Gaia Amelia Sanchez Santos, LGB 2025

Gaia Amelia Sanchez Santos

La Grande Boissière, 2025

Student in Strategic Design & Management at Parsons School of Design

USA

Where to find more about the Gallery Society: 
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-gallery-society/
https://www.instagram.com/thegallerysocietyco/ 

We recently had the pleasure of discovering a wonderful project founded by one of our alumni. Gaia Amelia Sanchez Santos (LGB 2025), who recently left Ecolint to pursue her studies in Strategy, Design, and Management in New York City, has launched The Gallery Society, a beautiful initiative that shines a spotlight on young artists while creating a space for young people to meet, connect, and exchange ideas.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and tell us what the Gallery Society is about?

My name is Gaia Amelia Sanchez Santos. I’m 19 years old and currently a Dean’s List student at Parsons School of Design in New York City, studying Strategic Design & Management (BBA) with a minor in Art History. I chose Strategic Design & Management because I learned early on how important it is to build a broad, rigorous foundation in a field before hyper-fixating on a niche. This major has trained me to think strategically about the entire ecosystem behind creative work: design production, brand positioning, and market understanding. It’s taught me how to navigate an ever-changing creative world and, more importantly, how to lead within it as a business-minded creative.

My minor in Art History stems from the same belief. I want to understand the past of what I’m passionate about in order to build a stronger future in it. It’s important to me to acknowledge and credit the thinkers and artists who shaped the cultural narratives we live in today. Art history keeps me aware that culture isn’t random, it’s constructed, challenged, and refined across time, and that understanding lineage is part of creating work that matters.

In July 2025, I founded The Gallery Society. It is a curated platform that scouts emerging artists and musicians and brings them into real-world visibility through carefully designed, gallery-style social events. It’s built to bridge two gaps at once: the opportunity gap for young creatives and the social gap of my generation lacking meaningful third spaces where people can meet, connect, and experience culture in real life.

What inspired you to start this project, and how did the idea first come to you? 

I’m someone who is constantly thinking, my mind is a cycle of observing the state of our markets, our societies, and culture, and then asking myself how I want to be part of the change that makes things better. 

The idea for The Gallery Society came from noticing a huge gap in the creative world: young creatives are incredibly talented, but access to top roles and opportunities is still scarce. A lot of the industry still runs on networks, proximity, and privilege. If you don’t know the right people, live in the right city, or have the financial freedom to take unpaid internships and “be around,” your talent alone often isn’t enough to get you in the room. at the same time, I was thinking about how socially fragmented my generation feels. There’s a lack of third spaces, places outside of school and work where people can meet, build community, and have meaningful conversations. Everything is either formal or digital, and something is missing. So I wanted to create a model that solves both. I scout a set of emerging creatives, reach out to them directly, and then host curated gallery-style events where people can experience the work, connect, and actually enjoy being in a cultural space. The core belief is simple: the right room can change someone’s trajectory.

What impact do you hope your project will have in the short and long term?

In the short term, I want The Gallery Society to create tangible momentum for emerging creatives: visibility, community, collaboration, confidence, and access to people and opportunities that would otherwise take years to reach.

We’ve already seen this begin. For our first event, I hosted a Jazz Night. I scouted a group of freshman jazz majors and discovered an incredible talent. I curated a loft space in Brooklyn featuring the work of five Parsons artists, and we created a full cultural experience combining live music and visual art. All expenses were covered through ticket sales and investor funds. We hosted 85 attendees, and most importantly, the artists and musicians gained real recognition and support. After the event, the jazz group’s engagement shifted dramatically—posts that had been reaching around 4,000 views jumped to 160,000+ views.

Our second event was a Tiny Desk–style concert, and we were able to bring LIIM, a rapper who ranked among the top three most-listened-to emerging young artists of 2025, to perform live with one of the jazz musicians from our first event. It was an intimate, beautiful atmosphere, and I’m genuinely honored that The Gallery Society can be part of the rise of artists like him.

In the long term, I want The Gallery Society to become a cultural infrastructure—something that consistently creates real opportunities and becomes known as a place where talent is discovered and supported. I want it to be a platform that elevates young creatives while strengthening culture and community at the same time.

What are your main goals for the next few years, both for the project and for your own career/personal development?

My goal is for The Gallery Society to evolve into a luxury creative consultancy and cultural agency.

The vision is that we represent a strong network of creatives and serve as a bridge between talent and demand. Brands, companies, institutions, and individuals who need exceptional creative minds for projects would come to us—and we would provide them with the right people.

That could mean anything from art dealership to set designers, music producers, stylists, hair braiders for fashion shows, or even larger-scale work like design for sustainability or governmental design projects. I genuinely believe this generation has something brilliant to offer in terms of creative production, and my values of culture and excellence push me to build something that will have a seat at the head of the creative table on a global scale.

Over the next few years, I want to introduce The Gallery Society to the world officially—through press and cultural platforms, ideally something like Vogue or a publication aligned with our identity. I also want to keep hosting our events consistently, expand the team, and optimize the workflow so the project can scale with structure. For my personal career development, I’m committed to continuing internships alongside school. It’s important to me to keep learning, expand my horizons within the industry, and stay close to the realities of high-level work. I want to keep studying, keep building, and keep developing, while maintaining my character and staying aligned with what truly matters to me.

What advice would you give to students at Ecolint who will soon be heading off to university?

Go into university with an open mind. Don’t lock yourself into one identity too early, and don’t over-plan your life. It’s good not to have too many expectations, because you truly don’t know who you’ll meet or what you’ll achieve until you’re in it. Give it your all, these are formative years. Put your cards on the table. Take risks. If you make mistakes, it’s fine, this is the time to do it. The students who grow the most aren’t always the ones with the perfect plan, they’re the ones who stay curious, move boldly, and build something real.

We wish Gaia every success as she continues to grow this exciting project, and we’re certain this won’t be the last we hear of The Gallery Society. If you’d like to follow along and support her journey, be sure to connect with the project on Instagram or LinkedIn…we have a feeling there’s much more to come!