2020 Creative Silver Linings

Before jumping into the new year, I took some time over the holidays to reflect on 2020 coming to a close.

It is hard to describe what has transpired in the last eleven months. More difficult is that we all just lived it. So, instead of taking the customary approach to a end of year review, I think it is important to highlight those who have changed me in positive ways this year.

The first organization is Gray Area, an art and technology non-profit based in the Mission District of San Francisco. Over the years they have offered me opportunities to showcase my work and challenge my creative practice. This year, we collaborated with the online gallery Sedition Art to exhibit the work I created over my master's studies in Paris. The sales of four of these digital works (one of which pictured above), benefit Gray Area. This comes at a time when they are in great need of support as they continue to find creative solutions during the lockdown in California.

In July I received an email from a bright and eager computer science student based in Pune, India. Ashutosh was starting his third year and part of his studies was to undertake an internship. He also loves Typatone, the text-to-music application I made in 2015 with Lullatone. To my surprise, he insisted on being my intern. After an initial interview, we decided on adding a highly requested feature: download a message in both audio and midi formats. We worked together to come up with a meaningful curriculum. After ten weeks of working together, we released the download function in the second week of December.

I am extremely proud of the energy Ashutosh brought to this project and it has made me reconsider internship programs. If you or someone you know is looking for real-world app development experience, please get in touch.

Wishing you a safe and joyous remainder to your holidays. And see you in 2021,

—Jono