Arts & Cultural Vitality
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 (ACV) 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 and Tacoma Creates.
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 Tacoma Creates staff on funding programs.
Arts & Cultural Vitality Staff
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Rebecca Solverson (she/her)
Division Manager
Phone: (253) 591-5564, (253) 381-5397 cell
Email: rebecca.solverson@tacoma.gov -
Daniel Garcia (he/him)
Community Programs Specialist
Phone: (253) 830-6763, (253) 453-9793 cell
Email: dgarcia2@tacoma.gov -
Clarissa Gines (she/her)Tacoma Creates Program Coordinator
Phone: (253) 591-5174
Email: cgines@tacoma.gov -
Lisa Jaret (she/her)Tacoma Creates Program Manager
Phone: (253) 591-5161
Email: ljaret@tacoma.gov -
Marissa Laubscher (she/her)
Public Art Program Manager
Phone: (253) 500-8051 cell
Email: mlaubscher@tacoma.gov -
Elm McCrummen (she/they)Tacoma Creates Program Assistant
Phone: (253) 591-2038
Email: emccrummen@tacoma.gov -
Naomi Strom-Avila (she/her)Funding and Cultural Programs Manager
Phone: (253) 591-5191, (253) 453-9983 cell
Email: nstrom-avila@tacoma.gov
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.