Our Team
We are changemakers committed to helping young people and communities thrive.
Dalouge Smith
Founder and Executive Director
Dalouge Smith is Founder and Executive Director of Creating Abundance Collaborative. He has over 20 years of Creative Youth Development (CYD) executive leadership experience in philanthropy and programming. He previously led The Lewis Prize for Music (2018-2024) and San Diego Youth Symphony (2005-2018). At The Lewis Prize, he managed $20M in award making to over 80 systems change oriented CYD organizations as well as network building, research, and visibility activities to strengthen the CYD field. In 2024, Dalouge envisioned and launched CAC to expand CYD’s cross-sector alliances.
At San Diego Youth Symphony (SDYS), he mobilized the restoration of in-school music and arts instruction for 40,000 students in two San Diego County school districts. Dalouge has been a presenter and writer for the National Endowment for the Arts, BoardSource, El Sistema USA, League of American Orchestras, Hechinger Report, The Ensemble, Californians for the Arts, CREATE CA, UC San Diego, TEDx San Diego, Music Impact Coalition, and San Diego Union Tribune. Dalouge holds a Bachelor of Arts in World Arts and Cultures from UCLA, studied Gandhi’s non-violent political movement for a year in India, was a child actor in professional theatre productions, and grew up singing Irish folk songs at family gatherings around his grandfather’s piano.
Karen Cueva
Deputy Director
Karen Cueva works at the intersection of arts, education, and social impact to advance youth voice and strengthen creative communities. She currently works as the Deputy Director of the Creating Abundance Collaborative, where she leads initiatives connecting and researching the creative youth development field in cross-sector partnership with leaders across workforce development and youth mental health. CAC was incubated at The Lewis Prize for Music, a five-year $20 million philanthropy where she was the Head of Operations. Karen launched her administrative career at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, where she curated PlayUSA, a professional development and regranting program, serving a network of over twenty community music education organizations across the United States. Karen has earned degrees from The Juilliard School (B.M., M.M., Violin Performance) and Harvard University (Ed.M., Arts in Education).