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The History of BareFoot

In the summer of 2008 through the efforts of Joséphine A. Garibaldi, Amanda Herman, Michael Hoover, Katharine M. Stricker, and Paul Zmolek the BareFoot Collective (tBFC) evolved out of Barefoot Studios. Barefoot Studios, which was founded by Joséphine A. Garibaldi and Paul Zmolek in 2005 produced two site-specific festivals (SiteWorks 2006 & Train, May 2008), eleven dance, theatre and music productions, twelve visual arts installations, a bi-monthly interdisciplinary performance/feedback series and on-going dance, martial arts, physical theatre and somatic education classes from 2005 to 2008. These accomplishments were honored by the Tacoma Arts Commission's AMOCAT Award for Arts Outreach and the Pierce County Arts Commission's Margaret K. Williams Arts Award for Excellence in the Arts. Paul and Joséphine have followed other professional opportunities away from the Puget Sound, but continue to advise and collaborate with tBFC as members emeriti.

With Carrie Goodnight and Rosa Vissers joining the collective in September 2008 the groundwork was laid for establishing tBFC as a 501(c)3 organization. Currently tBFC functions as a non-profit dance organization and is committed to serving the greater Tacoma community by being a place for artists to create and present new work, producing and presenting diverse, high-quality performances as well as offering excellent dance instruction for youth and adults. During its first year as a non-profit the BareFoot Collective has produced more than five dance performances, a dance film night, quarterly community brunches and the bi-monthly 8@8 series. In June the BareFoot Collective produced SiteWorks 2009 in collaboration with the Museum of Glass under the artistic direction of Joséphine A. Garibaldi and Paul Zmolek. SiteWorks was supported by grants from the Washington State Arts Commisson, Pierce County Arts Commission and the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation and individual donations.

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