An arts and culture nonprofit in Tacoma will keep its space in the historic armory after all.
Tacoma Arts Live made headlines earlier this year when it announced that it would end its operations and sell the armory. It is based in the building and provides affordable rental office and event space to other nonprofits.
Tacoma Arts Live had considered selling the building to pay off roughly $3 million in debt, but now the nonprofit is in the process of restructuring that debt. Earlier this year it voluntarily entered receivership, a process similar to bankruptcy.
Katie Stricker, the nonprofit’s CEO, said the organization is dropping its “presenting program,” which hosted national and international touring acts. People are not going to live events like they did before the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, and the model for bringing those acts to the city is continuing to change.
"It’s making space for the creative community to say, ‘I'm going to bring my work forward,’" she said.
Going forward, the organization's budget will include an item that will go toward paying off its debt. It is also partnering with a local philanthropic nonprofit, Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, to host a fund.
Stricker said that partnership was made to assure donors who are hesitant about giving directly to the organization. All the money donated to that fund will go toward the nonprofit’s mission.
“If, by some very remote possibility, the debt were not able to be restructured and the organization would have to change its operations significantly, those funds would stay at the community foundation and be redirected to serve another arts and culture purpose,” she said.
Stricker said the nonprofit is focused on bolstering its educational arts programming and supporting artists who want to use the space. It has increased the number of after-school programs for Tacoma Public Schools and has added classes such as ceramics, collaging and a fashion class.
