BY SYED K. JAMAL for WEEKLY VOLCANO | 11/13/26
Tacoma’s creative landscape is not defined by its skyline, its historic buildings, or even its celebrated festivals. It is defined by its people — the Doers. These are the individuals who quietly and persistently shape the city’s cultural identity and fuel its creative economy.
The Creative Economy: Powered by People Who Call it Home
Tacoma’s creative economy includes writers, artists, musicians, designers, filmmakers, publishers, and cultural entrepreneurs. It includes festivals, bookstores, galleries, performances, workshops, and public programs that animate neighborhoods and bring energy to commercial corridors. These activities generate revenue, create jobs, attract visitors, and contribute to Tacoma’s reputation as a vibrant cultural city.
But creative economies are not powered by sectors alone. They are powered by people.
People who organize, volunteers, authors, educators, sponsors, and community members who believe storytelling strengthens civic life.
When hundreds gather under one roof to share ideas, host seminars, dance, buy books, attend workshops, and celebrate language, economic activity happens — but more importantly, connection follows.
Stories as Infrastructure
We often think of infrastructure as roads, bridges, broadband, and buildings. But cities are also held together by invisible infrastructure — stories. Stories create shared meaning. They transmit values across generations. They help newcomers understand where they have arrived and help longtime residents remember who they are.
In a very real sense, stories are civic infrastructure: they shape identity, foster belonging, and build trust. A city that invests in storytelling invests in its social cohesion. Literary festivals, public readings, neighborhood archives, and youth writing programs are not ornamental extras; they are foundational systems that strengthen the cultural and economic durability of a place.
When Tacoma gathers to celebrate filmmakers, writers, and storytellers, it is reinforcing the connective tissue that makes collaboration, innovation, and growth possible. That’s why this message on the floor of the Tacoma City Hall matters so much: tinyurl.com/storiesareinfrastructure
The Doers of Tacoma understand this intuitively. They know that culture and commerce are intertwined. When they invest time and energy into a reading series, a youth writing workshop, a small press, or a community dialogue, they are also investing in Tacoma’s long-term resilience.
Doers Beyond the ‘Creative Sector’
Yet the most transformative Doers are often not defined by job titles or professional affiliations. Many are not “artists” in the formal sense at all.
They are retired school teachers who mentor young writers. Nurses who organize neighborhood events. IT professionals who volunteer their technical skills to support local nonprofits. Judges and diplomats who quietly sponsor cultural initiatives. Student leaders who mobilize their peers. Small business owners who open their spaces for poetry readings and provide mentorship to high school students through internships and community engagement. Parents who fund scholarships or donate books.
These individuals may sit outside the so-called creative sector, but they are central to Tacoma’s creative engine.
The true Doers are not defined by competencies, résumés, or titles. They are defined by care.
For them, Tacoma is not just a municipality — it is an extension of their home. They do not see a sharp line between their living room and the public square. They do not distinguish between their own family and the young person walking down the street who needs encouragement. Their sense of belonging is expansive. This mindset transforms cities.
Investing Financial and Social Capital
One of the defining characteristics of true Doers is their willingness to invest — not just emotionally, but tangibly.
They invest financial capital in ideas they believe will uplift the community. They sponsor events, donate resources, go door to door to meet people, underwrite scholarships, or contribute seed funding for creative projects.
Equally important, they invest social capital. They connect people. They introduce a young writer to a publisher. They bring community leaders into conversation. They open doors that might otherwise remain closed. They draft and submit proclamations. They spearhead projects to build global connections. They lend their credibility and networks to emerging initiatives.
Most importantly, they focus on potential and do everything they can to realize that potential through every means possible.
Cities become engines of economic and cultural growth when residents deploy both forms of capital generously. Tacoma’s creative economy thrives not because of a single institution or funding stream, but because individuals step forward and say: This matters. I will help.
Kindness as Economic Infrastructure
There is another defining trait of true Doers that is often overlooked in economic discussions: kindness.
Kindness may not appear in GDP calculations, but it is foundational to cultural growth.
Doers are driven not by prestige or recognition, but by a longing to bring joy to their community. They create welcoming spaces. They encourage hesitant voices. They celebrate others’ successes. They build trust. And trust is economic infrastructure.
When communities trust one another, collaboration increases. When collaboration increases, innovation follows. When innovation flourishes, economic vitality expands.
Kindness reduces barriers to participation. It invites newcomers into the fold. It ensures that creative spaces do not become exclusive enclaves, but remain open, dynamic, and representative of the whole city.
Tacoma’s creative energy is sustained by people who see the city as their shared home and who treat fellow residents accordingly.
Seeing the City as Home
Perhaps the most powerful characteristic of true Doers is their worldview. They possess a rare ability to see the city as a whole — not as fragmented neighborhoods or competing interests, but as one interconnected home.
They do not separate “my family” from “the community.” They do not separate “my success” from “the city’s success.” They understand that when Tacoma thrives, everyone benefits.
They obsess about creating a wave that raises all boats. They are ruthlessly obsessed with it. The optimism in their personality is contagious. They light up the people they are in contact with.
This holistic vision fosters inclusive growth. It encourages investments in youth programming, public dialogue, cultural exchange, and literary celebration. It motivates people to show up — again and again — not because they must, but because they care.
A Call to Action
Tacoma’s creative economy will continue to grow when residents — retired teachers, nurses, IT specialists, judges, diplomats, students, entrepreneurs, and neighbors — choose to invest their time, resources, and kindness into people and ideas that elevate the whole.
By being kind and by honoring our Doers, we honor a philosophy: that cities become engines of economic and cultural growth when ordinary people act with extraordinary care.
And in that spirit, Tacoma does more than celebrate creativity. It embodies it. With grit and destiny.
