Nearly $600K in arts funding headed to Pierce County. Is your favorite group on list?
Some 50 Pierce County nonprofits will learn Tuesday how much of $592,500 in grants they are receiving from a Seattle-based arts advocacy organization and a philanthropic foundation started by the late owner of the Seattle Seahawks.
ArtsFund and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation have teamed up to give $10 million to arts and cultural centered organizations across the state. It’s the second year for the collaboration, and this year both the number of Pierce County recipients has grown (26 percent) as well as total funding (33 percent).
The Community Accelerator Grant program provides the awards with no strings attached. Groups like Tacoma Arts Live, the Buffalo Soldiers Museum and Fred Oldfield’s Western Heritage and Art Center can spend the money any way they like.
The average award size for Pierce County organizations is $11,850. The largest awards of $25,000 each went to Fab-5, Native American Reentry Services, Powerful Voices, Rainbow Center, Real Art Tacoma, Tacoma Photo Center and Tacoma Music Collaborative.
Recovery
Arts and culture organizations across the country, dependent on putting people in seats or participating in the creative process, suffered revenue and funding losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those that survived are still recovering.
This is the second year that the Allen Foundation has collaborated with ArtFund to deliver what is now a total of $20 million to Washington state arts groups, according to Michael Greer, ArtsFund’s president and CEO.
The Seattle-based groups’ funding acknowledges the large arts scene in the South Sound.
“Pierce County and Tacoma are a critical part of the arts and culture landscape within the state of Washington,” Greer said. “We recognize its importance in the entire ecosystem.”
Unrestricted
Greer emphasized that the grants do not restrict how the money can be spent.
“We know that every organization has a different set of needs,” he said. “And we want to be able to trust those organizations to do what they need to do in order to have the most impact in their community.”
The grant application does ask the groups what they intend the money for, according to ArtsFund spokesperson Katy Corella.
Some common themes were exhibitions and performances, she said.
“And then the other one is really around salaries and labor because the arts are such a people-intensive sector,” Corella said.
The Tacoma Refugee Choir is receiving a $12,500 grant this year. In 2023, the group was awarded $22,500. The 2023 grant went to partially fund the salary of an assistant artistic director. The choir has had over 700 members from 70 nations since its inception in 2016.
Arts and culture
While many of the groups are primarily arts organizations, others are culture-based.
“We considered cultural heritage groups as being organizations who are generally focused on serving, centering and/or celebrating a certain culture or heritage,” Corella said.
Even those organizations must have significant artistic programming in dance, film and media, literary arts, multidisciplinary, music, musical theater, opera, theater, visual arts or arts services, she said.
Pierce County Awardees
9th and 10th Horse Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers Museum, $17,500.
Arivva, $2,500.
Asia Pacific Cultural Center, $17,500.
Cora Voce, $12,500.
Fab-5, $25,000.
Fablab Nonprofit, $17,500.
FLYSTART, $17,500.
Fred Oldfield Western Heritage Center, $17,500.
Gig Harbor BoatShop, $2,500.
Grand Cinema, $7,500.
Hilltop Artists in Residence, $12,500.
KNKX, $7,500.
Lakewold Gardens, $2,500
Lakewood Playhouse, $17,500.
Museum of Glass, $2,500.
Native American Reentry Services, $25,000.
Northwest Sinfonietta, $2,500.
Peninsula Art League, $2,500.
Peninsula Hands On Art, $2,500.
Peninsula Youth Orchestra, $7,500.
Pierce County Library Foundation, $12,500.
Powerful Voices, $25,000.
Puget Sound Revels, $2,500
Rainbow Center, $25,000.
Real Art Tacoma, $25,000.
Speak With Purpose, $17,500.
Subdued Stringband Jamboree, $2,500.
Symphony Tacoma, $2,500.
Tacoma Art Museum, $12,500.
Tacoma Arts Live, $7,500.
Tacoma City Ballet, $2,500.
Tacoma Boat Builders, $17,500.
Tacoma Concert Band, $12,500.
Tacoma Historical Society, $12,500.
Tacoma Light Trail, $12,500.
Tacoma Little Theatre and Drama League, $12,500.
Tacoma Music Academy, $2,500.
Tacoma Music Collaborative, $12,500.
Tacoma Musical Playhouse, $12,500.
Tacoma Opera Association, $7,500.
Tacoma Photo Center, $25,000.
Tacoma Refugee Choir, $12,500.
Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center, T.U.P.A.C., $17,500.
Tacoma Youth Symphony Association, $7,500.
Tacoma Music Collaborative, $25,000.
Ted Brown Music Outreach, $7,500.
Washington State Historical Society, $2,500.
Washington Tacoma Korean American Association, $17,500.
Wintergrass Music Festival, $2,500.
Write253, $17,500.
