Vancouver’s Arts Umbrella is an arts centre on Granville Island where you’ll find all kinds of arts, theatre, film and other programs for children and youth.
With a second location in Surrey, Arts Umbrella is the only non-profit, multi-disciplinary art centre in the City of Vancouver offering programs focusing on visual art, performing arts, music and film. (It’s a bit like Place des Arts in Coquitlam, although the latter is smaller and doesn’t cover film.)
In addition to its various educational arts programs, the organization puts on performances from time to time. In December 2025, for example, the show Mixed Nuts took place at the Vancouver Playhouse on December 12th to 14th.
What is Arts Umbrella?
Arts Umbrella is an art and performance school for aspiring artists aged 2 to 22. For over 45 years, the organization has taught both young adults and children throughout the Lower Mainland. They reach roughly 20,000 students annually as they work to bring about the next generation of artists.
Arts Umbrella hopes to inspire future artists and enable them to enact that inspiration on the world.
Where is Arts Umbrella?
Arts Umbrella has two main locations in the Lower Mainland. One is on Granville Island in Vancouver and the other is in Surrey.
As one of the creative hubs of Vancouver, Granville Island offers close access to several other theatres in the area to help nurture creative curiosity. One of our favourites, as an example, is The Improv Centre where improvisational comedy theatre takes place.
The Arts Umbrella’s facility on Granville Island is a modern building at 1400 Johnston Street. It’s about halfway between the Granville Street Bridge and Granville Island Hotel.
The Surrey Centre location, meanwhile, is located at 13678 100th Avenue. It’s conveniently right by the King George SkyTrain Station, not far from Holland Park and the Central City Mall.
Mixed Nuts 2025
In 2025, from December 12th until the 14th, Arts Umbrella presented their twist on the famous play, the Nutcracker. There were four performances over the three-day period and they happened at the Vancouver Playhouse. The venue is located at 600 Hamilton Street in downtown Vancouver. It’s in the same building as the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, just a ten-minute walk from Gastown.
The performance time slots were as follows:
- Friday, December 12th, at 7:00 pm
- Saturday, December 14th, at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm
- Sunday, December 15th, at 2:00 pm
Tickets for these performances started at $55 for adults, $40 for seniors and $5 for children under 5 years old.
Other Information
Arts Umbrella prides itself on being accessible to as many people as possible. To achieve this, they offer assisted funding and bursaries for people experiencing financial hardship. For more information about these aids, check out the Arts Umbrella Accessibility page.
To learn more about the organization in general, see the artsumbrella.com website.
Other articles that might be of interest include the following:
- Granville Island Theatre District
- Vancouver Theatre Companies
- Vancouver Playhouse Theatre
- The Improv Centre on Granville Island
- Vancouver Shows & Entertainment
Another website you might find of interest is VancouverTheatres.ca.
