BY SYED K JAMAL
Tacoma has no shortage of creative talent. We have filmmakers, writers, musicians, designers, photographers, performers, and artists. Yet many spend too much time waiting for opportunities: an open call, a grant announcement, a commission, or a job posting.
Those opportunities matter, but they are only one way to find work.
What if creatives began asking a different question: What problems can I solve with my creative skills, and who might invest in the solution?
That shift can lead to new clients, partnerships, paid projects, and even creative enterprises.
Look for problems, not just art opportunities
Businesses, schools, nonprofits, and public institutions face challenges that creative professionals can help address. Some struggle to tell their stories. Others need to reach new audiences, engage young people, explain complex subjects, or make public spaces more welcoming.
A filmmaker could produce a video series for a local business district. A photographer could document a nonprofit’s community impact. A designer could make a confusing service easier to navigate. A writer could turn an organization’s work into compelling stories.
Try this: List 10 problems you have noticed in Tacoma. Select three that match your skills. For each, identify who experiences the problem, who benefits from solving it, and which organizations might care about the outcome.
Do not assume you already know what people need. Talk to them. Research existing efforts. Your goal is to find a genuine need, not invent a project nobody wants.
Turn a problem into a paid creative project
Consider a potential challenge: young people may not understand the range of careers available in the maritime economy. They might know about ships and port operations, but be unfamiliar with opportunities in logistics, engineering, welding, marine technology, environmental science, and skilled trades.
That knowledge gap could become a creative project.
A filmmaker could propose short videos featuring maritime professionals discussing their jobs, career journeys, and training pathways. A writer could create career profiles. A photographer could develop portraits for an exhibition. A designer could turn the material into a digital resource or classroom guide.
Potential partners to approach include Sea Scouts, the Youth Maritime Foundation, maritime employers, and organizations connected to the Port of Tacoma. Tacoma Public Schools, private schools, technical colleges, community colleges, and universities could be potential audiences or collaborators.
Here is a practical starting point: propose a pilot of five short videos, a classroom discussion guide, and a screening featuring maritime professionals. First, speak with educators and industry representatives to understand what students need and what resources already exist.
Then prepare a one-page proposal explaining the problem, deliverables, timeline, budget, and intended impact.
Who might pay? An industry partner could sponsor the series. A nonprofit might contract for production. Several employers could share costs. A school or workforce-development organization might help identify funding.
One idea could generate paid work for filmmakers, writers, photographers, and designers while helping young people explore career options. The revenue is not guaranteed, but the opportunity becomes tangible when you identify a need, develop a credible solution, and find partners with a reason to invest.
Build Tacoma’s Art Pods
What if Tacoma piloted Art Pods: small, interdisciplinary teams assembled to solve specific community problems through creative thinking?
Instead of beginning with “What artwork should we make?” each Pod would ask, “What problem are we solving, and what can we create to help?”
A Pod might bring together an artist, filmmaker, designer, educator, engineer, and residents who understand the issue. The maritime careers project could be one Pod, combining creative professionals with teachers and industry representatives to develop and test educational materials.
Another Pod might work with a neighborhood association to reimagine an underused public space through storytelling, temporary installations, performances, and community participation.
A pilot could follow five steps:
1. Define the problem: Consult the people experiencing it.
2. Assemble a team: Recruit the creative and technical skills needed.
3. Design the project: Set deliverables, a budget, a timeline, and measurable goals.
4. Find an investing partner: Approach businesses, schools, nonprofits, public agencies, or funders.
5. Test and document: Deliver a small pilot, gather feedback, and use the results to pursue further work.
Art Pods are a proposed model, not an existing citywide program. Tacoma could test the idea with two or three teams before expanding it. Professional labor should be budgeted and paid.
The larger opportunity is a repeatable process in which community problems generate creative projects — and creative projects generate meaningful work.
Approach partners with an offer
Tacoma has potential starting points across its creative and civic ecosystem. The Port of Tacoma connects to maritime industries and environmental issues. The Grand Cinema connects film with education and community storytelling. Spaceworks Tacoma supports creative enterprise and public art. Hilltop Artists connects arts education with youth development.
Do not simply email an organization saying you are an artist looking for opportunities. Instead, ask for a conversation about a problem you have researched.
For example: “I’m exploring a short-film project to introduce young people to maritime careers. I’d like to learn what students need to know and whether a small pilot could support your goals.”
Listen first. Ask what has already been tried, who makes decisions, and whether a budget or funding source exists. Then tailor your proposal to the organization’s actual needs.
Connect unexpected ideas
Recently, I attended a gathering organized by colleagues from Inspire Washington and Spaceworks, where community partners discussed spaces and how to activate them. I left thinking about how places could be reimagined.
Around the same time, a conversation with a colleague about renting a U-Haul to move belongings led us to think about the van differently — not simply as transportation, but as a space.
That connection sparked WeAll Retreat and WeAll Festival, two projects we are developing that reimagine the U-Haul van as a space in its own right. It is still taking shape, but it could develop its own audience and revenue model.
The lesson: keep notes on observations, frustrations, and unexpected connections. Review them weekly. Ask whether an idea could become a service, event, product, or partnership. Then test the idea before investing heavily.
Start this week
Choose one problem. Speak with three people who understand it. Identify one potential partner. Draft a one-page proposal with the problem, your solution, deliverables, budget, and intended impact. Request a conversation and refine the idea based on what you learn.
Do not work indefinitely for free. If a potential partner cannot pay, explore sponsorships, grants, or shared funding. Start with a manageable pilot, document the results, and use that evidence to pursue repeat contracts or additional partners.
Tacoma’s creative economy can grow when artists become active creators of opportunities, rather than competing only for projects already advertised.
Stop waiting for someone to commission your creativity. Find a need, develop a solution, bring the right people together, and show why someone should invest in it.