Why Hyderabad-based Tree Huggers Club sang 'We Don't Need No Education' to mark their 5th anniversary

Tree Huggers Club, the organisation dedicated to helping artists attain sustainability, recently celebrated their fifth year anniversary
Amancherla left her job at Google to start Tree Huggers Club. To sustain it, she initially worked as a corporate trainer
Amancherla left her job at Google to start Tree Huggers Club. To sustain it, she initially worked as a corporate trainer

150 musicians jamming to Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall. The base, acoustic and electric guitars blending in seamlessly with the drums and the vocalists singing those famous opening lines: We don't need no education. This is what People's Collective is really about. It's not just a three-minute video where artists jam to the iconic song that's a protest against rigid education, it's the collective voice of the artists that matters and one must pay attention to it, says Supreeta Amancherla. This video, which will release soon, is not only a celebration of the artists but also marked the five year anniversary of the Tree Huggers Club, an organisation that Amancherla started to help artists and creative entrepreneurs who make art and aspire to make a mark for themselves as well. And when we say 'help', we mean everything from helping them take off, conceptualising, business consultation, teaching them about digital marketing, social media, public relations and beyond. Basically, mentoring and guiding artists through the whole process of 'making it big'. 

Though Hyderabad has commercial platforms and markets, certain artists cannot afford to exhibit here. We wanted to create a platform that is accessible


Supreeta Amancherla, Founder, Tree Huggers Club

Coming back to the video, 30-year-old Amancherla says, "Tree Huggers Club is well known in the art community, but we wanted all of Hyderabad to know who we are. We wanted the government to recognise what we are doing. We wanted even other cities to know that having a sustainable career in art is possible in this city." The video is clearly making the right noise already because she also informs us that, React, a federation linked to the United Nation, is collaborating with them for the 100 Days of Peace programme. 

When we ask Amancherla about the name of the organisation, she says that they discourage the use of plastic and believe in zero wastage. Because they are friends of the environment they call themselves the Tree Huggers Club 

Amancherla's intention behind starting this club was to help artists in Hyderabad. She was frustrated with the fact that people assumed that one has to step out of the city and travel to Bengaluru or Pune to be an artist. "We have our own rich culture and heritage right here. After all, even big artists like Bryan Adams are coming to our city to perform! All I'm trying to say is that there is scope for budding artists — musicians, painters and everyone else — here as well," she explains. But putting together the video was no smooth sailing. After four to five sessions spaced out in a month, on the final day of the shoot, it was raining cats and dogs. But that did not affect the artists who had gathered at Beats Per Minute, Gachibowli on August 19 to shoot the video. 

On their own: Tree Huggers Club also designs, is into content writing and other work and that's how today, they are a self-sustaining organisation | Pic: Peddle Craft Media

Amancherla says that we can expect a lot more gigs, which they call Tree Huggers Cassette, in the coming months and more of their famous flea markets, Flea Affair. And what started with 15 artists, which has now grown to include 1,000 artists, will continue to grow, informs a happy Amancherla.   

For more on them, click on facebook.com/Treehuggerzclub/

Related Stories

No stories found.
logo
EdexLive
www.edexlive.com