BY AARDE WRITES for WEEKLY VOLCANO | 10/16/2026
Tacoma City Council chambers were full of people there to celebrate this year’s AMOCAT Arts Awards, presented by the Tacoma Arts Commission.
The AMOCAT (Tacoma spelled backward) Arts Awards are a longstanding civic recognition for people and organizations that contribute meaningfully to our city’s arts and culture. The awards highlight not only artistic achievement, but also the people who make art accessible, support creative organizations, preserve cultural heritage and help make Tacoma what it really is at its core: a city rich in culture and the arts.
Tacoma has long been known as a city that makes things: ships, glass, music, film and more. But behind that identity are the people who make the creative exchange possible, ensuring that art always has a place here.
The AMOCAT Arts Awards tell the stories of those individuals. Their evolution over the past two decades reveals something about Tacoma’s own cultural identity, with an ongoing emphasis on building artistic institutions and creating opportunities for belonging, cultural preservation, education and civic participation.
The awards were formally established in 2005 and are associated with Tacoma Arts Month, an annual celebration that began in 2002. There are three primary award categories:
Arts Patron: Recognizes individuals, businesses, institutions or organizations that significantly support and invest in Tacoma’s arts community.
Community Outreach by an Organization: Recognizes organizations that connect residents to arts and culture through programming, partnerships and community engagement.
Community Outreach by an Individual: Recognizes people whose leadership, creativity and dedication have meaningfully contributed to Tacoma’s cultural life.
The awards provide public acknowledgment of community-nominated advocates, cultural leaders, organizations, arts supporters and others whose work benefits Tacoma’s creative community. They also recognize that cultural contributions aren’t always presented in a gallery or on a stage. Sometimes they happen through a music education program, years of volunteer advocacy or a neighborhood publication (such as the one you’re currently reading).
This year, we celebrated five well-deserving recipients for their contributions to our community. Each honoree was presented with an award handcrafted from recycled glass by Tacoma’s very own Hilltop Artists (also recipients of the AMOCAT Art Award in 2009).
The 2026 AMOCAT Arts Award recipients are:
Arts Patron: Arts & Culture Coalition of Pierce County
Recognized for bringing cultural organizations together and advocating for public arts funding, including its work supporting Tacoma Creates. The coalition represents more than 30 cultural and heritage organizations.
Community Outreach by an Organization: Rainbow Center
Honored for creating inclusive cultural experiences and community celebrations, including Tacoma Pride and the Gayla, that encourage belonging and self-expression.
Community Outreach by an Organization: Ted Brown Music
A Tacoma institution founded in 1931, recognized for its instrument donation programs, youth music education and community partnerships. Its outreach program has donated more than 1,600 instruments.
Community Outreach by an Individual: Theresa Pan Hosley
Honored for decades of cultural leadership, including co-founding the Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation and helping establish Tacoma’s Chinese Reconciliation Park.
Community Outreach by an Individual: Our Very Own Angela Jossy
Recognized for more than two decades of supporting Tacoma’s creative community through local journalism, arts festivals and public art. She revived the Weekly Volcano in 2023, continuing her commitment to giving Tacoma’s artists and creative voices a place to be seen and heard.
