Art finds a new room

Culture spaces in the city are no longer synonymous with prudish audiences, aligned seats and a stage with a spotlight. Alternate culture spaces are giving both — budding artistes and experimental audiences, a platform to explore new talent and reinvent the cultural scene. Such has been its reception that The Hive and the Jeff Goldberg Studio, two of the trailblazers in the field, are in the process of drawing the curtains on their existing studios, only to move out to bigger, better places. So what is it about these spaces that the city seems to have taken to them so seamlessly?  

One reason for the boom in the space is that the audience’s realisation about how there is more to entertainment than just the cinemas and Bollywood, says New York-based artist Jeff Goldberg, who has been running the Jeff Goldberg Studio in Bandra for the past three years. “For a really long time, Bollywood had a monopoly over the entertainment space — it was more or less the only source of entertainment for the past few decades,” he says, further adding that this scene is changing because of the influx not just alternate culture spaces but also ‘alternate sources of entertainment’ such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and online channels like The Viral Fever that are now easily available at one’s fingertips and are delivering more than just mainstream material.

A play in action at Clap

Sumit Vaswani, cultural manager at Antisocial, a live performing space that functions in Khar, concurs. Part of the reason that the audience expects fresh entertainment is for the experience. “People want to experience new things because they are getting smarter. They no longer want to go for a rundown movie in a theatre — they’d rather watch an independent movie at a bar,” explains Sumit. Antisocial Mumbai is barely a year old and has already penetrated the indie scene fairly deep by partnering with and hosting independent bands and culture groups. But, Antisocial comes with experience and backing of years from Delhi before opening up in Mumbai.

Mishti Verma, the owner and events curator at Clap, an alternate space that functions from Malad, says that the trick is to look towards a holistic development and resisting the urge to want to go straight to the top. “When we envisioned Clap, we didn’t want to compare ourselves with the biggies in the business (like The Hive, The Cuckoo Club). We wanted to build on our own foundation,” she says. Clap, which opened its doors to the public last year, has since hosted several theatre groups, bands and upcoming artists.

Jeff Goldberg performing a play at The Jeff Goldberg Studio

The primary revenue for most of these culture spaces largely comes from the workshops they host and the classes they take. For the Jeff Goldberg Studio, the method-acting course that Jeff conducts brings in the real dough. On the other hand, Clap and the fairly new entrants in the scene such as Studio Mojo (also in Malad) generate revenue from workshops and pop-ups. However, The Hive and Cuckoo Club, are solely performance-based spaces and generate a revenue from the same.

That the audience is seeking an alternate form of entertainment is no news, but how does one tell what the audience really wants? Jeff says it is impossible to really know what the audience wants. “Anyone who knows what goes on in the minds of the audiences must be minting money,” he laughs. However, he points out that there has always been an appetite for live performances. “We haven’t tapped into anything new — people have always wanted to witness live entertainment. It’s just that now it is more easily available and is even qualitative.”

The Hive and The Cuckoo Club are relatively older alternate spaces. The Hive started functioning back in 2008 and since then has brought in a whole new wave of alternate means of entertainment. Run by husband-wife duo Sudeip Nair and Sharin Bhatti Nair, the space paved the way for live events. “Back when we started, we had to do off-built events to attract an audience. Today, this audience is more than willing to attend an alternate show, but the scene was different back then, recalls Sudeip. “We had to tell them that alternate entertainment is better and then cultivate on it,” he adds.

Jeff, however, has little idea on how to get the audience’s attention. “The first step is to make sure your venue is established. Let it be out there and lend your space to people. Depending on the artist you call, the audience will come. And the last step is to curate events in such a manner that the audience recognises it and will be willing to walk in,” he concludes.