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e @ The Red Room
Stage Time & Wine @ The red room
takes place on the 3rd Saturday of each month.
For more information on Stage Time and Wine @ The red room
events, contact red.room.taipei@gmail.com
Asked where the Red Room name came from, Mehta
laughed and said it was a long story.
"It's just a name for the space," she said, giving Manav credit
for coming up with “Stage Time and Wine @ The Red Room.”
November’s Stage Time and Wine @ The Red Room, which
drew about seventy people, was indeed a launch for the event,
Ayesha said, mostly because no one really knew what to expect.
But the succeeding evenings have had that living room
ambience, of friends sitting together and sharing openly,
without fear of judgement or imposed expectations of
performance. New friendships are being formed and
people are connecting through a space that affords them an
opportunity to push themselves beyond
their comfort zones.
“ We ’ r e n o t p u t t i n g a c a p o r
expectation on the evening... just aiming for listening, sharing
and trying to keep the space open,” she said, adding that they
were trying to avoid a specific ‘vibe.’
Both Ayesha and Ping say they want the evenings to be
accessible to everyone, whatever language[s] they speak.
“We encourage reading poems in whatever language you
choose. After all, it is for lovers of word and sound, not
limited to nationality. It is a multi-language event. We had
English, Chinese, Taiwanese, French, Italian poems read so
far,” Ping wrote.
He also wants to get more young Taiwanese to attend,
both to expose them to other cultures and to inspire them to
improve their English.
“My goal is to have at least thirty-percent of people
attending this event to be locals. I started to invite my young
friends to the event now. It’s a window for local youth to
peek into a multinational community,” Ping wrote.
The idea was to keep the evenings low-budget – at NT$200,
admission is less than one might spend for a couple of hours at
a coffee shop or a drink or two at a bar. Asking participants
to contribute a bottle of wine or other beverages to the open
bar (and bring their own cup or glass) as well as a vegetable
or something for the communal stewpot, ensures the limited
budget would stretch no matter how many people show up.
As an entrepreneur, Ping feels that it is crucial for The Red
Room be self-sustaining.
“You create the night...”
“I am a businessmaker first. This is why I insist on a door
fee for The Red Room. Sustainability requires an ecosystem.
We are all in this ecosystem. I think The Red Room will
evolve on her own term[s] over time. At this moment, it is
a private underground party to celebrate intimacy and deep
listening. I would like it to become a Mecca for all creative
people to mingle and network. It is one of the reasons
to create The Red Room. We can become each other’s
Daymaker and Ripplemaker,” he wrote.
Ayesha and Ping say they look forward to seeing The Red
Room evolve organically.
“Ayesha, Roma and Manav all agree that we should
continue it as a grass[roots] movement
that promotes intimacy and sharing.
This is why we set up a committee for
this event … It is our party, not Ayesha’s or mine. It is created
by all lovers of sound and word. We are just a medium or a
vehicle to serve,” Ping wrote, listing about a dozen volunteers
whose help has been crucial in getting events going.
Ping said he felt blessed to have been involved with The
Red Room, because it reflects both his personal and Canmeg
Aveda’s corporate belief that people need to get involved in
their societies to make the world a better place.
“I want to thank Ayesha to allow me to join her to
co-found this dream,” he wrote. “I am honored to launch
this movement that celebrates amateurism. To me, the future
belongs to amateurism. All significant inventions are from
the peripheral. The modern and active amateurs are the new
phenomena in the 21st century. I think The Red Room is on
the right track.”
“You create the night ... what you need and what you
want,” Ayesha said, adding, “Everyone who joins the night
puts in, whether it be simply listening or watching others or
sharing, exactly what they wish the night to be, filling an
individual and communal purpose.
We are all joining to write our own Symphony of Place,
a piece of our own, a quiet observance of sounds, intention
and existence together.”
Diane Baker is a journalist and a long-time resident of
Taipei.
Apr 2010
9