Peter Barshay
Peter Barshay, the founder, CEO and Creative Director of ARTS FOR MORE brings a wealth of skills and experience to this community of artists, arts presenters, supporters, and non-profit organizations. His combination of music industry and broadcast media expertise makes him extremely well suited to spearhead this exciting new venture.
Barshay, a well-respected veteran jazz bassist, has recorded, performed, and toured with an impressive range of musicians during his over 40-year career. He began his career in the San Francisco Bay Area, moving east in 1978 to join the dynamic New York City jazz scene. During his 17-year New York residency, he performed with a long list of top-name jazz artists. While there, he also gained broadcast media experience working as a freelance sound operator, primarily with CNN (1987-93).
Barshay was first exposed to social causes and grassroots action during the 1970s when he worked with the producers of fundraising concerts for the United Farm Workers Union throughout California. "I've always felt that artists should be actively involved in supporting social causes," he says. Later, as his musical career took him around the world, exposing him to a variety of cultures, his awareness of the need for social action only increased.
Now, with ARTS FOR MORE, Barshay has merged his music and media expertise with his passion for social action. Drawing on his wide network of contacts, Barshay is ready to make his vision a reality. He's currently contacting artists, professionals in arts production, business, and technology to create the pieces necessary to launch ARTS FOR MORE.
Sarah Gettys
Sarah Gettys is a creative consultant for ARTS FOR MORE and has deeply enjoyed working to bring the vision of the organization to life. She sees the value of the arts every day as a private piano and voice teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to being a vocalist, Sarah is also nearing completion of a Masters of Divinity degree at the Graduate Theological Union (connected to UC Berkeley), and has always had strong feelings about social justice and the inherent worth and dignity of all beings and the planet. ARTS FOR MORE brings together her passions for music, community building, and social change, and she’s looking forward to making ARTS FOR MORE a reality.
Rajiv Bhat
Until most recently, Rajiv was Senior Vice President of Data Sciences at InMobi. He was responsible for all things related to machine learning at the company. InMobi processes petabytes of data and Rajiv's role was to ensure that this is leveraged to deliver maximum value for consumers, advertisers and publishers. In a prior role, Rajiv built out the Marketplace function at InMobi overseeing global network pricing, optimization, yield management, and quality. Prior to InMobi, Rajiv co-founded Mertado, a Y Combinator startup that was acquired by Groupon. He also managed data at Kosmix (now Walmart Labs). Rajiv has an undergraduate degree in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. After a corporate stint at McKinsey & Co., he returned to Physics getting his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Besides Physics, Rajiv is keen on both reading and playing the guitar. He currently lives in Palo Alto, CA.