About 221A

Information

OFFICE HOURS
Monday to Friday
9:00am–5:00pm

OFFICES
700-825 Pacific Street
Vancouver BC, V6Z 1C3
Canada

Unceded Territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

CONTACT
General Inquiries: hello@221a.ca
Artist Studio (non-residential) Inquiries: spaces@221a.ca
Residential Inquiries: housing@221a.ca
Coworking Memberships: coworking@221a.ca
Accounting: bill@221a.ca

Mission
221A works with artists and designers to research and develop social, cultural, and ecological infrastructure.

Vision
221A envisions a pluralistic society in which all people have the means to access and make culture.

2025-03-15-1-GEN-BoardRetreatCommunityLunch825Pacific-KaylaIsomura-KKI05617 — 221A Board, Personnel, Fellows and Tenants at the 2025 Board Retreat. Photo by Kayla Isomura.

Organizing Values

Communal

Equitable

Practical

Joy of Cultural Work

History

Beginning as a student-led initiative in 2005, the organization was initially animated by an opposition to the division between contemporary art and design. Leaving the university grounds in 2008 to establish its first public exhibition space, the organization would be shaped by the history and upheavals of its new home in Chinatown, the embattled neighbourhood itself a microcosm of a global economic recession and the transformation of Vancouver before and after the 2010 Winter Olympics.