Shaping the Artistic Voice

I once read an article that discussed director Frank Galati's early fascination with Greek tragedy and how that has affected much of his work and it got my noggin' to churning. What artistic experiences shape those of us in the artistic community and how does that help to illuminate the overall landscape we see today?

I can clearly see the tendencies behind the work of Kristiana Colón or Nestor Gomez.  I can make assumptions about those moments of artistry that shaped the voices of Scott Whitehair and of Annalise Raziq.  So I asked myself "what were the five thought-shaping artistic experiences that I see as being seminal in both the work I do and the work I like?" and asked my internal Freud to connect the dots.