Tacoma employs a number a creative financing plans. The private sector has courted artists like Dale Chihuly, who blessed the city with the Bridge of Glass. And public sector investments leveraged private dollars to upgrade the Pantages and Rialto theaters. These projects spawned further creative investments, such as the Tacoma Actors Guild, or TAG, a unique public venue started in 1978 by a University of Puget Sound professor, Rick Tutor. TAG relocated in the 1993-94 season to its current home in the heart of downtown Tacoma, the Theatre on the Square.

Museums are a vibrant and important resource for Tacoma. The museums are sponsored through a partnership between public and private businesses and funds. Examples of local museums are the Washington State History Museum, Museum of Glass, Tacoma Art Museum, Asia Pacific Cultural Center, LeMay Museum, and Pioneer Motorcycle Museum.