Oct 22 Wednesday
In this course wildlife artist, Natasha Terry, will guide participants on how to paint illustrations of local animals (no drawing skills needed). Beginners are absolutely welcome! Natasha will go over the fundamentals of watercolor painting and make sure you have the basics you need to paint within your own style and skill level. The lessons include a range of animals (birds, amphibians, bugs, and mammals), rather than landscapes or environments. We will work on up to 5 different watercolor illustrations over the course of 6 weeks. Weather permitting, we may spend a small portion of our class time in the park area surrounding the community center. This class is meant to be fun and enriching—a beautiful way to connect with the gorgeous urban ecosystems of Seattle.
Join us for CASINO de SALSA with the incredible Takechi Ruiz, Wednesdays at 6 PM! No partner? No problem. Just bring your energy and we’ll bring the rhythm. 💥
Let’s make some 🔥 moves together.
Location: Tacoma - 1105 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, WADay: Every WednesdayTime: 6:00 – 7:00 PMAges: Ages 12+Registration Link: https://app.jackrabbitclass.com/regv2.asp?id=532322&preLoadClassID=20477009
Contact: 253-327-1873
Sponsored by KNKX. BIMA is proud to partner once again with Seattle’s Earshot Jazz to as part of the most prestigious jazz festival in the Pacific Northwest. Earshot Jazz dedicates itself year-round to cultivating a vibrant, diverse jazz community—championing artistic innovation, honoring the rich history and integrity of the genre, and fostering meaningful connections between musicians and audiences through the annual Earshot Jazz Festival.
The BIMA Annual Within/Earshot Jazz Festival is more than a concert series—it’s a dynamic, living conversation where sound, story, and visual art intersect. For the entire month of October, the Frank Buxton Auditorium transforms into a creative studio, a place where jazz musicians, storytellers, and visual artists come together to explore and celebrate the many facets of jazz.
Each artist brings their own unique voice to the festival, honoring jazz’s deep roots and its ever-evolving future. Some lean into poetic, modern grooves that push boundaries and invite reflection; others revive the exuberance of speakeasy-era swing, capturing the spirit of a bygone era. The pulse of Brazilian folk traditions adds rich textures and rhythms, while fresh voices from the Northwest highlight jazz’s ongoing innovation and cultural resonance.
Whether you attend a single event or immerse yourself in the full month-long experience, you’ll discover a vibrant tapestry of music, culture, and storytelling that showcases jazz’s timeless appeal and its power to inspire across generations and communities.
Stage of Fools Written by Joy McCullough Directed by Amy Poisson
A scrappy feminist theater company is about to go under when they receive an offer they can't refuse: has-been 80s action movie star Jake Stone will endow them with more money than they've ever dreamed of, if they'll produce King Lear, with him in the titular role. Never mind that he's an entitled, egotistical blowhard. These women can survive anything for the sake of the theater they love...right?
Evening and matinee performances.
AfroCuban Dance is HERE and you’re invited!
Experience the roots, rhythms, and soul of AfroCuban dance with the phenomenal Takechi Ruiz every Wednesday at 7:15 PM.
This is more than a class, it’s a celebration of culture, community, and movement. Perfect for all levels. Let’s move!
Location: Tacoma -1105 Martin Luther King Jr. WayDay: WednesdaysTimed: 7:15 – 8:15 PMAge: Ages 12+Contact: 253-327-1783
Registration Link: https://app.jackrabbitclass.com/regv2.asp?id=532322&preLoadClassID=20477009
Welcomed by KNKX. Frank Vignola is one of the most extraordinary guitarists performing before the public today. His stunning virtuosity has made him the guitarist of choice for many of the world’s top musicians, including Ringo Starr, Madonna, Donald Fagen, John Lewis, Tommy Emmanuel, Lionel Hampton, the Boston Pops, the New York Pops, and guitar legend Les Paul, who named Vignola to his “Five Most Admired Guitarists List:” for the Wall Street Journal.
His dynamic genre-spanning music has brought him to 21 countries on three continents – and still growing – performing in some of the world’s most illustrious venues, including the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, New York’s Lincoln Center, The Blue Note, and the world’s oldest indoor concert hall, Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy.
Pasquale Grasso - It was the kind of endorsement most rising guitarists can only dream of, and then some. In his interview for Vintage Guitar magazine’s February 2016 cover story, Pat Metheny was asked to name some younger musicians who’d impressed him. “The best guitar player I’ve heard in maybe my entire life is floating around now, Pasquale Grasso,” said the jazz-guitar icon and NEA Jazz Master. “This guy is doing something so amazingly musical and so difficult. “Mostly what I hear now are guitar players who sound a little bit like me mixed with a little bit of [John Scofield] and a little bit of [Bill Frisell],” he continued. “What’s interesting about Pasquale is that he doesn’t sound anything like that at all. In a way, it is a little bit of a throwback, because his model—which is an incredible model to have—is Bud Powell. He has somehow captured the essence of that language from piano onto guitar in a way that almost nobody has ever addressed. He’s the most significant new guy I’ve heard in many, many years.”
Nicknamed the Gypsy-jazz Warbler by the New York Times, Tatiana Eva-Marie is a transatlantic bandleader, singer, author, and actress. She plays music derived from the Django tradition with Gypsy and French jazz influences.
Accruing 100 million views on YouTube, Tatiana Eva-Marie was acclaimed as “a millennial shaking up the jazz scene” by magazine Vanity Fair. She performs regularly in New York at various clubs (Blue Note, Dizzy’s, Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Birdland…), across the USA (New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Detroit Jazz Festival, Freight and Salvage, Winter JazzFest, Rochester Jazz Festival, Jazz Aspen Snowmass, Tucson Jazz Festival…) and around the world (recently Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy, United Kingdom…).
Though her interests have led her to explore a wide range of musical styles, Tatiana Eva-Marie’s craft is always inspired by her own French and Balkan heritage; a love for the Parisian art scene era spanning the 1920s to the 60s; a passion for traditional Gypsy songs; a fascination for New Orleans music; and a deep connection to the Great American Songbook.
Oct 23 Thursday
Supported by KNKX. Arturo Sandoval is one of the most dynamic and vivacious live performers of our time. He has been awarded 10 Grammy Awards from 19 nominations; he has also received 6 Billboard Awards and an Emmy Award, the latter for his work on the HBO movie based on his life, For Love or Country, which starred Andy Garcia as Arturo. His two latest Grammy award-winning albums, Dear Diz (Everyday I Think of You) and Tango Como Yo Te Siento are now available worldwide.
In 2022 Arturo released Rhythm & Soul to rave reviews! What the pandemic of 2020 revealed to those who follow Arturo on social media was just how much this man, who at age 72 has seen and done it all, continues to love music and court it with all the eagerness of a love-struck teenager. During the imposed quarantine, when the music business all but stopped, Arturo would share 1-3 new compositions or improvisations to his Facebook and Instagram pages almost daily, revealing an insatiable need to keep creating and communicating. This album is but a mere sampling of his creative output from that time, a collection of new songs written during the shutdown and interpreted by his incredible band once they were able to get back in the studio together.
Echoes of the Floating World features a striking collection of 18th, 19th and early 20th-century Japanese woodblock prints from the Tacoma Art Museum and others, displayed alongside works by contemporary Northwest artists. This exhibition honors the rich legacy of ukiyo-e while exploring its cultural impact on today’s artistic expressions.
Hours-
Monday CLOSEDTuesday CLOSEDWednesday 10 am – 5 pmThursday 10 am – 8 pmFriday 10 am – 5 pmSaturday 10 am – 5 pmSunday 10 am – 5 pm
