Golden Shine Trust was founded in the year 2018 by Ankur Gupta, the purpose of the NGO was providing music education and employment opportunities to persons with disability. The main objective of the NGO is to encourage such persons with disability who fail to pursue quality and accessible music education because of the fiscal as well as physical constraints.
The Founder of the NGO Ankur Gupta himself is a visually impaired musician who might not be able to see colours but leads a colourful life with Music. He teaches music to economically deprived and specially-abled people with a mission to empower them. During Covid-19 time his NGO did a lot of work such as- Providing online music classes to 100’s of specially-abled people, organising online ticketed concerts, music competitions, doing fundraiser’ concerts to help the families of specially-abled with daily basic needs.
Ankur Gupta the Founder of Golden Shine Trust speaks exclusively with Medianews4u on how NGO- Golden Shine Cultural Welfare Trust was founded, his background and challenges and many more.
How did this idea come about to launch the NGO?
I being an artist with a physical disability have faced a lot of challenges such as finding a Guru, getting an opportunity to perform and so on. I feel I was lucky enough that I could achieve whatever I have despite my disability, due to the support of family and well-wishers. However, I realised that there are a lot of people who really find it difficult coping up to such challenges and thus are left deprived of opportunities in the field of music. Therefore, I along with my friends thought of starting this NGO wherein we would provide free, quality music training along with regular performance opportunities.
What were the difficulties you faced during the Pandemic, as all of your lectures were going online? Was it difficult to interact with students through video call?
Music is an art I believe is meant to be learned face to face i.e., physically. Initially, it was indeed difficult switching the mode of classes to online, we even faced challenges trying out various video conference applications as each had one or the other issue. However, considering that this mode is going to be an integral feature of any education system, we thought of going with it wholeheartedly. One of the best things about online classes is that we could even cater to the students living in other states, this is one of the factors why we are planning to continue this mode of classes even after everything is back too normal.
Music has been given a new life, how much of music is your life?
Music means the world to me. It’s like food and oxygen, in the absence of which I feel restless and longing. There are days when I may skip my morning Riaz due to some reason, on such days I am literally frustrated till I get to practice.
Have you thought about collaborating with other similar NGOs or organisations?
We do collaborate with other NGO’s and groups; we firmly believe that alone we can do little but together we can do a lot. Golden Shine has till now collaborated with NGOs such as NAB Delhi, Saksham, Offbeat, Tatsat and others. We have organized many events wherein a number of Physically disabled artists have got stage as well as an earning opportunity.
You have achieved a lot and have also been part of reality shows, what is your Goal for 2021?
I have been lucky enough to have gotten many opportunities to perform at various domestic as well as international platforms. This year, I plan to take my music to another level by releasing a few of my original songs. I also plan to widen my social media reach in order to connect to my potential audience and fans.
