The perfect platform for creative souls

Having started off in 2015 online, Nation’s Rock Beat is now a collective of over 1000 artists pan-India

Hyderabad: That art forms – performing and non-performing, are not seen as a career option is nothing new and this is exactly what motivated Shriya Gupta, a corporate employee, to start Nation’s Rock Beat (NRB) a creative house and a platform for arts of all kinds. Having started off in Hyderabad in 2015 as an online platform where creative writers and other non-performing artists like painters, photographers, etc., could showcase their work, NRB is now a collective of over 1,000 artists pan-India.

“I wanted to pursue direction and writing but like many others, I ended up in an engineering college. So just before my college started, in 2015, I started this initiative and back then it was called ‘Hyderabad Rock’,” says Shriya Gupta, the founder of NRB. Along with her team, Shriya launched a social media page where they used to connect with non-performing artists and creative writers, in addition to showcasing their work on social media.

“The page was where the creative minds could get exposure and it was also a place where people could collaborate with each other. Writers started writing captions for photographers’ pictures, and a lot of collaborative work was going on. We also started getting a lot of requests from all over the country and that’s when we named it Nation’s Rock Beat,” she explains.

Since October 2016, NRB started offline events, with Carpedium being their first one. It was an event where anyone could come and speak on any topic that they wanted to. “We curated the event by topic instead of the speaker’s profile so whoever had something interesting to speak about, could do so,” shares Shriya.

Since then, they have been regularly conducting open mic events, dance shows, musical performances, standup comedy shows, theatre and more, with several unique bands and groups under their banner. “We have a wide range of performing arts, from dance groups to comedians to theatre groups that collaborate with the writers under our banner. We also have an all-girls band and dance crew, apart from regional bands, beatboxers, acapella group and more. We connect artists with NGOs and corporates to give them opportunities to perform,” says Shriya.

NRB is strongly against the exploitation of artists, wherein they are paid peanuts in the name of giving exposure. “When we conduct a corporate event, we charge money and a significant portion of the money goes directly to the performer. Artists have always been exploited and we are trying to do our bit to stop it,” she explains.