Creativity Clusters

NEW PBS SERIES

• Title: CREATIVITY CLUSTERS

• Creator/Producer/Host: Roberto Mighty

• Logline: communities of artistic genius

• Genre: Travel - Arts - History - Doc

• Format: 6/30 Fall 2026

• Broadcast, Streaming, Vertical, Podcast and Social Streams

• Distributor: American Public Television (APT)

Roberto Mighty is the creator, producer and host of CREATIVITY CLUSTERS, an exciting new series about worldwide “communities of artistic genius”, heading to PBS broadcasting and online streaming in 2026, distributed by American Public Television.

SYNOPSIS

Detroit, Mexico City, Liverpool, Seoul, New York, Paris. And more…

Certain places are synonymous with spectacular leaps in Music, Comedy, Literature, Cinema, Cuisine, Gaming, Art, Dance, and more.

What is it about these “creativity clusters” that draws innovators to them? Can these traits be replicated? Where are the new clusters forming?

Join Producer/Host Roberto Mighty as he travels around the world, investigating the fascinating people, places and times of  CREATIVITY CLUSTERS.

Series Multi-Screen Engagement

EPISODES

Hip-Hop

Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and others combine elements of poetry, rap, turntabling and rhythm to create a controversial worldwide cultural phenomenon: Hip Hop. We also visit today’s Atlanta music scene

Folk Revival

Later to become legends, singer/songwriters like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Odetta and Dave Van Ronk perform in tiny coffeehouses and clubs around Greenwich Village. Their music is acoustic. Their ideas – like civil rights and the peace movement – are electrifying. We also check out today’s folk scene in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Contemporary

Soul

In South London, an extraordinary institution trains some of today’s most popular singers: Amy Winehouse, Adele, and Raye. Join us as we investigate their phenomenal training ground, where “…alumni have collectively sold hundreds of millions of albums, generated billions of streams, and won dozens of major awards (Grammys, BRIT Awards, BAFTAs, etc.”

Dungeons & Dragons

Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, 1967: Influenced by fellow war gamers and the mythology of JRR Tolkien, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson develop the fantasy tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. We also visit today’s “TTRP” gaming scene

Renaissance Painters

Florence, 1503. Leonardo DaVinci, the older genius, and Michelangelo, the young upstart, are NOT friends. They are intense rivals, each without equal, with mutual respect, but each determined to outdo the other on an incredible assignment: paintings on the same wall, for all of Florence to see. Who will win? Who will lose? Who will go down in history as the greatest artist of all time? We also check out today’s painting scene in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Bad Bunny

Puerto Rico, 2016: In a small-town supermarket, 14-year-old Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio bags groceries by day and pours his soul into beats by night. Two years later, Cardi B teams up with him, and Benito’s explosive fusion of rap, Latin trap, reggaetón, salsa, merengue, and pop rockets the former Catholic-school-choir kid — now “Bad Bunny” — from obscurity to global superstardom and the 2026 Super Bowl stage. In this episode, we fly to “La Isla Linda,” dive into its electric urban-music scene, and search for the next Borinquen breakout star.

Marvel Comics

Midtown Manhattan, 1961: Stan Lee teams up with Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and several others, making Marvel Comics, Spider Man and The Avengers household names. Lawsuits follow. Nonetheless, they pave the way for today’s multibillion dollar “angsty superhero” entertainment empires. In another episode, we visit today’s Pacific Northwest indie graphic novelists

The Sisterhood

Brooklyn, 1977: Prominent and rising black women writers come together in “The Sisterhood.” Members include Toni Morrison (“Beloved”), Alice Walker (“The Color Purple”) and Ntozake Shange (“For Colored Girls…”). In another episode, we also visit today’s Atlanta women’s writing scene

The Beatles

In the early ‘60’s, underground venues like The Cavern Club drive young people wild with “Merseybeat”. One Liverpudlian band, with teenagers John Lennon and Paul McCartney, goes on to worldwide fame: The Beatles. In another episode, we also visit today’s South London contemporary soul scene

¡Salsa!

Jerry Masucci and Johnny Pacheco found the Fania Records label. Their take on Afro-Cuban dance music comes to be known as “Salsa”. Emerging stars like Tito Puente, Celia Cruz and Willie Colón become worldwide cultural ambassadors. In another episode, we visit Puerto Rico and the story of contemporary Latin music superstar Bad Bunny

Second City

Chicago, 1959: Three actors open an improvisational theater troupe: The Second City. Members later include Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Keegan Michael-Key, and many others. In another episode, we also check out today’s live comedy scene in Austin, Texas

Pop Art

Manhattan, 1979: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and John Scharf meet at the School for Visual Arts. They and Andy Warhol embody the Neo-Expressionist and Pop Art movements. In another episode, we visit today’s Berlin arts scene in the Neukölln neighborhood

Georgia O’Keeffe and Ansel Adams

New Mexico: Between world wars, Artists Georgia O’Keefe, John Marin and Andrew Dasburg; photographers Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Strand; and writer D.H. Lawrence gather at Mabel Dodge Luhan's estate in Taos. Movements are born across disciplines. In another episode, we visit today’s art scene in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Motown

Detroit, 1950’s: Former professional boxer and Korean War veteran Berry Gordy, Jr. opens a record store, writing songs on the side. His song for Jackie Wilson reaches Top 10…in the UK. Pressing on, Gordy, his siblings and other Detroit locals keep writing and producing songs. In 1957, he starts a record company, encouraged by his new friend, Smokey Robinson. The rest…is history. In another episode, we check out today’s New Orleans neo-soul music scene

K-POP

 Seoul, 1992: Boy band ‘Seo Taiji and Boys’ score a surprise hit with a mixture of Hip-Hop, New Jack Swing, rap and dance choreography. K-Pop’s humble beginnings lead to PSY’s Gangnam style, the world’s first billion-view song on YouTube. In another episode, we visit one of today’s K-Pop training camps in Seoul, South Korea

Black Paris + Today’s “Blaxit”

Paris, 1940’s. What did novelist James Baldwin, entertainer Josephine Baker, and Jazz Saxophonist Dexter Gordon have in common? They all left the United States early in their careers and became expats in France. Later, they were world famous. In another episode, we check out today’s American arts expat scene in Tulum, Mexico

Concord

Concord, 1837: After a brief introduction, Ralph Waldo Emerson happens to give a commencement speech at Henry David Thoreau’s Harvard Graduation. They become friends, and Emerson mentors Thoreau. Thoreau becomes a mentor to a neighborhood child named Louisa May Alcott. The Concord Transcendentalists influence philosophical thought, civil conduct, government affairs and novel writing for the next 187 years. In another episode, we check out today’s writing scene in Iowa City