Questions

Questions for Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland

Just three years ago, the former Starbucks, JayRay and Tacoma Public Library employee won a seat on the city council. Now the councilwoman moves across the dais to the mayor’s chair. She’ll be bringing a life in the arts with her.

Photo by Aaron Locke

Congratulations on your recent election victory. How does it feel?

It feels great! Though we are having a national recession right now, Tacoma is still in a great position as a city. If you look at the history of cities, in the ‘70s people were fleeing cities and heading to the suburbs to get away from them—and now cities are making a comeback. And I think that because of our size, our location and our amenities Tacoma is poised to be one of the great cities on the West Coast. 

Do you see the arts as a viable economic engine?

Absolutely. When we talk about raising Tacoma’s profile the arts really fit into that category. Condé Nast Traveler recently ranked the Hotel Murano sixth best in the United States. As you know, the Hotel Murano’s attraction is glass art. The arts are embedded in what we do as a city. We have made these investments in our facilities, ranging from the Broadway Center to the History Museum, to the Tacoma Art Museum to the Museum of Glass. We made those capital investments and it’s important for us to continue to support those organizations with routine maintenance when it is needed. For example, the Rialto Theater needs some TLC right now. That’s the challenge of any economic situation like a recession because there are great demands on government and when you look at funding priorities, such as public safety, job creation and then having to deal with funding for buildings — you know the public’s priority may not put you in a position to deal with the arts, or a significant chunk of it.

You grew up in South Tacoma and attended school at Edison, Gray and Mount Tahoma. Was art a part of the school curriculum then?

In sixth grade I was in the All City Chorus. I remember taking art classes in junior high school and high school. So yes, art was a natural part of the curriculum.

What is your assessment of the state of arts education in our public schools today? Do you feel arts should be considered a part of a complete education for all students?

I’m not an educator, but I know that there is a great emphasis on what people call the “three Rs.” I don’t work in a school system, but obviously education is important to me. It’s important to have the enhancement courses and the supplemental courses like art, music and sports as part of a well-rounded education. Obviously those things are incredibly important, but again—funding is a challenge for all of our public institutions right now.

In 2006 you were selected by the Chamber of Commerce to participate in the Creative Cities Leadership Project led by Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class. How did that summit influence you?

The summit was an opportunity to look at what attracts people to cities. Obviously people want to make a decent living, but it’s also about quality of life and the amenities. Florida talks about the future of thriving cities and the “three Ts,” talent, technology and tolerance. People typically think of technology in the context of Microsoft. But Tacoma has quite a few small technology companies doing a lot of great work under the radar.

You have lived in many different cities and traveled broadly. What is one of your most memorable arts-related experiences from any time and place? 

When I lived in Atlanta I went to a production of Miss Evers’ Boys [based on the decades-long Tuskegee experiment]. Another encounter with the arts was when I volunteered at the Pantages Theater – back when it was first renovated. I was recruited to drive to the airport and pick up the band members of Los Lobos!

You served on the board of directors for the Grand Cinema and as chair and chief organizer of the inaugural Tacoma Film Festival. Do you have a favorite indie film?

Don’t forget, we also have the 72-Hour Film Festival. Both film festivals are a wonderful celebration of local artists. One film that I really liked, from the first year of the festival, was Finding Thea, about Thea Foss.

In the late ’90s there was a concerted effort made in Tacoma to invest in the arts. What are the next steps and strategies if we want to be a truly creative city? 

When I was first elected I was asked about my agenda. It’s pretty simple. It’s jobs – opportunities for people to be employed and to make a decent living. But there are a lot of things in a community that surround that goal. It’s focusing on business, it’s focusing on education and it’s ensuring that we take advantage of these great assets that we have in this community and that we take care of them – and part of that, for me, includes the arts. We talked about having a very strategic and deliberate plan to promote the arts. So I think that the infrastructure should be there, but we can’t force things. I think it just happens naturally.

Facebook was one of the ways you communicated and made your accessible during your Mayoral campaign. How long have you been on Facebook? Will you continue to use it during your tenure as mayor—or is there a better way for folks to communicate with you now?

I had opened a FB page with my dog’s picture and forgot about it. When the campaign started to gain some traction the younger member’s of my staff encouraged me to get back online. It’s a great tool to reconnect with people you haven’t seen in 20 to 30 years.

How can people communicate with you now? How does a citizen interact with you?

The most effective way is to send an email to City of Tacoma through City Hall. Because of the volume of email, it’s better to go through the proper channels where people who manage my calendar will do it the right way—instead of me inadvertently overlooking an email.

I’ve often wished that Tacoma had one centralized meeting spot for all of the different leaders in the arts community. Does this crossroads exist?

Tacoma has a strong arts community and I think it can be even stronger. It’s definitely one of our assets as a community. Your question is really interesting: cross pollination and getting these different organizations to communicate with each other. Is that possible, I don’t know. But I think as long as there is an infrastructure in place in support of artists then the rest of takes care of itself. Think about the way a band becomes popular. At first it’s word of mouth. People show up. Then more people show up. And then when they gain popularity people come and find them. I think there is a very accessible and authentic quality about the arts in Tacoma that I really like.