FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 1, 2023

MEDIA CONTACT

Maria Lee, Media and Communications, maria.lee@cityoftacoma.org, (253) 591-2054

City of Tacoma to Receive $100,000 ‘Our Town’ Grant From the National Endowment for the Arts

TACOMA, Wash. -- The City of Tacoma will receive a $100,000 “Our Town” grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support creative placemaking in McKinley. This is one of 57 grants awarded nationwide, totaling $4,175,000, that the NEA has approved in the “Our Town” category. Creative placemaking grants support projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities into local efforts to strengthen and authentically engage communities, center equity, advance artful lives, and lay the groundwork for long-term systems change.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is pleased to support a wide range of projects, including creative placemaking in McKinley, demonstrating the many ways the arts enrich our lives and contribute to healthy and thriving communities,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “These organizations play an important role in advancing the creative vitality of our nation and helping to ensure that all people can benefit from arts, culture, and design.”

"We are humbled and grateful to receive this funding from the NEA," said City Councilmember Catherine Ushka. "This support helps our community continue the vital work of reimagining the McKinley Neighborhood, a historically underserved area whose identity is being shaped today by the dreams and aspirations of its community members. We are committed to creating a vibrant and inclusive community where everyone has the opportunity to thrive."

With support from the NEA, the City of Tacoma will fund a placemaking plan, a cohort training program for emerging artists, a series of temporary artworks, and at least one permanent public artwork for the McKinley Hill Neighborhood. The City’s Office of Arts & Cultural Vitality will work in close partnership with Tacoma’s Neighborhood Planning Program and Spaceworks Tacoma to implement the project, which will be an extension of the McKinley Hill Neighborhood Plan. This work will inform proposed permanent streetscape upgrades that are currently in design for the future McKinley Avenue Streetscape within the business district (between East Wright Avenue and East Division Lane). Once construction is funded, this streetscape project will usher in new streetscape amenities, improve the environment for people walking, and help enhance a sense of place for McKinley. 

For more information on the McKinley Hill Neighborhood Plan, visit cityoftacoma.org/McKinleyNP

For more information on the projects listed in the NEA grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

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