As the Equalities and Industry Development Officer at the SMIA, Vahishtai supports lasting, care-based change in Scotland’s music sector. Their role focuses on embedding inclusive, accessible, and accountable practices across the industry as a rethinking of how it is built, sustained, and imagined. Through policy development, consultation, outreach and review, their aim is to help shape a creative ecosystem where EDIA is embedded into every practice, process, and decision — an ongoing, urgent, and collective goal.
They bring strong project management experience, having led multi-partner initiatives at the intersection of the arts, culture and social change with the award-winning nonprofit Arts Help and as well as Billboard Canada, the country’s edition of the iconic music publication.
With an academic background in history and formative roots in the sprawling, polyphonic city of Mumbai, Vahishtai’s practice is grounded in context, attuned to ongoing learning and the richness of divergent narratives, and informed by their lived experience. They are committed to building a music industry that not only reflects the people within it, but is shaped by them at every level.