Opportunities

Current Opportunities

Tacoma Studio Tour and Arts at the Armory 2026

The Tacoma Arts Commission invites Tacoma artists and creatives, working in all artistic disciplines and mediums, to apply for the Tacoma Studio Tour and/or Arts at the Armory. You only need to fill out this one application to be considered for either or both events.

About the Tacoma Studio Tour

The Tacoma Studio Tour is an opportunity to invite the public into your working studio or creative space, give demonstrations of how you make your work, or host a simple interactive activity with the community. This tour emphasizes raising awareness of artists and creatives and providing opportunities for the community to connect to the arts. Artists at all stages of their careers are encouraged to apply, from those just starting out to longtime practitioners.

A studio or creative working space is defined as a location where an artist actively makes, develops, or demonstrates their work. The space must be located in Tacoma. You do not need a formal studio to participate. A library meeting room, community space, or borrowed workspace can qualify if your setup reflects your active practice and allows visitors to engage with how you make your work. A standard vendor or retail table setup, where you are simply selling your work, does not meet the intent of the Studio Tour. What matters is that visitors can see and engage with your creative process.

If you plan to participate as a guest at another artist’s studio or shared creative working space, all application requirements still apply to you individually. Each artist or creative participating at a shared or group studio location must submit their own separate application.

There is no fee to apply and/or participate in the Tacoma Studio Tour.

The Tacoma Studio Tour takes place on Saturday, October 17 and Sunday, October 18, 2026, from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

You can choose to be open on Saturday, Sunday, or both days. You must be open for the full 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. time frame on the day(s) you select. While not required, we encourage you to have work for sale; no commission will be taken on any sales, and you will handle any sale of your work directly.

The Tacoma Arts Commission will produce extensive electronic publicity materials, including email communications, social media posts, and an interactive website and map. We will also produce a printed mailer for the Tacoma Studio Tour. We ask that all participating artists actively promote the Tacoma Studio Tour to their contacts; we will provide publicity materials for this use. Thanks for your support!

This year, we will be continuing the interactive Studio Tour Passport program as an incentive for people to visit and interact with new and/or multiple studios. Each studio space will receive a stamp they can use to indicate guests’ active participation at their studio. You are encouraged, but not required, to donate a small art item that can be included in the prize packages.

About Arts at the Armory

Arts at the Armory is an arts market for Tacoma-based artists and creatives who would like to share and/or sell their work with the community, side by side with other creatives, all within the historic Tacoma Armory. Artists at all stages of their careers are encouraged to apply, from those just starting out to longtime practitioners.

Participating artists and creatives will be assigned a maximum of a 10’x10’ space (table and chair provided, if requested in the application), where they can share or demonstrate their work and talk about their creative practice with the public. You are not required to provide an interactive experience or demonstration at this event.

There is no fee to apply and/or participate in Arts at the Armory.

The event will take place on Saturday, November 14 and Sunday, November 15, 2026, from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m., inside the Tacoma Armory (1001 South Yakima Avenue).

You can choose to participate on Saturday, Sunday, or both days. You must be on site and open for the full 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. time frame on the day(s) you select.

Arts at the Armory is a meaningful way to build your audience, connect with collectors and community members, and share your practice on your own terms. While not required, we encourage you to have work for sale. No commission is taken on any sales, and you will handle any sale of your work directly.

The Tacoma Arts Commission will produce publicity materials, including email communications, social media posts, and posters. We ask that participating artists and creatives actively promote Arts at the Armory to their own contacts. We will provide all the materials you need to make this easy and effective.

You will be responsible for setting up, being present, staffing, and tearing down your own space. All displays and setups must be freestanding (no wall attachments allowed) and fit within the allotted space. You are not allowed to provide or sell food or beverages to the public or have any open flames.

Eligibility

The following eligibility criteria applies for both the Tacoma Studio Tour and Arts at the Armory:

• You must live within the Tacoma city limits and/or your regular working studio or performance space must be located within the Tacoma city limits.
• Your work must be created, performed, and/or made by you. It cannot be commercially acquired, appropriated, or AI-generated.

If applying for the Tacoma Studio Tour and you would like to be a guest at another artist’s studio location, the eligibility guidelines listed above still apply. Each artist or creative in a group studio needs to submit their own application.

Creatives and artists who identify as members of the Global Majority: Black, Brown, Indigenous, People of Color (BBIPOC); African, Latinx, Arab, Asian, Native-American (ALAANA) communities; economically or socio-economically marginalized communities; LGBTQIA+ communities, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

To Apply

The deadline for applications is Monday, June 22, 2026, by 11:59 p.m. Eligible artists and creatives interested in either of these opportunities must fill out the online application form at https://tacomaarts.submittable.com/submit.

All applications will be reviewed by a subcommittee of the Tacoma Arts Commission and selected based on the quality of work and the overall variety of artistic disciplines and work represented.

If applying for both the Tacoma Studio Tour and Arts at the Armory, your application for each event will be considered separately. Past participation in either of these events does not guarantee future selection to participate. We regularly receive more applications than we can accommodate with available resources and limited event spaces.

By applying for the Tacoma Studio Tour and/or Arts at the Armory, and if accepted, you are committing to participate in the event(s), unless serious circumstances occur that make your participation not possible.

Questions?

Contact Daniel Garcia at (253) 830-6763 or dgarcia2@tacoma.gov.

 

Mural Artist Roster Application

Opportunity

We seek artists to join the City of Tacoma’s Mural Artist Roster. The City, private building owners, and community groups use the Mural Artist Roster to choose artists for ongoing mural opportunities. Artists already on the roster are asked to resubmit their portfolio to update.

If added to the City’s Mural Artist Roster:

• You’ll be eligible for mural opportunities with the City.
• We’ll host your portfolio online publicly so that private building owners and community
  groups can consider you for their murals.

Eligibility

• Applicant must be a Pierce County resident
• Applicant must be 18 years or older
• Applicant cannot be a member of the Tacoma Arts Commission or an employee of the City of Tacoma

How to Apply

Before applying, please read through the full Mural Artist Roster Guidelines.

Apply through Submittable at tacomaarts.submittable.com/submit. Applications must be submitted by Tuesday, June 2, 2026 at 5 p.m.

Questions?

Contact Marissa Laubscher, Public Art Program Manager, at mlaubscher@tacoma.gov or (253) 500-8051.

Tacoma Creates – Organizational Eligibility Review Form

Is your organization interested in applying for Tacoma Creates funding?

If your organization has not previously been funded by Tacoma Creates, but you’d like to apply in the next funding cycle, we encourage you to go through the Eligibility Review process.

This process will determine whether your organization is eligible for Tacoma Creates funding and can move on to completing the full funding application, which will be released in late January 2027.

Tacoma Creates has two funding categories, and organizations can only apply in ONE of the categories. Start by reviewing the organizational eligibility requirements, which are explained on the Tacoma Creates website:

• Eligibility for Impact Funding (this funding category is generally for organizations with annual budgets under $400K)
• Eligibility for Comprehensive Organizational Support (this funding category is generally for organizations with annual budgets over $400K and with year-round work in both general public programs and youth education programs)

Organizations are NOT eligible if they are:

• Any agency of the state or political subdivisions
• A municipal corporation
• An organization that raises funds for redistribution to multiple cultural organizations
• Radio or television broadcasting network or stations, cable communications systems, internet-based communications venture or services, newspapers, or magazines

Eligibility for Tacoma Creates funding programs is based on Washington State and City of Tacoma legislation.

How to Apply

Before applying, please read through the Organizational Eligibility criteria, listed above.

The Organizational Eligibility Review Form can be found at tacomaarts.submittable.com/submit, and will be open until 11:59pm on Sunday, January 31, 2027. Within a week after you submit your form, you will receive an update from Tacoma Creates staff on next steps. Eligibility determinations will be made within 2-4 weeks, depending on when you submit.

Questions?

Email Lisa Jaret, Program Manager at ljaret@tacoma.gov. For more information about Tacoma Creates, visit www.tacomacreates.org.

Panel Interest Form

What is a Panel?

A panel is a group of individuals pulled together by staff to review applications or nominations for Arts & Cultural Vitality managed programs or opportunities. Panel members use published review criteria to evaluate applications and make recommendations about who gets grant funding, public art projects, roster appointments, etc.

Panelists are selected for a variety of reasons which can include: their connection to community, knowledge of relevant subject matter, and the diversity of perspectives and experiences they bring to the group overall. For each opportunity, we assemble a unique panel of three to nine people to make collective recommendations about which applicants should receive funding or commissions through our division. Those recommendations generally go to the Tacoma Arts Commission or the Tacoma Creates Advisory Board for final approval.

Why be a Panelist?

The Arts & Cultural Vitality Division (ACV) is deeply appreciative of the time and expertise community members invest in serving on panels. Serving on a panel is a proactive way to impact how public funds are spent in Tacoma, and panelists receive valuable professional development as well as insight into how the application review process works from the inside.

ACV provides panelists with free parking and food during meetings, in addition to offering a monetary honorarium.

The length and number of meetings needed for a selection process vary based on the project. Depending on the application, some panels will require a small amount of prep work in advance, one to two hours, and some panels may require extensive reading and evaluation work in advance of the in-person panel meeting, anywhere from 10-50 hours. Community members will be offered an honorarium for their service as follows:

• Panel Meetings: panelists will receive between $25 – $225 for attending a panel meeting; staff will determine the exact rate, depending on the length of the meeting.
• Pre-Meeting Preparation: panelists will receive between $100 – $500 for pre‐meeting work to digitally read and score applications (only when requested); staff will determine the exact rate, depending on the estimated time this work will take.

Members of a City‐appointed commission or board are volunteers and are not eligible to receive an honorarium for their service on a panel. City of Tacoma employees and project staff are not eligible to receive an honorarium for their service on a panel.

Submit a Panel Interest Form

Please complete the online form to be considered for a position on an upcoming ACV panel: www.surveymonkey.com/r/tacomapanels

Staff will take into account many factors when putting together panels and may not be able to use the services of all qualified individuals who submit. If an individual is offered a position on a panel but is unable to participate because of scheduling or conflict of interest, ACV will continue to consider them for future panels. Panel Interest Forms will be saved and reviewed periodically for up to three years from the submission date.

Questions?

If you have questions, please contact Naomi Strom-Avila or (253) 591-5191.