social platforms. We are consciously building a platform that supports body-positivity, positive self-image, and confident mindset within the fashion sector. It is our goal to represent fashion in a way that empowers and attracts beautiful experiences in the lives of others. Read more>>

Jaclyn Horton

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve ever been on is being a photographer for the Peter Mayhew Foundation in December 2019. The Peter Mayhew Foundation is a non-profit based out of Boyd, TX started by the actor who played Chewbacca in Star Wars and his family, which I’ve now supported for a few years. The Peter Mayhew Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization devoted to the alleviation of disease, pain, suffering, and the financial toll brought on by life’s traumatic events. Read more>>

TODD BARROW

I’m so excited to share my story with you. This project forever changed my path to success on so many levels. When I met my close friend Sonny Burgess I had know idea where things were going to go. He had just started at a children’s hospital as a director of creative arts. After we met we started working on all kinds of projects for patients at the hospital. Then one day he showed me some blueprints for a TV/Recording studio called the CLZ zone. He asked, if I would assist in putting this together. Read more>>

Kevin Griggs

The Atlanta Hyatt Regency Downtown has always been intriguing. I can remember riding in my grandfather’s car down the connector in the 1980s and waiting for the moment we could see the blue dome of Polaris. The “UFO” shaped dome made Atlanta feel like a futuristic city in my 6 year old world. In those years it was the most rememberable feature of the skyline. This monument to John Portman’s design had been owned and operated by Hyatt Hotels Corp since it opened in 1967, In 2019 it went on the market and one of our clients was going to be the broker. “It’s a big deal.” Read more>>

Niurka Calero

The most significant project that I continue to work on is the education of my daughter Gabriella, she was born with Down syndrome, and she started school at three years old, this semester she is starting tenth grade, Gabriella started dancing at two years old, she takes classes with Straz Performance Center since she was 6 years old, she is part of the new generation cast in that institution in Tampa, Florida, where I collaborate as a volunteer mother. Read more>>

Raishlyn Grant

One of the most meaningful projects that I have worked on recently has been the release of my latest single, “I Can’t Stop”, by Ra Lioness. Which happens to be one of the names that I use as an artist. I have been singing, writing, playing instruments, and performing since grade school, and as an adult, there has been some gaps in this artistry due to life in general and the cultivation of my career as an educator. But this has not stopped me! Read more>>

Dayo Olatokun

The True Colors Arts Festival is an event I host every year (2nd year now) two give both my students and local artists a platform to showcase their talents with our community. I’m from Far Rockaway, Queens where there’s so much untapped potential. My students get the opportunity to share the stage with professional artists that look just like them and have similar backgrounds. That kind of environment and energy gives them hope that they can pursue a career doing what they love too! I started the festival in 2021 on the boardwalk of Rockaway Beach. Read more>>

Katrina Lewis

To date,…it probably is the creation of this show, ‘Beats Rhymes & Poetry’. I don’t think I’ve ever believed in something so much as I have with this production. Everybody that has been involved with the push is appreciated more than they know. I drive 2 hours to Houston to film. Knowing that I’m linking up with other creatives who respect and care about the show just as much as I do is highly respected. Read more>>

Ashley Lowery

Creating art has always been a passion of mines. I never imagined myself being an entrepreneur. In America , we are trained to be great employees but not business owners. I followed the traditional path of college and finding a “ good job”. I realized in 2020, that life is too short to follow societal norms. I could not risk losing my purpose, trying to fulfill society’s expectations of me. Read more>>

Tracy Campbell

There have been a few meaningful projects I’ve had the honor of being apart of and I would say the last couple of projects have been wildly meaningful in this season of my life. I wrapped up two films back in March: a short film entitled ‘Luther’ and a feature film entitled ‘Now I See’ both polar opposite projects and characters. ‘Luther’ is based off a true story of a man incarcerated for armed robbery and Jesus finding him in prison, restoring his life spiritually and leading him to start a ministry within his prison. To this day he’s seen hundreds of inmates saved. Read more>>

Dre Plummer

I’ve been doing music over the past 2 years, I’ve released a couple of singles and a 7 song EP, but the most meaningful project I’ve done must be the last album I wrote and produced. I decided to write this album about my personal experience as a black latino that left everything he had in his home country to move to the U.S. in search of the american dream. I worked on it for 2 years and it’s been such an emotional rollercoaster. I’ts so meaningful to me because while producing and writing the songs on the album, I couldn’t help but feel emotional because of all the good and bad experiences I went through living in this country. Read more>>

Tre Wright

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is the one I’m creating at the moment, my album. As a musician I believe that an album is you as the greatest version of yourself. It’s your Mona Lisa, your The Godfather, your To Kill a Mockingbird. I’ve been working on this project for years to ensure that it’s me at my best. From the production to the cohesiveness of each song, I want it to all sonically tell a story and put the listener inside the world I’ve created. Read more>>

Rodney Anderson Jr.

By far my most meaningful project has been working on my fantasy adventure comic book TRINITY BLADE! It’s definitely a passion project born out of my love of ALL fantasy. From the epic works of J.R.R. Tolkien, to the sourcebooks of Dungeons and Dragons and the exciting action adventures of cartoons like ThunderCats and He-Man, I dug it all! But as fun as these stories were to watch or read, there was always something that bothered me about them. If the characters were human, none of the main looked like me. Read more>>

Jacob Lyons

I think it goes without saying that the Covid pandemic caused a lot of musicians, creative, artists, etc. to either push their craft to the side or become even more inspired to create. It taught us as musicians and fans that the arts are not to be taken for granted. Not only do we need to provide more support to the community as fans, as musicians we need to perform and provide our craft on a much higher level. Read more>>

Tina Medina

Some of the most meaningful projects I have worked on have involved the community. The positive encounters with students at the community college I work for have inspired me to incorporate engaging the community as part of my art making. As a college professor I once taught a class in collaboration with another professor, combining the forces of art and history. Read more>>

Brittany Shane

I just recently put together a Tribute to the Bangles band, but I’ve wanted to do this for the longest time. My love for the bangles started in around age 11 in music class when we could take turns lip-syncing to our favorite bands. I brought in an electric guitar we had hanging around in our house as a prop and joined a few girls up in front of the class to lip sync and dance to “Walk Like An Egyptian”. I was Susanna Hoffs, the lead singer of The Bangles. I made sure to do the famous Susanna Hoffs eyes looking left to right while I sang her part. I remember feeling really cool. Like a real rockstar! This was just the beginning. Read more>>

Melanie Peralta

All of my creations are meaningful because they’re designed to help people heal but by far the most meaningful creation to me personally is the Moving Mantra Project. Sound healing music with a twist of pop culture to positively program the subconscious mind, I’m so proud of it. Not only did I write every mantra so intentionally from the deepest space of my heart but my team filled the production with frequencies and scientifically proven healing tones to positively alter the brainwave state of the listener. Read more>>

Tony G

K2Q is a platform that constantly aims to positively impact pop culture. One of the most impactful conversations that we’ve had thus far would probably be our ongoing conversations about the pursuit of self healing and therapy within the Black Community. It seems like the idea of therapy was somewhat taboo for our generations of the past, but now we’re seeing millennials, along with Generations X and Z stand at the forefront of these conversations as we all try to navigate beyond the traumas of the everyday Black experience. Read more>>

ENIA “FLAVA P” PATTERSON

My style of plating my food has taken on such a brilliant identity. I am surrounded by a lot of dope chefs, and while my intention is to always show love…..The main goal is to always show out. I paint canvases with edible products and plate my food directly on top of the canvas. I started experimenting with painting with and preserving them a little over a year ago and I couldn’t be more proud of the recognition it has accrued. No one had ever heard of such of thing so there was no guidance. My heart led me to do something so innovative and raw! Read more>>

Jonny O’Brien

I think the project that has meant the most to me so far is the record I just finished recording. I’ve played in a lot of bands over the past 15 years, but they always seemed to have an ‘agreed upon’ sound or directions amongst the group members. Embarking on this solo record, after taking some time away from music, has been a sort of, reintroduction to myself and I am discovering new things about what makes me me. Read more>>