Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ari Baeza. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ari, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Right now, for me, my most meaningful project is a tie between Crawl Space’s upcoming album, and the organization of Fledge Fest. Both for the same reason too. I feel immense pride, satisfaction, and an emotional ease from the things I’ve done with Crawl Spaces alongside my bandmate, Jaxon. Our newest album is our best work yet, and reflects the story I want to tell with my art perfectly. In the same way, Fledge Fest brings me near-deadly amounts of joy. To see the community come together and support Fledge Fest’s goal of complete accessibility, and the uplifting the community. The only things I want in life are to create art, in whatever form it may be at the time, to be good to the people I care about, and to do good for the community.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

At this point in my life, I’m a lot of things. What matters most, though, is that I am a creative, an organizer, and a proud communist. My goal is to make who I am and what I care about known in everything I do. The music I make with my band Crawl Spaces reflects the hard life lived in this country, what it does to your humanity, and the things that should change. The events I organize are meant to showoff the talents and skills of EVERYBODY. I aim to pay EVERYONE I can when I need help, because we should all value our time more than what this country gives. I do what I can, when I can, to help my community grow stronger, closer together, and more self sufficient.

It started with The Fledge taking me in and teaching me what it means to truly be of service to your community. I wanted to do more for the people around me and for myself. For myself, I stopped judging myself and started making art. For the community, I volunteered at events I could make it to, I helped spread the word on resources and groups that could assist the people like me and my neighbors survive. The last 6ish years of all this culminated in what I’m most proud of today, my band Crawl Spaces. Together with my bandmate, Jaxon, we’ve created music, videos, art, a videogame, a zine, and revived Fledge Fest in the name of community. We’ve learned to tailor our own merch, find sponsors to help us pay people at shows, and push ourselves and our music to great heights.

We’ve been to Detroit, Long Island, Toronto, Montreal, Milan in the name of art and music. Now, we’ve dug our feet into the music scene, with ski-masks for all our fans that want to stand for what we stand for. We’ll only reach farther from here, playing more shows, releasing more music, art, and passion projects for the world to experience with us.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Truly and with my entire chest behind it, the release. The emotional and psychological release that comes from just the act of creation on its own, is the only reason I continue to make art to this day. I make all my art for me, other people liking it is a flattering side effect.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The only thing I’ve ever wanted to do in the sense of a “goal” is to have the income to be able to just f**king relax!!! I am so tried, I am so poor, no amount of creativity will help me survive under capitalism unless I can make money from it, unfortunately. In a more perfect world, our unethically rich country would just use it’s enormous funds to /actually/ and /meaningfully/ improve everyone’s basic living standards. We would all be able to make the best things, art, and new ways to relate to each other if we had the stability to not worry about if we’ll be evicted for calling in sick to work once.      

Contact Info:

• Website: linktr.ee/crawl_spaces
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crawl_spaces/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crawlspacesband
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBF63iZOnIogkwmY-CNIpMw
• Other: New EP: No Bright Futures in the Underground – https://open.spotify.com/album/6LdWt6j4Yqf06xXFXypTKu?utm_medium=share&utm_source=linktree