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What we do

"Our mission is to revolutionize the field of creativity through collaboration over competition."

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 Operations Intern

Deivy Mejia is a saxophonist and current junior at The

College of New Jersey, studying music education. He is a current member of the TCNJ Wind Ensemble, and has performed in various jazz, percussion, & wind ensembles throughout his musical career. Deivy has also performed at events such as the New Music Festival and CBDNA Eastern Division Conference premiering works like "Weather" by Rollo Dilworth. Before joining Creative Baggage, he served as a grant intern for Mantra Percussion, Inc.

Full-Stack Developer

Michael Shingo Crawford is a software developer and musician who functions within the intersections of tech and music, building applications that empower musicians to excel. As a violinist, Michael is passionate about sharing his arrangements of anime music on his Youtube channel which has garnered over 10,000 subscribers. In addition to booking over 100 events every year through his freelancing business, Michael’s engagements include performances with the Philadelphia Virtuosi as well as the World Congress for Information Technology Orchestra in Yerevan, Armenia. Michael’s compositions have been presented by performers including the Network for New Music, PRISM Quartet, Sound Energy Trio, Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians, and the Vega String Quartet.

OUR HISTORY

Creative Baggage was founded in May 2020 by Serena Huang and Bailey Spiteri as a podcast giving voice to the struggles of pursuing a career in the arts. Having graduated into the pandemic with degrees in music performance, the pair published a variety of conversations exploring what it means to be a creative in this day and age, featuring their peers and prominent figures in the industry. In September of 2021, the CB team was invited to host a live podcast event at the University of Maryland's NextNOW Fest, where they facilitated and recorded discussions surrounding creativity with students of all backgrounds.

After hearing the struggles and ideas of so many musicians and artists, the Creative Baggage team decided to focus their energies on finding practical solutions to improve the lives of their creative community. In May of 2020, they were selected to attend EnCORE Accelerando, a program in Budapest, Hungary. Following a week of workshops, the team pitched their idea for a database of opportunities for creatives at the Bach 2 the Future Conference, where their project was awarded a grant. The database "For the Lost Creative" launched in September 2022 thanks to the generous support of the EnCore Accelerando Grant, as well as sponsors: Flute360, Elizabeth Rowe, and the Flute Center of New York. The CB team looks forward to continuing to expand the database and develop new resources to help creatives build fulfilling careers.

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