The Blue Oyster Arts Trust was founded in Dunedin in 1999 as the governing body of the Blue Oyster Art Project Space. The Blue Oyster provides a high quality dynamic programme of experimental and innovative contemporary art practice.

Focussing on fostering artists' development irrespective of the stage of their career the Blue Oyster has, for over ten years, acted as an incubator for new ideas in contemporary art involving practitioners from all media. Favouring experimentation over saleability the Blue Oyster allows artists to test new concepts and ways of working.

Each year the project space stages approximately 12 exhibition cycles with a dedicated public programme including performances, artist's talks, discussion sessions and workshops. Blue Oyster also has a reading room that is regularly updated with national and international publications.