“The world needs what you’re making,” and the deadline is May 29.
Release Day 2026: a collective deadline for creatives, and the built-in community to get them there
Gallery of creative projects from Release Day 2025
Sam Furness, cultural producer, experience designer, and founder of Channel Twelve, hates the word hobby.
“‘Hobby’ implies that it’s an activity that doesn’t go anywhere. Try telling that to somebody who works a 9 to 5 soulless job, but they have an art studio in their spare bedroom. That’s where they like bring their soul to life.”
“Hobbies” are exactly the things that take you places, he argues. Furness knows the power of pouring into his own creative curiosity. Years ago, when he felt he had lost his creative spark, he devoted twelve months to twelve different creative endeavors: origami, flight, movement, color, songwriting.
It’s what led him to guiding others to unlock their creative spirit at his company Channel Twelve, their Creative Quests programs, and it’s what led him to dream up Release Day in 2025.
Release Day, happening on May 29th, is a collective deadline for any kind of creative project. Projects of all kinds — zines, songs, paintings, websites, essays, and films — will be released simultaneously as a shared online gallery, tagged with #ReleaseDay2026, in what organizers are calling a global fireworks display of creativity.
“It’s a way for people to get over the procrastination, perfectionism, and fear that stops us from sharing the projects that we care about most,” says Furness. “The world needs what you’re making.”
It’s also completely free and open to anyone. This year, he’s partnering with CreativeMornings and Adobe, bringing the reach to the next level.
Tina Roth Eisenberg — founder of CreativeMornings, a global community organization that brings creatives together — met Furness when he was conducting a “virtual field trip” for CreativeMornings during COVID. Hosting thousands of people in each Zoom, these virtual gatherings were a lifeline to many creative folks. “Sam put one on that literally made my heart explode,” shares Roth Eisenberg. His virtual field trip began with the command, “Go get whatever you can to build a hat!” bringing joy to the crowd, with his unicorn enthusiasm that just bulldozes every cynic.”
Roth Eisenburg believes that to be creative is to be optimistic, and also that “living life is inherently a creative act.” Sometimes, she acknowledges, people need permission to define themselves as a creative person.
And it’s the community that gets them there. An expert in creating convenings for creative folks around the world, she’s learned that meaningful convenings foster bravery. “We need more spaces where… you become brave because the environment is so kind.” As a result, people dare to share their work. “They dare to take the mic and pitch themselves. They dare to start a club and create community around something they love.”
This is the exact sentiment that Furness has brought to his vision for Release Day. When you sign up for Release Day, you get access to weekly workshops and an online community of other creatives with the same shared goal.
Find a full Design Juice interview with Furness and Roth Eisenberg here for insights on community, convening, and building a creative practice.
Rachel Paese
Deputy Editor
LinkedIn
Rachel@designobserver.com
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This edition of The Observatory was edited by Ellen McGirt.
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