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So, how did Urban Peacock get started? June 28, 2006 Urban Peacock was founded in 1993 by Creative Entrepreneur and Designer Kavita Bali in New York City, initially as a Design & Film Production Studio of one while at NYU Grad Film School :) In 1999, now in Silicon Valley, Kavita decided it was time Urban Peacock went Online. Initially there was only 1 page up, then in 2000, with 2 lessons from 2 friends on html, she was on her way :) Today, Urban Peacock is a vibrant creative community consisting of folks from many walks of life, brought together in the name of creativity, warmth and sincerity. Urban Peacocks are all about conceptual adventuring. We ride the white rapids of intellectual and imaginative thinking, creating a timeless unity with the threads of our individualism, integrity and humanity. We are compassionate and persevering. Stay tuned for some very cool changes and growth of Urban Peacock: A Global Community of Creative Thinkers involved in Cultural Discovery. Urban Peacock's early days, I'm an artist in a high tech world... I need creative friends Including other topics of interest was a natural next step, such as news on cool art and film events in the Bay area. Soon the emails grew to become an event listing of sorts for innovative creative adventures across the US focusing more on the Indian American or Asian American artists, as these were not well represented areas at the time. There were many great arts organizations like Kearny Street Workshop in San Francisco which in 1999 was one of the earliest arts organizations to move to an online group format. I basically saw a need to reach beyond traditional arts communities to bring news of artist events to the larger Bay Area demographic. I began with promotional emails to fellow colleagues at work and others I had encountered through my own artistic events who I knew would be interested in such news. At the time, many artists were not yet Internet savvy and still relying on event postcards for promotional purposes. I knew we could get a broader reach, there was interest, yet the bridge for communication needed to be built and nurtured. The goal was and still is to help open up the arts to new audiences so that we can all experience varying perspectives of life from the artist's interpretive talents. This makes for a richer and fuller life, when we take time to sit back and view the world from another's vantage point, where beauty of imagination may open up our world and allow us to think and feel another aspect of life perhaps previously untrodden. Perhaps art can help us to appreciate our own circumstances more, or make us humble to the plight of others. All in all, art is a vehicle of self expression and at it's best it is an open door to the soul of our societal humanity. It was 1999, where are the Indian-American artistic voices? There is a cultural communication void... The criteria was not ethnicity, but innovative quality of the works that warranted greater exposure to a diverse audience. Other sites that shared this budding space of cultural exchange included Filmi.org (based in Canada) and Hollywoodmasala.com (based in Los Angeles). These sites targeted a south asian demographic, whereas UrbanPeacock was aiming at a broader audience without paid advertising. Eventually other sites began to populate a similar space and we had more exposure for cool artists :) Urban Peacock touches an emotional chord with artists and creative thinkers across the globe... At it's height in 2000-2003, Urban Peacock was reaching out to people across much of the art landscape with the heaviest representation here in the Bay Area, but also being heard in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, New York City, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin basically throughout the US. Then came the flux of young independent filmmakers and designers that were finding Urban Peacock from India, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Japan, Belgium, Taiwan and even hearing from fellow designers from Russia. All of a sudden I had many talented pen pals all united in their deep love for creative expression over any political, religious or outwardly defining criteria. External factors are important in molding societies, agreed, however, I'm not interested in power or molding anybody. I simply wanted to find some creative souls who also felt that there is more to the world than technology and digital lives. I continue to this day, seek out the few souls who use technology as an elemental part of their lives, but do not rely on it as the actual building blocks to define their lives. That is what Urban Peacock values, people first, technology second. It is amazing and invigorating to personally exchange emails with such like minded souls. This was the space I wanted to nurture and continue to do so whenever I have time. Urban Peacock is not about quantity, but about quality and an earnest desire to experience life in it's truest form. Urban Peacock Future... Wow, this is way too long a history for 7 years :) Did I mention I'm on a writing kick these days? :) I think this may need to become my next blog entry! :) First, dinner. --Kavita Bali, Urban Peacock, June 28, 2006
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