The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) recently awarded the City of Tacoma and our Tacoma Art Museum an “Our Town” grant – one of 51 awarded nationwide! This grant is the NEA’s latest investment in creative placemaking – bringing together public and private sectors to shape the economic and social characters of a neighborhood around arts and cultural activities. Sounds like the perfect award for downtown Tacoma, right?
The $200,000 grant will go toward the redesign of the Tacoma Art Museum Plaza and the adjacent Pacific Avenue streetscape. Hopefully, this redesign will increase access to the museum and the connections between the museum district and the rest of the downtown area.
“I remember sitting in the US Conference of Mayors TAPES (Tourism, Arts, Parks, Entertainment, Sports) Committee meeting in January when this grant opportunity from the NEA was announced, and thought that the redesign of Pacific Avenue and the Tacoma Art Museum plaza area fit perfectly in line with the vision of creative placemaking they were describing,” recalled Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland. “And, now, we’re the recipient of our full request.”
“Tacoma Art Museum is proud to partner with the City on this project,” said Stephanie A. Stebich, Director, Tacoma Art Museum. “In the 1990s, the museum worked closely with the City during the construction of its current facility, transforming downtown Tacoma. Our continued work together will build on that success and ensure Tacoma is a thriving, creative and welcoming community with the arts at its core.”
Are you excited? Because we’re pretty pumped, and we can’t wait to see the changes. Learn more about the TAM Plaza redesign here.