There are no doubts about the fact that the open mic scene in Bhubaneswar is in full bloom. Several artists including rappers, stand-up comedians and spoken word poets are vying for their spot in the limelight. When the demand increases, so does the supply and hence, several events are mushrooming which give these artists a chance to showcase their talent to the audience. One such initiative, which claims to be much more than that, was started by three students from KIIT, Rounak Roy Chowdhury, Arnab Dasgupta and Ritaprava Basu. "Every students wants to do something creative, something out of the box and not be restricted by books alone," says Rounak, describing the vibe of youngsters. Hence, Udaan Events, an event management initiative, aims to serve as an outlet of this creativity and give artists wings to fly.
Udaan Events took off in October when they organised their first poetry and stand-up comedy event in collaboration with Voices of Inner Minds, a community of artists. Their second month came in November and soon, they become unstoppable. On February 8 and 9, Udaan Events managed to spread their wings to Kolkata as well by conducting an event in collaboration with Tales to Tell, a community of artists. During the two days, a writing workshop, a slam poetry competition with a performance The Kalkutta Komedians thrown in were held. That's some lineup!
What sets apart Udaan Events is that they don't charge performers for stage time. "Students themselves are often living on a tight budget, we don't want to make money by charging them," explains Rounak. Their aim is organising more events so that more talent is encouraged. "We are not a start-up, we are not doing this for revenues. We want to build a brand for ourselves," says the 19-year-old Rounak, who seems to have the gift of the gab. The way he strikes a deal with bigger groups is by telling them that if one needs to reach out to masses, they need to collaborate with small event management companies, after all, no one was born large. "I also tell them that since we are students, we can connect them to other students who might want to invite them for college fests," he explains. He even gets cafés to give them venues by promising that at least a few participants will buy food. These and many other tips Udaan and their team members store safely in their bag of tricks.
Talking about promotions, Rounak also credits the venture's success to the marketing team, who are making full use of social media platforms and word of mouth to spread the word about their events. Currently, they are looking for funds so that they can keep doing what they are doing and the way they are doing it.
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