Tacoma just pledged $10K for a Black Lives Matter mural downtown. It’s money well spent
Let’s be honest: Tacoma has never really known what to do with Tollefson Plaza.
Despite its prominent location downtown — and its potential to be a premiere public gathering space — the concrete expanse of uninviting steps at South 17th Street and Pacific Avenue has remained largely barren of life, a victim of questionable design and misfired aspirations.
That’s one reason to be excited by the Tacoma City Council’s decision Tuesday to allocate thousands of dollars for the installation of a Black Lives Matter mural in Tollefson Plaza. Since nearly the day it opened, the plaza has too often lacked purpose. This project will change that, as early as this fall, when a mural that extends up Tollefson’s stairs is expected to be unveiled.
But the artwork is about more than bringing an important public space to life, according to City Council member Keith Blocker.
It’s about sending the message that “the Black community is recognized and seen,” Blocker said Wednesday.
“Just flat out putting it out there: the City of Tacoma believes Black lives matter,” Blocker said.
More than a year after the death of George Floyd and, locally, Manuel Ellis, Tacoma’s Black Lives Matter mural will be far from the first. Cities across the country — from Seattle to Washington D.C. — were much quicker to embrace public art endorsing the movement for equality, justice and an end to police brutality.
Still, according to Human Rights Commission chair Michealea Lemons, that won’t make Tacoma’s Black Lives Matter mural any less powerful or timely. The commission has been pushing the city to install a mural since last year, but it took a partnership between the city and the Tacoma Art Museum to finally bring the idea to fruition, Lemons said.
The results will be worth the wait, she believes.
“I don’t think it’s late, because people are still dying everyday at the hands of police. Those things haven’t stopped, at all,” Lemons said.
“I think it’s worked out the way it was supposed to.”
According to Tacoma arts administrator Amy McBride, the deal between the city and Tacoma Art Museum totals more than $20,000, with each contributing $10,000 toward the creation of the mural. The effort is intended to complement and support the Kinsey Collection of African American Art & History, which will debut at the museum on July 31. The Council also contributed an additional $5,000 that will go toward community engagement and the cost of maintaining the mural, including responding to graffiti, McBride said.
The Kinsey exhibit — which today travels the world — will feature 150 pieces from the private collection of African American arts and cultural objects amassed by Bernard and Shirley Kinsey, including original documentation of the ownership of Black slaves and artworks from the Harlem Renaissance. While it will only be on display at Tacoma Art Museum through Nov. 28, the Black Lives Matter mural in Tollefson is expected to last for roughly five years, McBride said.
The process of selecting a muralist will begin next month, McBride said. Three finalists from what she described as “a short list” of artists who can “best respond to the Black experience in Tacoma” will be interviewed by a panel made up of members of the city’s Human Rights Commission, Arts Commission and representatives from Tacoma Art Museum.
Ultimately, one muralist or team will be selected for the work and tasked with creating a piece that reflects both the Black Lives Matter movement and the achievements and contributions of African Americans throughout history, McBride said.
Tacoma Art Museum executive director David Setford described the mural and exhibit as a chance for the museum to put action behind its stated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
“We are thrilled to partner in providing a platform for Black creators and to elevate their work. Like many American art museums, TAM has historically prioritized white artists and overlooked contributions by Black artists,” Setford said in a statement provided to The News Tribune.
“This mural and exhibition are important steps in acknowledging the many achievements of Black people.”
For Lemons, the power of the Black Lives Matter mural that will soon adorn Tollefson Plaza goes far beyond historical acknowledgment.
She described it as an opportunity for the city to “put your money where your mouth is.”
She also views it as a very public pledge that Tacoma leaders can be held accountable to in the future.
“Once you make this statement — especially with a mural that will be on one of our main roads here in Tacoma — there’s no going back. … You put this mural up, so we’re going to want to see you doing this work,” Lemons said.
“I think that that’s a huge statement, and we’re hoping that it means a lot to Tacoma residents.”
This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
