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For the fourth year, a group of CAMD students will have the opportunity to navigate, cover, and network their ways through one of the largest festivals in the country, SXSW in Austin, Texas. During and after the festival, the students will be sharing festival highlights, key takeaways, and tons of video footage and photos. One way to stay in touch with their adventures is by following the CAMD Instagram and the hashtag #NUatSXSW for real-time updates.

The SXSW team is a mix of undergraduate and graduate students and represent a wide variety of disciplines, and we are excited to see and hear about their experiences. Meet the crew, below, and wish them well on their travels to Austin!

Madison Mitteness 

Madison is a fourth year Music Industry and Media and Screen Studies Student. At South by Southwest, she is most looking forward to attending events that are about Broadway and seeing how such productions are created. She’s also interested in the standup comedy scene, so she is excited to attend some of the comedy events. After attending this conference, she is hoping to bring back a new perspective on how the different entertainment industries influence each other and gain new knowledge and skills to incorporate when she is creating her own projects.

Eva Maldonado

Eva is a fifth year Journalism major. She’s flying directly to Austin from her spring break trip in the Dominican Republic for South by Southwest so she doesn’t miss the world premiere of Us, a film directed by Jordan Peele. This is one of her all-time most anticipated films. Her ultimate goal for SXSW is to meet genuine and daring creatives who can help her pursue her postgraduate career in documentary or feature film production.

Josh Svoboda

Josh is a Marketing and Interactive Media major in his fourth year at Northeastern. He is most looking forward to hearing from influential people from various companies and organizations that he follows, specifically a designer from Nike and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from US Congress. Besides that, he thinks the free food and assortment of music pop ups should make for a fun and engaging event. After SXSW, he hopes to be able to think more critically about complex issues and be able to look at these issues from a new perspective. He expressed that it’s easy to get stuck in one way of thinking, but at SXSW he wants to learn how to pull from various schools of thought to come up with creative solutions.

Cairo Marques-Neto

Cairo is a Music Industry student graduating this year and is most looking forward to checking out showcases featuring independent artists or hosted by independent labels. He’s excited for the great opportunity to see some amazing developing talents and to be given a glimpse into those who may soon be defining players in their respective scenes. He also believes this will be a great place to meet others who are passionate about the music they make and the artists with whom they work. Cairo hopes to bring back a new perspective on the future of the music industry; since many panels on the music track will be focusing on the new era “creative-led” industry practices, or what some call “Music Industry 3.0”.

Claire Coletti 

Claire is working towards a Master’s in Architecture. First, she is most looking forward to the opportunity to be visible, representing not only herself, but also the amazing places and communities that have enabled her to be at the conference, like CAMD and Northeastern. She also can’t wait to be surrounded by so many of the movers and shakers currently changing the world; artistic, entrepreneurial, and otherwise, and the opportunity to learn from them. Claire is hoping to bring back a new perspective on where she, and her collective university family, fit on a national, and even international map, and the opportunity to grow from this perspective. She also looks forward to meeting people who are like her (cross-disciplinary, cross-identity) and who have succeeded and pioneered in their fields, and bring back a unique perspective informed by their own growth.

Brenna Sorkin

Brenna is a Human Centered Software & Interaction Design student in her fourth and final year. Her independent major has similarities to Computer Science and Interaction Design. She is most looking forward to talks about the future of healthcare and how designing for the patient will be at its core! The abundance of BBQ food there is also enticing to her. She hopes to bring back from SXSW renewed inspiration about patient care and new perspectives on thinking outside the box in terms of healthcare.

Andrew Goldberg

Andrew studies Music Industry and is slated to graduate in 2020. He is excited to head down to Austin to experience the wave of upcoming artists laying the bedrock for 2019’s music. He thinks that keeping up to date online is one thing, but being able to interact with and gauge live performances first-hand is something to be had. While he’s down there, he’ll be working on documenting the unique festival experience in a podcast series. Through artist interviews and encounters with industry professionals, he is hoping to give a detailed account of what has made SXSW so famous. Andrew hopes that his time taking field recordings will better inform him of how the music industry will set itself up for the future, and allow him to reference new ideas and concepts in the classroom and on co-op.

Robert Steiner

Robert, in his fourth year, studies Music Industry and has a minor in Music Recording. He is most looking forward to the music festival and being able to see so many diverse artists. He’s found so many musicians through SXSW coverage over the years, so he is really excited to discover new favorites in person for the first time. He aims to come back from Austin with writing and media coverage of which he can be proud. On a greater scale, he hopes to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the creative industries and the many diverse figures shaping them for the future. As he is graduating in May, he looks forward to hearing firsthand from people thriving in the music and journalism industries, as well as from those from other professions that he hopes to be a part of in the very near future.

Josh Sullivan

Josh is a Media Innovation Graduate Student in his first year. He admits that he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t looking forward to the tacos the most, but attending a seminar about the (nonprofit journalism publication) Texas Tribune’s success will be one of the items circled on his calendar. If he comes back to Boston with a bunch of new bands to recommend to his friends and some insight into how things like artificial intelligence are shaping the future landscape of the news, he will consider the trip a success.

Martin Gutierrez

Martin is pursuing a Master of Science in Music Industry Leadership at Northeastern. He is most interested in attending sessions related to the live music industry and the development of new marketing techniques for artists and brands. He is also looking forward to discovering great upcoming bands and meeting with others who are just as passionate about the music industry as he is. As a label owner, live festival manager, and music curator, he is sure that after attending such a legendary gathering, he is going to take home with him new creative ideas on how to continue managing his personal projects.