Raffi Niziblian

Raffi Niziblian is a storyteller, cultural strategist, and community builder whose work brings together heritage, creativity, and social impact. He studied Communications with a specialisation in Film and Television at Concordia University in Montreal, then continued with graduate work in Community Economic Development. He is now expanding his practice through a master’s degree in Narrative Futures at the University of Edinburgh’s Futures Institute, where he explores how storytelling, data, and imagination shape cultural life.

Raffi began his career with five years at Scouts Canada before moving to Armenia in 2002 to serve as Program Director of the Land and Culture Organization. His work there connected diasporan volunteers with local communities and strengthened cultural preservation efforts rooted in dialogue and mutual understanding. He later joined VivaCell during its formative years as Commercial Manager, helping to establish one of Armenia’s early telecommunications ecosystems. In 2006, driven by a desire to create meaningful stories and public engagement, he founded Deem Communications (DeeM), a strategic and creative agency that has become a recognised voice in cultural branding, national campaigns, and hope-based communications.

His creative practice is equally important. Raffi has produced and directed short films that explore identity, resilience, and belonging. He has taken several feature films through the international festival circuit and has served as a jury member in festivals in New York, Yerevan, and Budapest. His ongoing film project, Finding Hope, reflects his commitment to storytelling as a tool for empathy and social transformation.

Before entering the world of film and communications, Raffi studied and worked in Interior Design and spent more than fifteen years performing as a stage dancer, touring internationally to Sicily, Puerto Rico, and across North American cities. He served as lead dancer for six years. This experience continues to influence his visual sensibility, his sense of rhythm in narrative structure, and his dedication to community through the arts.

As a Board Member, Producer, and Head of Hakawati Armenia, Raffi contributes to advancing several strategic directions like the Refugee, Illuminated that includes the Memory Lab and the scholarly work of cataloguing and reanimation of the nineteenth-century Abkar Knadjian’s Collection shadow puppets, a project that brings together heritage, imagination, and intergenerational dialogue with scholars artists and practitioners from USA, Europe, Armenia and the region. 

Raffi’s commitment to cultural dialogue extends to civic and creative institutions. He co-founded the Ad Council of Armenia and the Independent Filmmakers’ Community of Armenia, both created to strengthen creative independence and public awareness through media and the arts. As the Founder of Kanachastan NGO in Armenia, he continues to demonstrate his belief in green community building and the power of collective effort to address environmental and climate challenges. His work as a senior communications expert in EU and USAID programmes reflects his ability to integrate storytelling with development, public engagement, and policy-oriented cultural work.

A polyglot fluent in English, French, Armenian, Arabic, and Italian, Raffi brings a multicultural outlook to every space he enters. This ability to move thoughtfully between languages and communities is at the heart of his lifelong dedication to dialogue, creativity, and the shared stories that connect us. 

Through Deem Communications, Hakawati NGO, his film practice, and his studies in narrative futures, Raffi continues to support creators and communities who believe that storytelling can inspire more connected and hopeful futures.