It not just opens up the world of art and music to the creatively inclined, it also aims to find talent across the globe. And, it's aptly named too — Tumbhi, which translates to ‘you too'.
Tumbhi is a website where upcoming artists, photographers, musicians and filmmakers can submit their portfolios and have them reviewed by eminent personalities. “There is a spurt of creative activity all around us, and we realised the need for an online platform to bring out that creative side. Tumbhi helps discover and nurture the artist in all of us,” says Robin Rastogi, head of operations, Tumbhi.
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The websites invites entries under eight categories — fine arts, photography, short films, animation, music, writing, fashion and performing arts. “The point of the site is to tell people that ‘you too' can become a star. We invite anyone who has an artistic streak to submit their portfolios. We recognise talent and give them a chance. Our advisory panel has people who are leaders in their field. They'll be reviewing the work, giving feedback and tweaking them.”
There is also a micro site under each category. “We have opportunities for everyone. Some of us are amateurs, some semi-professionals and so on. For the professionals, we have a microsite that is different from the main site. This has premium quality content where a professional can go look at portfolios or art work. They can also come to us, and we can showcase it to people,” he says.
Tumbhi's advisory board has Anurag Kashyap for short films, Irshad Kamil for poetry, Sunjoy Monga for photography and others. “We are a platform where people can connect with their mentors, get coached and have their works reviewed,” explains Robin.
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Apart from displaying portfolios, Tumbhi also conducts competitions in script writing, photography and others. “We've got about 15,000 artists registered, and about 50,000-odd fans on Facebook in a year (though our beta launch was in August 2010, the official launch with Anurag Kashyap happened in May 2011). We recently had a photography contest, and it had response from all over the world. In fact, of the two winners, one was a girl from Romania. Similarly, we're also holding monthly competitions across these eight categories,” says Robin.
Reaching out to colleges
Tumbhi hopes to go beyond its virtual roots by reaching out to colleges also. “We have been approaching colleges and telling them to encourage their students to be a part of our group. Rock and other music bands are also on our list as we're trying to bring them on board. We're connected with 93 cities in about 135 countries so far. You see, the power of a portal (like a blog) is only so much, but when it's a collaborative effort, the reach is far more.”
For details, visit >www.tumbhi.com .