About the Arts & Cultural Vitality Division
Arts and culture are essential to Tacoma - enlivening its downtown core, contributing to the livability of its neighborhoods, and enhancing the quality of life of its residents and visitors. Arts & Cultural Vitality supports the cultural sector in Tacoma in a variety of ways including funding programs, public art, professional development, and special programming. The division has two branches:
- Arts - The Tacoma Arts Commission and its staff play a vital role in supporting Tacoma's arts and cultural programs. They encourage the development of the local arts community through the administration of funding programs for artists and arts-focused community projects, managing the City's public art collection, and producing a variety of public programs including Tacoma Arts Month and the Tacoma Poet Laureate program.
- Tacoma Creates - Tacoma Creates is a voter-approved initiative to increase access to arts, culture, heritage, and science experiences throughout Tacoma by reducing barriers to access and expanding offerings, particularly for underserved youth. Eligible non-profit arts, culture, heritage, and science organizations are able to apply for funding that helps them expand equitable access to public programs, increase opportunities in neighborhoods throughout Tacoma, expand educational options for youth, and build sustainability for ongoing cultural programs that provide value for people throughout the City of Tacoma. The Tacoma Creates Advisory Board serves in an advisory capacity to the Tacoma Creates staff on funding programs.
Inclusion, Equity, and Access
Arts & Cultural Vitality is striving toward social justice. We are committed to supporting equitable opportunities in all of our work including Tacoma Creates, Tacoma Arts Commission funding, public art, and public programming. We are committed to supporting the entirety of our community.
For more on current and ongoing efforts, please read the City of Tacoma’s Tacoma 2025 plan and Arts & Cultural Vitality’s ArtFull Tacoma (Strategy 2: Promote equity, diversity, and inclusiveness through the arts).
Additionally, we encourage you to visit the City of Tacoma’s Office of Equity and Human Rights web pages. Interested in learning more about city-wide equity efforts, including the support of diverse artists and diverse voices? check out How We Got Here: A Reckoning with US and Tacoma History.
2023 Service Overview
2022-2023 Annual Reports
Read the full 2023 Arts & Cultural Vitality annual report here.
Read the full 2022-2023 Tacoma Creates Annual Report here.