Pune native Suhani Dhadphale, 19 years old, blames a lack of chances in the creative area on the compartmentalization of schooling and a narrow view of the arts and creative industries. Students are dissuaded from entering the pitch because of its low pay and narrow potential for innovation. But her determination gave us the best monday motivation kind of story.
This is what inspired Suhani to start Sangam India, a community for innovators and doers. Sangam, which launched in early 2020 and is situated in Pune, employs a staff of 32 young people (aged 14 to 24) and hosts a community of more than 600 Indian artists. It is well-known for hosting events where creative professionals and company owners may network and share their work.
Monday Motivation – for her was outbreak of corona
Suhani was just a normal kid who couldn’t go out of the house during the lockdown. She became interested in Instagram as a platform for artists and content producers as she saw how it might help them get exposure and showcase their work.
She was not okay to sit idle all day and do nothing, to keep herself engaged, she decided to give it a go. Since the time she was a little girl, poetry writing and the performing arts have had a special place in her heart. She aimed to combine the two disciplines in some way.
Then she realised there was nowhere for artists to go where they could test out new ideas and get their work seen,”. Sangam began as an Instagram page where Suhani and her friends shared films they had made in a series in which they interviewed various individuals about their experiences in the arts.
Sangam seeks to monetize creativity. “We based our proposal off of it,” explains Suhani. Suhani had been working alone at first. After a few months, she had recruited a core staff of three individuals committed to helping artists thrive.
A lot of individuals came up to them when they began posting about who they are on Instagram, wanting to show them their work or tell them about their experiences. Back then, all they were doing was testing the waters.
Therefore, Suhani explains, “we used to gladly embrace their art or anything they wanted to put out there.” Suhani is one of many young people from all around the nation working on important topics as part of the Ashoka Young Changemakers cohort.
broadening one’s perspective
The group began planning public performances in 2020, including open mic nights and music festivals. Zoom, Google Meet, and Instagram Live were the primary digital event platforms. Throughout the years, she had a crystal clear idea of how she wanted Sangam to expand, how her team envisions it happening, and how the sum of those ideas can fill a need in the market by monetizing art.
Due to the lack of economic incentives, art is still seen as a frivolity rather than a need in India. “I wanted to provide the industry some form of organisation via Sangam in order to give artists their portion of financial shares in order to demonstrate that it can be a dependable income stream,” Suhani says of the industry’s predicament.
According to Suhani, she receives requests from poets, musicians, and singers on Instagram to work together. Thier Instagram following is about 3,000 strong, however our overall reach fluctuates between 20k to 40k. Most of these artists, Suhani chimes in, are rather young. Sangam not only gives artists a financial cut, but also offers them free courses and training that may be used to further their careers in the future.
Sangam has been investing the proceeds from one successful event into the next after receiving initial funding from Suhani’s father. Suhani adds, “It was in December 2020, during the height of the lockdown, that we held our first online event. As many artists and innovators were eager to network with us, we decided to host a digital and online art festival.
they aimed to give them a comprehensive view of the power of art and its commercial potential. Their goal in hosting the event was to inspire self-assurance in creative endeavors amongst the industry’s natives. The event lasted for a whole week. And they had a number of well-known figures in the pitch speak.
Sangam India is currently growing to new cities around India, with Pune and Mumbai serving as its primary offline event locations for the time being. Yet, expanding the company was not easy. Several others attempted to discourage her because of her young age, arguing that she should prioritize her schoolwork and that Sangam is no longer necessary.
Suhani, though, claims she got even more resolved. She wants to bridge the gap in the market by supporting all types of creative expression. In addition to leading Sangam, Suhani is a BSc economics student at Pune’s Gokhale School of Politics and Economics.
With this unique initiative she is Empowering artists and at the same time finding a new way to allow all the artists to make space in the fast-paced world of social media. now that’s what a real Monday motivation story is built from.
If you loved reading this story, you can also read about 7 Indian Child Prodigy that made India proud in 2021
We at Mad 4 India are looking up for inspiring stories from the motherland that enlightens the world. If you have a story share us on Facebook or LinkedIn.
