Committee reviews Artful Tacoma strategies for inclusion in updated economic development plan

Rebecca Solverson, arts and cultural vitality division manager in the Community and Economic Development Department, briefed the committee on options to fold Artful Tacoma strategies into the department’s updated economic development strategic plan.

Solverson said Artful Tacoma’s five strategies — grow and sustain the creative economy; promote equity, diversity and inclusion through the arts; use public art to create active public places; strengthen the creative ecosystem; and optimize arts programming capacity — align with economic development goals and the committee’s focus area on placemaking and city image.

The nut graf: Staff proposed that the committee integrate key Artful Tacoma initiatives into the economic development strategy so arts and cultural vitality are represented in the city’s economic planning while noting that many placemaking actions remain cross‑departmental and will require coordination.

The presentation recapped past accomplishments and suggested options: retain a focused placemaking section tied to arts and culture; relocate some tourism and hospitality actions to other strategy sections where operational ownership is clearer; or integrate Artful Tacoma’s tactics broadly across the plan. Rebecca Solverson said the division aims to ensure arts and cultural work is “fully integrated into the plan.”

Committee members asked about implementation details, metrics and responsibilities. Council members pressed staff on how successes will be recorded and communicated; staff described a three‑tier approach under development that (1) catalogs funding buckets and associated policies, (2) extracts common strategic threads from the department’s multiple plans, and (3) builds a targeted outreach and metrics framework to clarify audiences, user experience and quarterly reporting.

Specific items discussed included wayfinding and signage, public‑art integration with public works and parks projects, and coordination plans for major projects such as Transit and UW Tacoma where consistent wayfinding principles might be useful. Staff noted that some placemaking tasks — such as tourism promotion, parking enforcement and certain infrastructure upgrades — are led by other departments and would remain collaborative items rather than solely CED responsibilities.

Staff flagged near‑term follow‑ups: a Tacoma Mall Subarea Art and Placemaking Plan presentation scheduled for July 29, 2025; interviews for the Tacoma Creates Advisory Board on July 22, 2025; and a farmer’s market update and transition plan on July 8, 2025. Solverson and Debbie Bingham said they will continue to refine which Artful Tacoma strategies are drawn into which sections of the updated economic development plan and will return with recommended text and metrics.

Ending: Committee members were generally supportive of integrating arts and cultural vitality into the economic development strategy and asked staff to return with a proposed integration that clarifies responsibilities, metrics and how joint projects (wayfinding, public art, events) will be staffed and funded.