Arts Month Kicks Off Tonight at the Historic Tacoma Armory
--New Episode of 'artTown' Now Airing--
Tacoma, Wash. -- Tacoma Arts Month – a community celebration of the arts that includes hundreds of community-hosted arts and culture events, exhibits, and workshops for all ages – kicks off tonight with the Tacoma Arts Month Opening Party and AMOCAT Arts Awards, from 6 - 9 p.m., at the Historic Tacoma Armory (715 S. 11th St.). The event, hosted by the Tacoma Arts Commission and Spaceworks Tacoma, will feature:
- Appetizers, dessert, a no-host bar
- Music by Ken Jacobsen
- Contemporary dance by the BareFoot Collective, Joel Myers & Voriece Miller, and TSOTA Dance Company
- Samoan village dance by Asia Pacific Cultural Center
- Poetry by Tacoma Poet Laureate Cathy Nguyen
- Pop-up multi-media art exhibits by Christopher Jordan, Isaac Olsen, Jennifer Chushcoff, Nichole Rathburn, Janet Marcavage, Tim and April Norris, Terese Cuff, Elizabeth Gahan, Diana Leigh Surma and Judd Cohen
- Aerial and cirque performances by Vuelta La Luna
- An interactive art-making experience with 3 Square Blocks
Mayor Marilyn Strickland will present this year’s AMOCAT Arts Awards and recognition of funding recipients at 7:45 p.m.
The City of Tacoma's Media and Communications Office – in partnership with its Community and Economic Development Department's Arts Program – has also recently begun airing a new episode of “artTown,” a cultural documentary-style TV initiative exploring Tacoma's emergence as a major creative hub in the Pacific Northwest. The new episode features discussions with comic book artists and illustrators in Tacoma, Tacoma’s Poet Laureates, and the individuals responsible for bringing Eye of the Totem back to life. It also delves into the influence of theater and the performing arts on our local youth, provides an insider’s look at the new wing of the Tacoma Art Museum, and more.
Launched in October 2013, the series has earned numerous awards and features diverse perspectives on a variety of creative disciplines. Offering a more holistic look at creativity in Tacoma, “artTown” stretches beyond what people might traditionally think of as “creative” – such as fine art, music or dance – to spotlight other creative areas of interest that have flourished in Tacoma like food, fashion, innovative education practices, architecture and more.
The short and long-form segments in “artTown” air on TV Tacoma Mondays at noon, Tuesdays at 1 a.m., Wednesdays at 8 a.m., Thursdays at 6 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 5 a.m. It will also be available through Click! ON Demand’s TV Tacoma and TacomaArt & Culture menu listings, on the City of Tacoma's website at cityoftacoma.org/artTown, and the City of Tacoma’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts.