Spaceworks Tacoma

We are so grateful for everyone who came to visit us during the Downtown Tacoma Block Party! 🤩

It was incredible to see the engagement with art through murals, installations, and live illustration. A big thank you to our Mural Fest artists (Nofo, Katrina, Jorge Mota, Kami Creates, Kaitlyn Lloyd) Woolworth installation artists (Alexandra Nason, Sunshine), and live illustration artist Jenny Gunter Art: Live Illustration Entertainment. 🎨

Alexandra Nason facilitateAlexandra Nasonrt project where attendees created and customized their own butterfly to be a part of her Woolworth installation. 🦋

While the Mural Fest artists were live painting, Sunshine created a wishingSunshinestallation where attendees wrote down wishes on CD-Rs. 💿

Thank you to Downtown Tacoma PartnershiDowntown Tacoma Partnershipacoma Creates for fundingTacoma Creates

Now, we have another mural opportunity! Spaceworks is looking for two artists or artist teams to paint a new mural in Stadium District! ApplicatStadium Districtn and close 11:59PM on August 26th, 2026.

For more information and to apply, head to https://bit.ly/StadiumDistrictMural

Spread the word and apply now! ✨️

Congratulations to our Spring 2026 Business Plan Cohort! 🥳

On June 23, Spaceworks Tacoma proudly celebrated the graduation of its Spring 2026 Business Plan Cohort.

Over twelve weeks, participating entrepreneurs developed comprehensive business plans, refined their visions, strengthened their operations, and built lasting relationships with fellow business owners and the broader entrepreneurial community.

Graduating businesses included:
✨️ CraftyAFStudio - Workshops, and Local Makers in Tacoma, a community art studio and makerspace
✨️ Underground Sound, a publication highlighting South Sound creatives
✨️ Sun Machine Glass, a glass art and design studio
✨️ Lauren Geue, a handcrafted soap company
✨️ Danny Helseth, a music education and instrument services company
✨️ Lulu's Bakery Shop, a local bakery
✨️ Chonky Cat Condos, creators of handcrafted driftwood cat furniture
✨️ assembly_school_of_craft, an emerging maker school and gallery
✨️ Sober AF, Tacoma’s nonalcoholic bottle shop and community hub
✨️ Voice Tacoma Creative Media, a content and media production company.

This year’s graduation was held at Lumora Theatre. We extend our sincere gratitude to the Lumora Art Lab team for generously hosting the event and providing a beautiful and welcoming space in which to celebrate the cohort’s achievements.

A special thank-you goes to the community partners, alumni, family members, mentors, stakeholders, elected officials, and supporters who attended the graduation and continue to champion Spaceworks entrepreneurs.

Together, we are building a stronger, more creative, and more resilient local economy.

📍Stay tuned: The Fall Incubator Application opens up on Saturday!
*Pictured above is the Spring Incubator graduating class

Save the date for an out of this world good time! 🌌

Join us for Cosmic Bingo, a delightfully chaotic mash-up of trivia, bingo, and a rave. 🚀

This isn't your traditional bingo hall. Instead of numbers, your bingo cards are packed with song titles and artist names. As the DJ spins galactic tracks, you’ll test your music trivia knowledge across 9 mind-bending rounds. ☄️

📅 Saturday, September 26 | 7-10pm
📍Tacoma Armory (1001 S Yakima Ave, Tacoma, WA 98405)
Strictly 21+ (government-issued photo ID required)
Please note that this is not a fundraiser.

Tickets are released in limited quantity blocks to reward our earliest space travelers. As each tier sells out, the price automatically steps up to the next orbit. More details on the different tiers and purchasing are coming soon! 👩‍🚀

In the meantime, our Cosmic Bingo Mascot needs a name! Head to the link in our bio to enter your suggestions for our cute Extra Terrestrial friend. The deadline for submissions is Friday, August 14th, at midnight. 👽

Mark your calendars, give your name suggestions, and get ready to reach for the stars! 🌟

We're back. Did you miss us? 😅

Our semi-infrequent newsletter is rising from the dead, just in time to fill your inbox with:

✨ Upcoming events
📈 Business resources
🎨 Creative opportunities

And we solemnly swear we won’t spam you.

Link in bio to subscribe! 📬

Event pictured PARKing Day 2025

Can you imagine your life path - meanders, climbs, falls, changes in direction determined by choices, yours and others', the situation, environmental factors - the "topography" of the landscape? Experience Kirsten Sparenborg's () exhibit in the Woolworth Windows.

In March 2026, Kirsten participated in an in-home artist residency with ten creative women from Tacoma and Seattle. During this week she affixed the strips to the bases and added another layer to these abstract "landscapes" - hand-drawn lines and/or painted marks that further connected the disparate elements of the landscapes. These became Life Path Maps.

Travel experiences often happen outside of normal life, as these pieces hangs perpendicular to the Life Path Maps. Kirsten loves travel as another dimension to life - to see things differently, experience new sensations and ideas, leave behind some old cycles and patterns.

Do you sense a dialogue between the Life Path Maps and the Travel Moments? Walk by and experience these pieces together and individually.

📍Woolworth Window 3
11th and Broadway
Downtown Tacoma, WA

Thank you to City of Tacoma and Tacoma Creates.

Last month, we had nine muralists paint sections on Hong Kong Supermarket and Tam Anh Travel Agency in Lincoln District Tacoma. With our incredible collaboration with Tidy-Up Tacoma and coinciding with Tacoma On the Go’s neighborhood walk, we were able to have live art with over 100 community members.

From highlighting the nature in Tacoma to the Cambodian community, these muralists created fantastic work. We are so grateful to have these new murals that can be seen along 38th.

Thank you to the artists involved (left to right): Curtis Ashby, Devona Roy, Katrina, Kami Creates, Mary Mann, Lauren Iida, Yansa, Mike McKeogh, and Kaitlyn Lloyd

Be sure to stop by and see these pieces!

Looking for a volunteer opportunity? 🤔

Spaceworks Tacoma needs volunteers for Human Nature, an immersive, participatory experience in collaboration with Leslie Davenport, held as a part of PNW Climate Week. 🌍

Attendees will move through four elemental stations, each paired with an emotional landscape and hands-on activities to help one feel what the climate crisis is like in their body. The event is on Saturday, July 18th, from 1-4pm at The Mecca. (760 Commerce St, Tacoma, WA) 💨

Volunteers are needed between the times of 11am-5pm, working at least one shift of 3 hours. They would help with checking in attendees and assisting with the overview of activities. 🔥

To sign up to volunteer and to learn more about Human Nature, head to the link in bio! 💧

There's something new in the Woolworth Windows 🌿

Beth Gahan's paintings explore relationships between natural and built environments, public space and shared experiences, as well as organic and hard-edge forms. Gahan is a Seattle-based artist working from Equinox Studios in Georgetown since 2013. Her studio practice is a combination of fine art painting and public art.

Her paintings and installation will be up until the first week of September. Check out her colorful paintings which include a Tacoma staple, the W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory in Wright Park.

While you're at the Tacoma Farmers Market this Thursday, be sure to stop by the installation! We're right down the street!

📍Woolworth Window 1
11th and Commerce
Downtowm Tacoma, WA
📅 Up through first week of September

Volunteer with Spaceworks! 🤩

Spaceworks Tacoma is looking for folks to volunteer at Human Nature, an immersive, participatory experience in collaboration with Leslie Davenport, held as part of PNW Climate Week.

The event is on Saturday, July 18th, from 1-4pm at The Mecca. (760 Commerce St, Tacoma, WA) Volunteers are needed between the times of 11am-5pm, working at least one shift of 3 hours.

Volunteers would help with checking in attendees, assisting with the overview of flow and map of activities, and leading and assisting with table activites, including a kite painting station. There is also an optional orientation on Friday, July 17th from 6-7:30pm.

For more information on Human Nature and to sign up to volunteer, head to the link in bio! ✨️