Tacoma Arts Live, a non-profit arts organization serving the South Sound region since 1979, will close its doors this summer and put its building, the Tacoma Armory, up for sale.
TAL’s innovative education programs will continue, but other programs will end June 30, including its performing arts season, and TAL’s signature events such as Brew Five Three, Arts at the Armory, and Sunday roller skating on the Armory’s polished wood floor.
Tacoma Arts Live and other arts organizations across the country have seen a decline in ticket sales for live shows following the pandemic. The decision to end most of TAL’s programs follows multiple rounds of significant operational changes to reduce expenses, which were unfortunately not enough to allow the organization to continue.
Formerly known as The Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, Tacoma Arts Live has been a cornerstone of the South Sound’s arts community for more than four decades. It was established by city leaders in 1979 to manage Tacoma’s Pantages Theater and promote arts in the community. With the later additions of the Rialto Theater and Theater on the Square, the organization managed the largest theater complex between Seattle and Portland. It remodeled the Pantages in 1979 and 2018, and the Rialto in 1991, revitalizing Tacoma’s downtown theater district and facilitating about $30 million in private and public investment in the city-owned theaters.
Notable performers TAL brought to Tacoma include Dizzy Gillespie, Itzhak Perlman, Alvin Ailey, Wynton Marsalis, Chick Corea, Bob Newhart, Queen Latifah, Randy Newman, the Soweto Gospel Choir, Los Lobos, Tony Bennett, Lila Downs, Pink Martini, Melissa Ethridge, Cyndi Lauper, Lyle Lovett, Rita Moreno and many more.
In 2021, Tacoma Arts Live concentrated on its stewardship of the historic Tacoma Armory, when local developer Fred Roberson made a generous part-donation, part-sale of the building to TAL. The Armory boasts a 20,000-square-foot parade floor, the intimate Eleanor Roosevelt Room, flexible studio spaces, and multiple office suites. Since that time, TAL has worked alongside numerous community partners and grassroots organizations to transform the once-military structure into a thriving hub for arts and culture, which hums with activity seven days a week.
Tacoma Arts Live has been much more than a venue manager: as a cultural catalyst for the community and economic anchor for the revitalization of the city’s core, it has brought hundreds national and international performers to Tacoma, creating community events from glittering galas to outdoor brewery festivals, and developing educational programs that promote community and cultural understanding. In the Armory, Tacoma Arts Live hosted popular immersive exhibits including Van Gogh, Monet, and a virtual reality exploration of the International Space Station. More recently, Tacoma Arts Live established ACE (Advancing Creative Enterprise), an incubator serving 140+ creative entrepreneurs with small business workshops, accessible office/rehearsal space and expert event production support and facilities.
TAL also established one of the largest performing arts education programs in Washington State, bringing opportunities for self-expression, 21st century skill-building, and cross-cultural understanding to K-12 learners, teachers and families across the region. With an emphasis on providing free and low-cost arts experiences to students furthest from opportunity, it reaches 34,000 learners, educators and family members annually. Services across almost a dozen school districts include school residencies, touring shows, after school programs, teacher workshops and innovative arts-centered programs around civics and social emotional learning.
“The arts are a key ingredient in building healthy communities,” said Lisa Kremer, board chair for Tacoma Arts Live. “We are proud to have fostered art expression in the South Sound for more than 25 years. The closure of Tacoma Arts Live will leave a hole in our region, and we hope that other organizations will continue to ensure access to arts and arts education.”