Tehkhana: BridgeM's Premium South Asian Event in NYC
We keep hearing from fellow event organizers about the drop in quality South Asian events especially in nightlife. So, we decided to create something.
Three weeks. Start to finish. That’s how long we had to build TEHKHANA (@tehkhananyc) – a two-night activation at 16 Sola, August 28 and 29, produced with Projekt DND and Electric Den. No prior edition to fall back on. No extra runway. Just a booth on the floor and a deadline.
It worked. Both nights.
1. What made it different:
When people think about nightlife and events (specifically a South Asian event), they are always the same. Most listening rooms have a DJ booth, Bollywood songs and the crowd behind a line, the same cocktails that are just diluted so much and not enjoyable. Tehkhana didn’t.
We curated a couple of unique things with this event:
- A 360°, Boiler Room-style – no stage, no barrier DJ set up to blend the lines between the artist and the audience. It made the whole event more interactive.
- A six-cocktail menu curated by INDN. Not just regular cocktails, premium clarified cocktails with South Asian flavors.
- A dedicated Tarot readings lounge running in a private room off the floor.
These 3 ideas made the event stand out: premium, specific, culturally fluent. Doors ran 9pm to 2am both nights, and the lineup earned every hour of it: Nakul Hans, Knostalgia and SHNKR on Friday, Julien, Hermina and SHNKR on Saturday.
2. Why the South Asian event industry needs this:
South Asian events and the diaspora is finally getting its recognition in the US but are being served the same old events and concepts. We wanted to break this stereotype. Tehkhana was built on the opposite premise: give the audience something built specifically for them, executed at the same standard as any premium activation in this city, and they show up – because the room is worth being in.
They showed up. Every attendee we can trace was first-time – a brand-new audience, not our existing base cycling back through.
On Instagram: 31,330+ views in the 30 days around the event, 3,661 unique viewers, 85.9% of that reach from people who didn’t already follow us. The announcement post alone did 7.3K views, before anyone walked through the door. That’s not an existing audience engaging harder. That’s a new one finding out we exist.
3. Why did we build it
Tehkhana means the room below. The cellar. The one you don’t see from the street.
We built the room we wanted to be in – in three weeks, with no case study to point to and no guarantee anyone would come. When you can’t find what you’re looking for, you create it.
BridgeM specializes in building rooms and curating events like this. Stay tuned for the next one.
Team behind Tehkhana (from L to R): Hermina (Electric Den), Prahlad (BridgeM), Prateek (ProjektDND), Shnkr – Producer & DJ
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