About Us | Blackout Art Society — Vancouver Immigrant Theatre
Blackout Art Society is a Vancouver-based non-profit arts organization creating, developing, presenting, and touring professional theatre and interdisciplinary performance.
Founded in 2012 as a Persian-language theatre collective and incorporated as a non-profit society in 2017, Blackout has grown into an intercultural organization working across languages, disciplines, and communities. We support immigrant, refugee, diaspora, and culturally diverse artists, with a focus on stories shaped by migration, identity, language, belonging, and cultural memory.
Our programming includes original productions, guest presentations, national touring, artist development, workshops, youth programs, and community-based initiatives. Based in Vancouver, we work across Vancouver, the North Shore, Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, and increasingly across Canada.
Our Mission
Our mission is to create space for culturally diverse artists to develop ambitious work, build sustainable professional careers, and connect with audiences across communities.
We believe culturally specific stories can remain rooted in their language, identity, and lived experience while speaking meaningfully to wider audiences. Through performance, collaboration, artist development, and touring, Blackout works to strengthen representation on Canadian stages and create pathways for diverse stories to grow from local communities to wider audiences.
Core Values:
Artistic Integrity
We support bold, thoughtful, and ambitious work that gives artists the freedom to create with honesty and depth.
Cultural Identity
We value stories rooted in language, heritage, lived experience, and cultural memory, and we believe these stories can connect meaningfully with wider audiences.
Access & Inclusion
We work to reduce barriers and create meaningful opportunities for artists and audiences from diverse backgrounds and communities.
Reconciliation
We recognize the responsibility of working and creating on Indigenous lands and approach reconciliation as an ongoing practice of learning, respect, relationship-building, and accountability.
Collaboration
We believe strong artistic work grows through trust, dialogue, partnership, and shared learning.
Professional Growth
We invest in artists through development, mentorship, presentation, touring, and long-term professional opportunities.
Community Connection
We create work that brings people together, encourages exchange, and builds stronger connections across cultures and communities.
