TLT AND TACOMA CREATES NEED YOUR HELP

Reach out to your City Council member and advocate for the early release of funding from Tacoma Creates before April 14th. 

Opportunity:
The Tacoma City Council has the opportunity to fulfill on the voters voice that empowered Tacoma Creates and to step into an urgent need during this crisis. This is the time to expedite funding that will serve every neighborhood, every income level, and every age. Offering critical stabilization dollars will enable the sector to find its footing and, when this crisis subsides, be ready to resume and expand service to our citizens. 

Why now?: 
All businesses are feeling the economic freeze and the cultural sector is no different. Many crucial social service non-profit organizations are receiving emergency support from the philanthropic community and government. Because of Tacoma Creates, most of the nonprofits within the cultural sector have intentionally stepped aside from such funding requests out of respect to the needs of the most needy and at-risk. Thanks to the dedicated funding of Tacoma Creates, there is now an opportunity to provide emergency support to the cultural sector. This neither takes away from other community needs nor detracts from the City’s ability to support those social service needs. 

Please personalize with your cultural experiences in Tacoma and share this letter with your council member!

Dear Council Member [insert last name]:

I respectfully request that the Tacoma City Council take action and unanimously approve the voter-approved work of Tacoma Creates and the independent Citizen panel’s recommendations on this first major round of Tacoma Creates funding, and do so on the expedited timeline and process suggested by Tacoma City Staff. 

The Cultural Sector is a $75 million economic engine in our City, employing more than 4,000 individuals - community members who pay rent, shop and pay taxes. This sector is facing the same challenges that all for profit and not for profit businesses are enduring due to the COVID 19 virus. City Staff’s recommendation will help stabilize the sector, a key deliverable of the Tacoma Creates ordinance.

During this crisis the Cultural Sector has not remained dormant: delivering educational and childcare services with Tacoma Public Schools and other nonprofit partners for front-line workers and First Responders; offering free online resources and performances for all ages whether educational or inspirational to households across the City; partnering in communications and fundraising to support the social services sector; and shifting services to support Personal Protection Equipment production.

Please put Tacoma Creates dollars to work to help stabilize the cultural sector, now. This dedicated funding will support a diverse group of more than 50 organizations and ensure that our cultural community remains strong and serves the entire community at a new level of impact and commitment.

COUNCIL MEMBER CONTACT INFORMATION
John Hines, District 1 (North and West End)
john.hines@cityoftacoma.org (253) 591-5470

Robert Thoms, District 2 (North end, Downtown, NE)
robert.thoms@cityoftacoma.org (253) 594-7848

Keith Blocker, District 3 (Central)
keith.blocker@cityoftacoma.org (253) 591-5470

Catherine Ushka, District 4 (Lincoln)
catherine.ushka@cityoftacoma.org (253) 594-7848

Chris Beale, District 5 (E Side)
chris.beale@cityoftacoma.org (253) 591-5470

Lillian Hunter, District 6 (at-large)
lillian.hunter@cityoftacoma.org (253) 594-7848

Connor McCarthy, District 7 (at-large)
conor.mccarthy@cityoftacoma.org (253) 594-7848

Kristina Walker, District 8 (at-large)
kristina.walker@cityoftacoma.org (253) 591-5470

Victoria Woodards, Mayor
victoria.woodards@cityoftacoma.org (253) 594-7848

THE LARAMIE PROJECT: 10 YEARS LATER - An Off the Shelf reading

Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 7:30pm
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

Tacoma Little Theatre's Off the Shelf program presents the moving true story, The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, written Moises Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris, and Stephen Belber, with direction by Warren Kerr  This production will play Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 7:30pm.

On October 6, 1998, gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard left the Fireside Bar with Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. The following day he was discovered on a prairie at the edge of town, tied to a fence, brutally beaten, and close to death. Six days later Matthew Shepard died at Poudre Valley Hospital in Ft. Collins, Colorado. On November 14th, 1998, ten members of Tectonic Theatre Project traveled to Laramie, Wyoming, and conducted interviews with the people of the town. Over the next year, the company returned to Laramie six times and conducted over 200 interviews. These texts became the basis for the play The Laramie Project. Ten years later on September 12th, 2008, five members of Tectonic returned to Laramie to try to understand the long-term effect of the murder. They found a town wrestling with its legacy and its place in history. In addition to revisiting the folks whose words riveted us in the original play, this time around, the company also spoke with the two murderers, McKinney and Henderson, as well as Matthew's mother, Judy Shepard. THE LARAMIE PROJECT: 10 YEARS LATER is a bold new work, which asks the question, "How does society write its own history?"

The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later features the talents of: Ethan Hinze, Ana Bury-Quinn, Mark Peterson, Rachael Telford, Russ Coffey, Jenifer Gillis-Rifenbery, Scott C. Brown, Karla Gjerde-Seman, Devin Jackson, and Deniece Bleha.

Tickets for the January 30, 2020 performance at 7:30pm are $10.00 for non TLT Members, and FREE for those who are members. Tickets may be purchased by clicking here, or by calling our Box Office at (253) 272-2281.

TLT's OFF THE SHELF

We know that there is a tremendous amount of wonderful theatre that deserves to be heard but sometimes just doesn’t get an opportunity. With “Off the Shelf”, local directors and actors will be bringing some scripts to life that we hope you will find entertaining, challenging and educational to our stage. We hope that you’ll sit back and enjoy an evening of theatre. You never know, you might see one of these shows on our mainstage in the future.