TRANSFORMING
HUMANITY
EMPOWERING
COMMUNITY
CREATIVE
DISCOVERY
INTERDISCIPLINARY
COLLABORATION
The Asylum is a safe place for partners with the arts.
The Asylum was founded in 1997 as a haven for the development of new ideas and emerging artists in Southern Nevada. Our mission is to connect audiences to new work and artists to each other.
We are a home in the Southern Nevada region for partners, both nationally and internationally; providing artists and the public access to tools that empower us to create, heal, and communicate. The Asylum has worked hard to identify both the needs of our community, and opportunities for our artistic tools to help meet them.
During the 2020 pandemic shut down, we leveraged our resources to successfully manage the “Create Our Recovery Concert Series” which employed local musicians to perform at convention center vaccine clinics. Leveraging a private donation into a larger grant opportunity from the NV Corona Recovery Task Force, over 200 Technicians and performers provided relief to the public as they received their shots throughout the Spring.
One investment in a performance provided multiple returns: the artists earned income in spite of closures, patient anxiety was eased, and the work transformed an isolating, bureaucratic experience into a positive, communal one. It also connected performers to new audiences. The arts are a force multiplier when engaged with as an equal partner. Now is the time, and Southern Nevada is the place, to develop our creative community and maximize its potential; the needs in every direction are great, but so is the potential for positive transformation.
We pledge to continue our work collaborating as Theatre artists with creative partners, scientists, and scholars within our local and international network as one of the longest-running Theatre companies in Southern Nevada. The Asylum Theatre celebrates the launch of our 30th Season in 2026 with the announcement of of The Asylum Co-Lab, a strategic initiative to enhance our historic role as an incubator for local projects across disciplines. The Asylum Co-Lab will focus on three areas:
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Empowering the creative workforce with training opportunities, scholarship, and symposia
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Strengthening the network of Partners for the arts, culture, and creative community
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Producing new work, facilitating interdisciplinary artistic collaborations and explorations in creative science, social issues, and community development both locally and internationally.
The Asylum Co-Lab can help leverage our arts and culture experts across sectors; healing local communities, and advancing the Creative Economy which contributes more to the state's GDP than Mining.
