about

2+5+3=ten

The South Sound State of Mind. If you know ten of us, you know all of us.

What the ten is:

A multimedia, people-gathering, wave-making project featuring the people and happenings in the 253.

What the ten does: 

Media, events, digital and print publications, and an annual artist incubator - all culminating in an annual film and a book to document the who, the what, and the where of each year.

Goals:

  • Encourage, inspire, and empower people to use their talents to encourage, inspire and empower others - a beautiful, infectious cycle!).

  • Highlight people, events, businesses, and campaigns that will cultivate a sense of pride in place. 

Where we started: 

When Bryson and I met, we were both artists of the starving variety - elbow-deep in freelance work to make ends meet, while our weekends were spent throwing house parties, making films, producing albums, and hosting poetry readings. We were passionate about nurturing other artists - creating spaces for them to perform and create, and hyping them up when they did.

We launched Foster’s Creative in an attempt to build ourselves a grownup career, while maintaining our love for creatives and creating. We worked hard to establish ourselves within our industry, and to draw in a staff that cared about the arts community as much as we did. 

By 2023, Foster’s Creative finally had the team and the stability to invest in a bigger project; and the FC staff was ready to sink their teeth into something artistic and ambitious.

Bolstered by the vision of a fiercely collaborative film + book project, we reached out to Umi Wagoner, co-owner of eTc Tacoma; and eTc joined us as our marketing partner for what eventually became the Ten of Us 2023: a project that highlighted artists, business owners, and local leaders in and around the 253 area code.

The Ten of Us 2023 reignited a renewed desire in ourselves - and our team - to dig back into the soil where we started: community work, collaboration, art, and music. And the momentum we built in 2023 allowed for the Ten of Us project to evolve into what it would become in 2024: the ten. A return to FC’s roots, and an expansion into new territories. 

We hope to leave this city better than we found it.

Come grow, build, and create with us.