Tacoma Creates: Where did millions in taxpayer funding go amid pandemic?
When Tacoma voters approved a sales-tax increase in 2018 to support the arts, they didn’t know that not longer later, a global pandemic would strike.
Tacoma Creates, Washington state’s first voter-approved cultural access program, started distributing funding around the time COVID-19 cases started mounting in early 2020 and most cultural organizations had to pause their regular programming.
In hindsight, it was good timing.
The funding helped organizations transition to virtual programs and explore new options during a hard economic time.
“There was an upside of the timing in that Tacoma Creates funding provided resources for cultural organizations to reinvent their programming to be able to continue to serve the community and to keep creatives and cultural workers employed here in Tacoma,” Lisa Jaret, program manager for Tacoma Creates, said in a presentation at the city’s Economic Development Committee Dec. 14 meeting.
According to a December report, Tacoma Creates distributed $4.7 million to 57 cultural organizations in its 2020-21 program year. Organizations included Tacoma Ocean Fest, Hilltop Artists, Museum of Glass, Tacoma Arts Live and more.
The money supported more than 400 programs and events. Of those, 268 were available to the general public, while 144 were specifically for youth, such as poetry writing, computer programming and environmental science programs.
A total of 82,000 people attended in-person events with 497,000 views for online programs. About 97 percent of all the programs were either free to the public or had free/reduced ticket price options.
Tacoma Creates is funded by a one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax increase, or one cent for every $10 spent. The tax is meant to increase access to arts, culture, heritage and science experiences throughout the city and rakes in about $6 million a year. It’s collected about $14 million since April 2019.
Money collected during a program year (typically between July and June) funds the following program year. The tax will be up for renewal by Tacoma voters in 2025.
Between April 2019, when the tax was first enacted, and June 2020, the program collected $7.4 million from Tacoma taxpayers, which funded the first official program year between April 2020 through June 2021.
According to a report released in December, the funds were allocated to the following:
$5.5 million to organizations
$567,000 to general administration and city overhead costs
$461,000 to program start-up, one-time costs
$190,000 to capacity building, including consulting for equity initiatives and work related to data gathering and mapping
$130,000 to program management and community engagement work
$85,000 to transportation for students participating in programs
$535,000 to reserves
Between July 2020 and June 2021, Tacoma Creates collected about $6 million from Tacoma taxpayers that is funding the 2021-22 program year.
A total of 51 cultural organizations across Tacoma were awarded funding contracts for the 2021-22 year totaling approximately $4 million for local nonprofits.
Organizations previously spoke with The News Tribune about receiving Tacoma Creates funding to help events continue amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when virtual or hybrid events became routine.
Troy Christensen, executive director of Rainbow Center, told The News Tribune in June 2021 that a $84,000 funding contract awarded to the center by Tacoma Creates helped continue Tacoma Pride, programming and administrative costs.
“It’s groundbreaking, really,” Christensen said at the time. “We’ve never had this kind of base funding before, and it really does allow us to not have to worry about ongoing cash flow issues.”
Shortly after the outbreak of COVID-19 in Washington in early 2020, local arts and culture organizations also spoke to the importance of Tacoma Creates funding. Leaders of Communities for a Healthy Bay, Hilltop Artists and Tacoma Little Theatre told The News Tribune in April 2020 they faced challenges like canceled fundraisers and events.
“We always do a big musical in the spring and it’s usually our big money maker of the year,” Chris Serface, managing artistic director for Tacoma Little Theatre said in 2020. “We try to keep engaged and remind people that we are here. It’s a very difficult time for all of us, especially for the arts.”
According to the Tacoma Creates report, some organizations were able to expand their work with the extra funding.
“At a time when other resources were restricted, Tacoma Creates support allowed us to expand our public arts programs,” Spaceworks Tacoma said in a statement. “We increased stipends to contracted artists, and supported more projects in more locations throughout Tacoma.”
