By Samara Almonte & Lynn Fitz-Hugh, adapted from the The City of Olympia website

With the Governor’s approval of the 2021 Washington State Capital Budget, the Military Department is directed to transfer the Olympia Armory at no cost to the City of Olympia, “for use as a community asset dedicated to using the arts to support community development, arts education, and economic development initiatives.” 

A working vision is to repurpose the Olympia Armory for use as a Creative Campus – a cultural anchor for building community through the arts. Click here to watch a short video about the growing vision. 

Bringing Climate Action and Community Art Together: 
The City is launching a community visioning process for the Armory’s future as a Creative Campus. As a long-time partner of the City of Olympia, Thurston Climate Action Team (TCAT) believe this is a perfect opportunity for community members and artists to come together alongside climate activists to create a space that centers climate action. As we work on the implementation of the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan (TCMP) the Armory has the potential to function as a visible community model of carbon zero community space for demonstrating to the public energy efficiency, community solar, electric vehicles and so forth. 

However, TCAT alone can’t advocate for the city to use this space to promote sustainable solutions. We need your involvement and support in advocating for carbon zero community space! Interested in getting involved? Then be sure to register on Engage Olympia and check out the project page.