Sharmi Basu

Vital Arts Executive Director

Sharmi (they/them) is an artist, activist, and arts administrator whose work bridges creative practice, community advocacy, and social justice. They bring deep insight into the challenges artists face in sustaining their practice and have spent over a decade managing operations, events, fundraising, and finances at organizations including Southern Exposure, St. James Infirmary, SFMOMA, and Gray Area Foundation.

Basu played a key role in organizing community responses to the Ghost Ship fire, raising and distributing funds to support victims and survivors, and continues to advance mutual aid, inclusion, and diversity in the arts. As a performer and educator, they host international workshops on sound healing, decolonization, transformative justice, and technical skills, and have performed across the US, Canada, and Europe at venues including SFMOMA, YBCA, the Kitchen NY, and the International Symposium of Improvised Music.

They co-founded the Bay Area Black and Brown Punk Festival, The Multiverse is Illuminated, and serve as volunteer Executive Director of Ratskin Records, supporting decolonial artists in the Bay Area. Basu holds an MFA from Mills College and a double BA from UC Davis in Political Science: Public Policy and Technocultural Studies, and serves on multiple boards, including Safer DIY Spaces, Bay Area Girls Rock Camp, and California FM.