The Beauty of Grit City Magazine with Sierra Hartman

Jamika and Katy talk with Grit City Magazine publisher and writer Sierra Hartman. Sierra and his publishing partner Sara Kay received the Amocat Art Award for Arts Patron. Sierra shares the trials and joys of creating the beautiful and beloved Grit City Magazine.

(And Katy manages to skirt apologizing to Sierra for co-creating the myth that Tacoma’s “gritty” nickname is after a non-existent grit-eating festival.)

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From the Tacoma Arts Month website:

Grit City Magazine was founded on the notion that Tacoma has good stories to tell. They explore the places that define it, pay homage to the history that built it, and celebrate the people who make it what it is today. This is a city of makers and craftsmen, artists and philosophers, natives and newcomers, dreamers and doers, and above all, grit. If you have a story to tell, they want to hear it.

Grit City Magazine wrote that mission statement in September of 2017 just before they launched the magazine. They had no idea if any of this would work out but they were 100% certain that the stories they saw unfolding all around them were worth sharing. It was just a matter of getting them in front of people.

A lot has changed in the last five years—globally, locally, personally—but that conviction hasn’t wavered a bit. The core of what they do hasn’t changed. There are amazing people all over this city with the most captivating stories you’ll ever hear, artists with the most mind-blowing talent, and writers with the ability to make the common and mundane feel unique and inspiring.

Those people deserve to be seen and their skills deserve to be celebrated. From day one when Grit City Magazine staff were sitting at Bluebeard on 6th Ave scribbling ideas on napkins, they wanted the magazine to be a platform for the people of Tacoma to share their stories.

Shout-outs, mentions, and topics include: William Manzanares, Sierra Hartman, Sara Kay, Grit City Magazine, I Can’t Read, Post Defiance, Exit 133, Rotator Magazine, Rotator Collective, Gritty City, Tacoma Christmas Grits, Seattle Freeze, gentrification, Tacoma history, Lance Kagey, print magazines, Office Space, the power of googling. Alma, diversity, representation, community building,