BY BRITTANY DANIELLE for WEEKLY VOLCANO 12/5/25 |
It all started with a group of friends who had a need, a need to play music and a place to play that music. This ragtag group of friends were young, DIY, and hungry. After spending time renting out other venues to play shows in the early 2000s, they decided to start their own venue. Beginning in 2004 with the Hall in University Place, this team of believers kept persevering. From 2006 to 2010 they took turns ushering in and out the Viaduct, the Junk Yard, the Viaduct, the Red Room, and finally in 2015 Real Art Tacoma was born.
All over the walls in Real Art Tacoma there are stories being told. Layers of stickers, old signs from the venues that paved the way, band names, doodles, and signatures form a collage that documents the past, present, and future of what Real Art Tacoma has built and is building. Some loud, some tender, all unforgettable. It is a decade of history built not by industry giants or corporate budgets but by a community that believes deeply in what music can do and by the people who will not let that belief die.
In September 2025 Real Art Tacoma celebrated its tenth anniversary. It is an achievement that feels both improbable and completely inevitable in the life of a music venue. In a world where all-ages venues struggle to survive, Real Art Tacoma has done more than endure. It has become a sanctuary, a place where young musicians learn to take up space, learn how to form and be in bands, take their first steps into the performing world, where fans discover their identity in the front row, and where creativity is treated not as a luxury but a birthright.
To mark the milestone, the venue is hosting a fundraiser, R. A. T. Fest, December 12 to 13. Eighteen bands in two days. This lineup is packed with performances from local bands, bands who support the all-ages community with outreach of their own, bands who have been involved with Real Art Tacoma for years, and bands who were born within the walls of Real Art Tacoma’s partnership with the youth program Live It Out Loud. The weekend-long event is less a celebration of the past and more an anchor for the future, a call to action for the community and a reminder that keeping music accessible is not just idealistic, it is vital.
Sky Warden, director of Live It Out Loud, speaks plainly about the importance of this venue in the community and for the all-ages demographic: “Live It Out Loud started in 2011 as a part of Ted Brown Music Outreach. It has become a bedrock of the local all-ages music community, providing upward momentum to young musicians who really want to connect with people. Our partnership with Real Art Tacoma began in 2021 when they graciously opened their doors to having large parts of the program take place at Real Art Tacoma.”
“Real Art Tacoma is a robust training ground for new bands and artists, and our partnership with Live It Out Loud is built on the mutual commitment to doing anything we can to support these bands and send them upward.”
“The benefit festival, R. A. T. Fest, coming up on December 12 to 13, is absolutely integral to keep the doors open. Real Art Tacoma is a nonprofit and often makes little to no money from shows directly. Instead, offering a majority of the funds to bands and staff that run the shows keeps as active of a scene as possible. Keeping the lights on in Tacoma’s only always-all-ages venue, and the only venue actively seeking to book young local bands, is not only a worthy cause, it has a direct effect on the health of the city overall.”
For countless kids in Tacoma and the surrounding area, Real Art Tacoma is the first place where they felt seen. “Places like this do not exist by accident,” says one longtime volunteer. “They exist because a community decides they are worth fighting for.”
“The place that made us believe we could exist as musicians.” Another credits Real Art Tacoma and Live It Out Loud with teaching them the logistics most artists do not learn until years into their careers: how to book a show, how to run a merch table, how to respect the crew, how to respect each other.
The anniversary fundraiser, R. A. T. Fest, is expected to be one of Real Art Tacoma’s biggest events ever, packed with longtime supporters, families, curious first-timers, and a roster of performers who have deep roots in the venue’s history.
Sky Warden reminds us, “Some of the bands at this year’s benefit were started in Live It Out Loud. Capala was 2023, Panatela was 2025, and Hot Step Mom was 2021, as well as Jody Ellen, a band featuring two mentors and two participants.” The shows are celebratory, but they are also candid about the realities of keeping a space like this alive.
As Daniel Rounds, director of the nonprofit, puts it, “We do not just want Real Art Tacoma to survive. We want it to thrive. And we want to make sure there is a place like this for the next generation of kids who are looking for a launch pad.”
The R. A. T. Fest fundraiser is a chance for the community to step in as co-authors of the next chapter, a chapter where creativity remains accessible, where young people continue to find their voice, and where a small all-ages venue in Tacoma keeps proving that music can change lives. One show, one summer, one kid at a time.
Get your tickets now for R. A. T. Fest. There are extra perks for those who buy the weekend passes. December 12 to 13, all ages, at 5412 S. Tacoma Way. Tickets at www.realarttacoma.com
