This is the email that went out, along with the latest project instructions, on Christmas Eve to email list subscribers:
Dear Members of the Disquiet Junto,
Next Thursday is the first day of 2026, which means that this week’s project is the last one of 2025. If you’ve been involved in the Junto — or followed it — for some time, you likely know what this week’s and next week’s projects are going to entail, since we do the “diary project” at the end of every year, and the “ice project” at the start of every year.
We just finished up the 729th consecutive weekly Disquiet Junto project, and it went great. I had a sense that, as this year came to a close, a “shared sample” project would be a particularly welcome opportunity for people, the idea of everyone involved, wherever in the world, using the same source audio to make something new, something personal. To listen back (at llllllll.co and soundcloud.com) to the work of the four dozen or so musicians who participated is a downright kaleidoscopic experience, hearing that 100-year-old recording broken up and reconfigured to so many different creative ends. We do shared sample projects on occasion in the Junto, and I have a feeling that this year’s may be the start of another annual community tradition.
If you’re reading this, I can’t thank you enough for your contribution to the Junto, whether you’re just following along, or participating on occasion, or inviting others to join in, or spreading the word. The Disquiet Junto turns 14 years old next Thursday, January 1, 2026, and I can’t wait to hear what we all do together in the coming year. The 750th consecutive Disquiet Junto project is just 20 weeks away, and the 15th anniversary of the Junto is a year away. That 15th anniversary will coincide, perchance, with the 300th anniversary of the founding, by Benjamin Franklin, of the original Junto way back in 1727. So, lots of creative resources and inspiration await.
And that covers it. Thanks, as always, for your generosity with your time, creativity, and curiosity. I know the holidays can be hard for some folks, and if the Junto community can take the edge off, that’s great. Whatever your engagement in the Junto, please never feel any pressure to participate, to post, or to comment. The whole point of it being weekly is that it’s there, dependably, when you have both the time and the interest.
Best from San Francisco,
Marc Weidenbaum
[email protected]