The Hungry Traveller
Imagine a place where you could find a desk to work out of, get inspired by it’s quirky bee-hive design, attend a yoga workshop or a puppetry class, and maybe even whet you talent at an open mic or catch a movie screening. At Mumbai’s new mutli-faceted cultural hub The Hive you can indulge in all of the above, and as we are led to believe, a whole lot more. The Hive at Bandra, is a three-level venue that offers a co-working space for free lancers, have meetings and for even those looking for a structural cocoon to motivate their salient brainwaves at The Daftar. A mirror-walled space for educational, fitness and collaborative classes called The Workshop. A garden section where one can binge on wholesome and healthy fare prepared with the fresh plucks from the organic garden of the upcoming cafe, The Hungry Traveller and a soundproofed mini-auditorium replete with a stage, sound and light rig and a box office called The Xircus. Two open terraces will soon be opened to become an extension of this co-habitative space. Each room comes with a character and a purpose, which is as malleable as the people using the space.
The Workshop At The Hive
The brainchild of the folks behind India’s foremost alternative culture curators Culture Shoq, which has also been running India’s longest running open mic night, The Hive officially opened it’s doors a week ago and slowly the creative culture ambassadors of the city have already start collecting here. Partners 33-year-old Sudeip Nair and Pramod Sippy, and 28-year-old Rajeesh Marar bring six years of experience in hospitality, alternative entertainment, music and performance art to The Hive. “The Hive as an eco-system that we’ve set up to support and nurture the sub-culture in the city. People from different walks of life can use this as a one-stop place for art and culture.” says Sippy. The eco-system he is talking about will be made up of people willing to invest in and learn from arts like theatre, visual arts, sound, design, production, cinema, fitness, dance, music and food. Nair explains besides all this there will be a great amount of focus on education as well. “We want to help people develop and explore their strengths and explore prospective passion-driven career options. There will be focus on vocational education for children and we will also be conducting workshops and seminars for young people with the right industry professionals,” says Nair. Besides arts and culture, the state of technology is another avenue that will be explored. From Tuesday to Sunday, for example, Nair says the Hive will host seminars from 2 pm to 4 pm where young programmers will come and discuss code.
Poetry On The Big At The Xircus At The Hive
A basic need to start The Hive arose from the trio’s own frustration from doing events at various venues in the city. “While places like I-Bar and the erstwhile Cafe Goa in Bandra, have been very supportive, most other venues havn’t been as open to do our entertainment. That is when we felt the need to open a venue of our own,” says Nair. . Marar reiterates. “For venues, they are mostly always about their bottom line and there’s only so much you can experiment with as far as our entertainment goes. We are very open to experimentation that can lead to meaningful collaborations and promote art and culture in the city,” says Marar.
So in the coming year, you can expect a calendar from The Hive choc-a-block with activities as diverse as a pantomime show to classical music baithaks, a masterclass in music production to a storytelling session for children, a seminar on code to a sound, light an visual show, visual installations to a zumba class, a five course meal at the brunch table of a weekend chef to an educational dance party. The possibilities are literally endless.
So far, The Hive has a rough daily schedule of activities to take part in and attend. They will be adding more to the bill very soon. They plan to host open mics with The Big Mic on Mondays, theatre on Tuesdays, comedy on Wednesdays, indie music on Thursdays, electronic and classical music on Fridays, children’s theatre and gallery exhibits on weekends.
- To attend a show and collaborate with the Hive, you can visit their Facebook page here or write to them at [email protected]
