Community Calendar

Curated by a panel of art jurists, the exhibition features work by more than 20 South Sound artists. With media including painting, drawing, photography and glass art, some of the exhibition’s works provide windows into personal history and collective culture. Other pieces are non-representational.

Taken as a whole, the exhibition challenges us to take an expansive view of Black art as an abundance of unique expressions drawn from the deep well of vibrant community.

The exhibition will run from Feb. 11 - March 13, 2026. Admission is free to the public.

LOCATION:

The Gallery is located in Bldg. 4 at Tacoma Community College, near the corner of 12th and Mildred streets. Visitor Parking is available in Lot G.

HOURS:

Monday: Closed
Tuesday - Thursday: 10am-4pm
Third Thursday of each month: 10am-8pm
Friday: 10am-3pm
Saturday - Sunday: Closed

In celebration of its 30th anniversary, the Washington State Historical Society invites you to explore the history of building the State History Museum. 30 Years and Counting: The Making of the Washington State History Museum is a special exhibition that uncovers the vision, effort, and community spirit that brought this iconic Tacoma landmark to life.

Discover the bold ideas and architectural ingenuity that shaped the museum’s distinctive look. From early sketches to final blueprints, see how the building’s design reflects both innovation and reverence for Washington’s past. Go behind the scenes of the museum’s construction. Through photographs and artifacts from the building process, witness how a dream took shape—brick by brick, beam by beam.

Staff Picks: 30 Objects for 30 Years

In a special feature area, museum staff share their favorite objects from the collection—each one a personal reflection on the power of history to inspire, surprise, and connect us.

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, WA
Day: Every Wednesday
Time: 6:00 – 7:00 PM
Ages: Ages 12+
Registration Link: https://app.jackrabbitclass.com/regv2.asp?id=532322&preLoadClassID=20477009

Contact: 253-327-1873

As part of its 20th anniversary season, SIDF proudly presents the 8th annual Winter Mini Fest, featuring a dynamic collaboration between Khambatta Dance Company and Spain–Portuguese Colectivo Glovo. KDC, known for its intricate, bold, and athletic choreography, joins forces with Colectivo Glovo, a company celebrated for its inventive, interdisciplinary approach to performance. Over the course of an intensive five‑day creative residency in Seattle, the two companies will merge their artistic voices to craft a brand‑new work, offering audiences a rare glimpse into the excitement of international collaboration unfolding in real time.

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. Way
Day: Wednesdays
Timed: 7:15 – 8:15 PM
Age: Ages 12+
Contact: 253-327-1783

Registration Link: https://app.jackrabbitclass.com/regv2.asp?id=532322&preLoadClassID=20477009

Get your deerstalker cap on—the play’s afoot! From multi-award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig (Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood) comes a fast-paced adventure about everyone’s favorite detective solving his most notorious case. The male heirs of the Baskerville line are being dispatched one by one. To find their killer, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson must crack the mystery of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” before a family curse dooms its newest heir. Watch as our intrepid investigators try to escape a dizzying web of clues, silly accents, disguises and deceit as five actors deftly portray more than 40 characters. Does a wild hellhound prowl the moors of Devonshire? Can our heroes discover the truth in time? Join the fun and see how far from elementary the truth can be.

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.”

Supported by KNKX. Chicago guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Ronnie Baker Brooks is one of the city’s – and the world’s – most undeniably talented and electrifying bluesmen. Ronnie was born into Chicago blues royalty as the son of legendary multiple Grammy Award nominee, Blues Hall of Famer, and longtime Alligator Records recording star Lonnie Brooks. He is among the few contemporary blues artists who learned his craft directly from the many of the genre’s icons, including Albert Collins, B.B. King, Willie Dixon, KoKo Taylor and, most significantly, his father.

With his new Alligator Records debut, Blues In My DNA, Ronnie delivers an up-to-the-minute, organic masterpiece. The album, the fifth of his career, is firmly rooted in the blues with Ronnie incorporating his own brand of rock, funk and soul to the mix. Produced by famed studio wizard Jim Gaines (who has produced Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Lonnie Brooks, Luther Allison and many others), Blues In My DNA is a career-defining statement from Baker Brooks, with each of the 11 original songs its own chapter in his ever-evolving story.

Tigran Hamasyan is considered one of the most remarkable and distinctive jazz-meets-rock pianists/composers of his generation. A piano virtuoso with groove power, Hamasyan seamlessly fuses potent jazz improvisation and progressive rock with the rich folkloric music of his native Armenia. Born in Gyumri, Armenia, in 1987, his musical journey began in his childhood home, where he was exposed to a diverse array of musical influences leading to him playing piano at the age of three, performing in festivals and competitions by the time he was eleven, and winning the Montreux Jazz Festival’s piano competition in 2003. He released his debut album, World Passion, in 2004 at the age of seventeen. The following year, he won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition. Additional albums include New Era; Red Hail; A Fable, for which he was awarded a Victoires de la Musique (the equivalent of a Grammy Award in France); Shadow Theater; and Luys i Luso which featured the Yerevan State Chamber Choir focusing on Armenian sacred music stretching stylistically from the 5th century to the 20th century.

In addition to awards and critical acclaim, Hamasyan has built a dedicated following worldwide, as well as praise from Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau and the late Chick Corea. “With startling combinations of jazz, minimalist, electronic, folk and songwriterly elements…Hamasyan and his collaborators travel musical expanses marked with heavy grooves, ethereal voices, pristine piano playing and ancient melodies. You’ll hear nothing else like this” (NPR)

The Biamp Portland Jazz Festival is a ten-day, multi-venue celebration of jazz presented in Portland, Oregon at over 30 venues throughout the city. The Festival is dedicated to evolving America’s art form, featuring recognized jazz masters and rising jazz stars, alongside local jazz heroes.

The 2026 lineup:
ST VINCENT :: MAVIS STAPLES MADELEINE PEYROUX :: BILL FRISELL TRIO :: MONONEON + MOHINI DEY :: JEFF PARKER IVTet + SML :: TIGRAN HAMASAYAN :: CYRUS CHESTNUT :: CHARLIE HUNTER TRIO :: ROGER ENO :: BRANDON WOODY'S UPENDO :: DELBERT ANDERSON :: JARROD LAWSON :: ISAIAH SHARKEY :: LADY BLACKBIRD :: MITCHUM YACOUB + JUNGLE FIRE :: SAM GREENFIELD :: COCHEMEA :: CHARLIE BROWN III :: STUMPTOWN SIRENS JAZZ ORCHESTRA :: BLUE CRANES :: SHIRLEY NANETTE :: DRECKIG :: SHELLY RUDOLPH :: ALAN JONES TRIO :: FOAMBOY