Today we’d like to introduce you to Adrija Navarro and Thimal de Alwis.
Adrija and Thimal, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Our story started in our standard modest Central Square apartment, where, as two like-minded friends and roommates in their 20s, we began hosting our friends and throwing small-scale parties that often amounted to more than a ‘typical’ house party. Our ideas for the space, community, and culture that we wanted to cultivate in our social events were unique, and we realized our dreams were bigger than our common room. We wanted to bring to Boston events in which music, art, and community could be bridged together in an interactive, experiential way. With the inception of The Groove Gallery, we hope to bring together the incredible communities we have come to love in Boston, MA while creating a platform for local artists and musicians to showcase their talents.
For our kick-off event, we featured music from house DJs/producers and showcased a gallery of abstract modern paintings created by Boston-area artists. We also included a VR experience to promote interaction and creativity. Furthermore, we began our collaborative art-piece at this first event: a canvas in which guests can contribute and let their creativity shine by adding colorful, varying stickers to the piece. The addition of the collaborative art piece and the VR experience were included to encourage interaction between guests as they experience the event.
Since our first event, we have featured a night of deep house music, graffiti urban art, and a drag show, in celebration of Boston’s Pride Week. Most recently, we hosted a daytime event, Sailside Sunday, in which we had live funk/jam bands, art on unconventional mediums, and a bracelet-making station. Our collaborative sticker art piece has appeared at every event and continues to evolve over time.
We are planning our next event for Friday, November 2 in Central Square, where we will feature techno music, photography, and a shuffle dance workshop.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Neither of us had much prior experience in throwing events, so this has all been new to us. The challenges have been primarily learning the business, and the many fine details and moving pieces that are involved in planning and throwing events.
As with any new event series, building a foundation and a community takes some initial effort. Fortunately, the diverse nature of our events has helped connect us to a variety of disparate groups in the art and music community, which can be atypical of most event series that stick to a single genre or target audience. This has definitely helped us grow our reach across the Boston community.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into The Groove Gallery story. Tell us more about it.
When we created the Groove Gallery, our goal was to find a way to give back to the local art and music community that we knew and loved. We wanted to put on events that brought together various groups of musicians, artists, and enthusiasts who may otherwise have never crossed paths.
What we hope will set us apart from other nights in Boston is the diverse nature of our events. Rather than stick to a single musical genre, art form, or even event format, we want to give our attendees a new and unique experience at every single Groove Gallery event. We want to break people out of their typical routines and communities. We want to expose a techno-goer to abstract art or have a local graffiti artist come to their first acoustic guitar performance. We want to have past attendees return to our events so that they not only have the opportunity to explore different types of music and art but also to meet different types of people along the way.
So far, we have been proud of the reception that the Groove Gallery has received from the Boston community. We hope to use this as inspiration to continue to bring unique and innovative events to Boston in the future!
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
We haven’t really had ‘luck’ play a part in our experience thus far; if anything, a lot of this has been a learning experience for the two of us as we continue to shape our brand and community.
However, one might say it was ‘lucky’ that Thimal and I became roommates, found each other, and discovered our mutual passion for this project.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.thegroovegallery.net/
- Email: connect@thegroovegallery.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegroovegallery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGrooveGalleryMA/
Image Credit:
Vicky Chou
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
