Spectal’s ‘Together for Tomorrow’ Drive Raises Over Rs 10 Lakh for Non-salaried Live Event Workers

by  EVENTFAQS Bureau Industry Watch | November 25, 2020 | News

Spectal

While events have begun under unlockdown, the future of events in India continues to be doubtful, with another surge in COVID-19 cases looming large on the horizon. Due to this, a lot of jobs are at risk as losses to the live events market run into thousands of crores. This scenario propelled Delhi-based talent and brand agency Spectal to launch an initiative, ‘Together for Tomorrow’.

Through this campaign, the company managed to crowdfund Rs 10,10,000 in over four months and helped skilled and unskilled workers like light and sound engineers, technicians and tent-makers.

Under the #TFT initiative, about 100 people from different parts of the country were shortlisted after a thorough vetting process and each received a grant of Rs 10,000 to help cover immediate and basic costs. Funds under the campaign were collected and disbursed through Anahad Foundation, registered as a Section 8 Not for Profit organisation in 2013, that works towards preserving and empowering folk music and musicians across India.

Himanshu Chowdhry, Founder, Spectal said, “Kickstarting TFT was motivating, particularly in the middle of the worst pandemic this generation has ever seen or hopefully will ever see.”

“We woke up each day, motivated to work around every challenge and raise funds. We are fortunate to have the performance industry workers as our extended family and it feels good to see that we were able to make a positive impact in their lives, no matter how small it is. In a way, this initiative has given this organization a purpose. Personally, this is one of the highest points of my professional journey and I am raring to go again with another long-term social initiative that my colleague Ridhi Diwan and I want to launch. We want to inculcate the habit of doing good on a daily basis, and working in collaboration with universities across India, we want to focus on organising food drives to finding sponsors for girl child education, donating books/clothes, helping orphans and feeding homeless dogs. No act of kindness and empathy is too small," Chowdhry added.

In three months, about 600 applicants were whittled down further into 300 completed applications and divided into four different categories with those under ‘no income at all’ and ‘no other working individual in the family’ receiving priority. After due vetting, the applications were submitted to a panel comprising industry stalwarts and stakeholders to oversee the allocation of funds. 

The initiative also received support from artistes like Anubhav Singh Jassi, Nikhil D’Souza, Salim Merchant, Guru Randhawa and more on social media. Bands like Swarathma donated one month’s streaming revenue while The Local Train created exclusive merchandise with 100% proceeds going to #TFT. 

To combat the issue of daily wagers’ unfamiliarity with data collection tools like Google forms, the Spectal team relied on telephone calls for data verification, and in the process became privy to the kind of anguish and anxiety that daily wagers were experiencing.

The Spectal team that included Ridhi Diwan, Diksha Goel, Abhishek Nag, Raveen Bishnoi, UrviVarmani, Narottam Kar and ShivanshuTomar, along with HimanshuChowdhry, received applications from all over the country and meticulously verified every single bit of information that was submitted to them.