A performing arts organization and hub for community activity in Tacoma is closing its doors at the end of June.
The Tacoma Arts Live board announced that the organization will cease to exist at the end of the current performing arts season, citing financial pressures.
Katie Stricker Lappier, the program director at Tacoma Arts Live, said the organization has roughly $3 million in debt.
Tacoma Arts Live plans to sell the Tacoma Armory, where it has housed performances and events since 2022, after it was gifted by a commercial developer following his passing. From the board's perspective, Stricker Lappier said the only way to address those debts is to sell the building.
“For the last year and a half, leadership staff at Tacoma Arts Live have been working diligently to try to solve that debt problem,” Stricker Lappier said. “We've worked through refinancing options, we've restructured staffing. We've sadly had to lay off a number of employees over the last two years, and still none of that was enough to really address the debt burden.”
The closure will have a substantial impact on community groups that use the space, such as Tomorrowland Junior Roller Derby.
Chris Cooley, the president and head coach of the league, said it's been a struggle to find practice space. After the league’s lease wasn't renewed at its first home at the Boys & Girls’ Club, Cooley said the roller derby league started a fundraising campaign to buy its own space. But then, Tacoma Arts Live reached out to them directly to allow them to use the space.
“ It was a great place for us to come in and really build out the roller sport community that we lost homes for,” Cooley said.
Tacoma’s only roller rink, SkateWorld, closed two years ago. Parks Tacoma does not allow roller skates in any of its facilities.
With the Armory closing, Cooley said her focus is to find a new home for her league, which includes over 60 kids. She said they’re considering locations outside of Tacoma, given how difficult it is to find a place that accommodates roller skating.
“ There is a very high risk that if we can't make it work, we will have to close down this league at the end of the season,” Cooley said.
Every week, the Armory hosts creatives through a program called Accelerating Creative Enterprise, or ACE, which supports women and people of color who are creatives or entrepreneurs.
Antonio Gómez, the chief engagement officer for Tacoma Arts Live, said the program includes free access to co-working space at the Armory, a professional development program and the chance to work directly with professional production staff at below market rate.
“ I feel like ACE really has been this unique solution to the challenge of investing in the space and resources needed to make the creative economy tick,” Gómez said. “When we care and feed creatives, we're caring and feeding the larger economic structure of our region.”
More than 140 people participate in the program.
For three years, the Black Night Market has made its home in the Armory through the ACE program.
“ We don't know what we're gonna do,” said Mari Griffin, founder and event producer for the market. “There aren't too many spaces out here that are indoor that will accommodate what we're doing here.”
Griffin said that since the market has been at the Armory, they’ve expanded from 25 to over 80 vendors. She is concerned about how this will impact the artists and business owners who have found community and prosperity through the market.
“ I made it clear that we may have to take a break,” Griffin said.
The organization also facilitates arts education programming, which serves over nine districts and 30,000 students. The board for the nonprofit said the educational programs will continue, but it is unclear who will manage them.
