Arianna Basco, affectionately known as Lady Basco, is a single mom, storyteller on and off stage, in front of and behind the camera. A cultural architect founding Palms Up Academy, Festival Director of LAGETDOWN, and serving as a board member of Filipinos Advancing Creative Education (FACE), Past Forward, and Chair of Arts, History, and Culture at HiFi Coalition she lives by ‘You shine, I shine’. Her family was honored at Search to Involve Pilipino’s American’s (SIPA) 50th Gala and FilAm Arts 25th Philippine Arts and Culture (FPAC) for their contributions to the arts. They were recognized by the State of California, City of Artesia and Cerritos, and named ‘The First Filipino Entertainment Family’ by the City of Los Angeles.
Arianna has helmed spaces since 2006 with Tard and Feathered that curated a zine and a ‘mixed tape’ with weekly live events, Speakeasy at Lost Souls Cafe and then The Last Bookstore, and The Great Mic turned Our Mic out of The Great Company. She was also the Executive Director for We Own the 8th and Creative Director for Rufio Ink.
In her activism she has facilitated raising enrollment at Los Angeles Prep Academy, produced a myriad of events to raise awareness such as Drive Against Racism, participated for various #StopAsianHate efforts, has sat on panels such as Filipinx for Black Lives, ran workshops for organizations like Children of the Night, and has done poems on the steps of city hall steps from here to Oakland during the Occupy movement and stages in between and beyond including public radio KPCC In Person, Skirball Center, and The Ford. She curated The Museum of Tolerance’s celebration of Asian American Heritage Month and selected The Peace Project events to raise money to build houses in the Philippines. And during the Covid lockdown produced responsible social-distancing drive-ins for artists to have an outlet.
As a Fil Am Creative you can see her in The Fabulous Filipino Brothers which she co-wrote now on Hulu, look forward to the release of My First Horror Film, and her feature Heartstorm hitting festivals soon. She directed a 5 part video series based on her poetry and music called A Story of Worth and also directed the short film GLIMMER with Rosario Dawson which had a screening at last year’s FACFF. In theatre she has directed and written plays such as Heartstorms inspired by her Brooklyn premiered play (gasp), Bern’s Echo, and Body Quakes with the Greenway Court Theatre. Her words can be found on stages, in compilations, and in her own published work Palms Up, a novella. In music she formerly toured with the band Swahili Blonde, was on the soundtrack for 1521 for her song PUSH, and now manages her daughter ROR. When she’s not serving her communities and family, Lady B can be spotted at the intersection strumming a guitar singing a tune or two.