iām so happy to share the first #whatisvital project that i did with the youth from @covenanthousecalifornia this year. if youāre not familiar, the cov (as they call it) is a non denominational youth homeless shelter based in LA but with a national reach through shelters in many major cities. i grew up really aware that youth are the most vital voices to a city and i was lucky that nashville had a lot of places to let youth take active roles in making the city better. one of those places in nashville is called the @oasiscenternashville. i served on their board of directors when i was just a teenager. as iāve grown up iāve always thought that i would find a way to combine my love of helping people with my own passion for creation and collaboration. thus the #whatisvital project was born. itās not enough for me to tell you what is vital. instead i wanted to ask the question to someone besides myself. open up the question and let it be more than about the music. truthfully the music comes from this question. the question is what has been guiding me. i took disposable cameras and handed them out to the youth at the cov and asked them to shoot āwhat is vitalā. i gave them journals to write down their thoughts after i developed the photos. what came from this surprised me. i donāt know what i expected exactly, but they taught me that often āwhat is vitalā is a shared experience. what is vital to you, to me, to them .. are we really all that different? love. shelter. passion. communication. in some way we are connected by a source greater than our differences. if you want to do this project yourself ā grab a disposable or film camera and shoot. share with the hashtag #whatisvital. and better yet ā if iām coming to a city and your school or community group wants to participate. send an email to [email protected] and letās figure it out ā„ļø thanks to many people but especially @alanaweinroth from the cov for letting me be a part of your beautiful community. you are what is vital to me āØ