The 21st annual Margaret K. Williams Arts Awards, sponsored by the Pierce County Arts Commission and the Pierce County Arts & Cultural Services Division, have been announced. The awards are presented in three categories, and will be presented 6:30 p.m. November 6 at Tacoma Art Museum.

Winner of the Arts Education award is Amelia Haller, a poet, writer and teacher. Haller has published eight books, taught at many local institutions, and published in various anthologies.

Winner of the Excellence in the Arts award is local dancer and choreographer Carla Barragan. Currently directing BQDance in Tacoma, Barragan has presented work around the Northwest, taught at various classes and teacher education programs, and connected local dance with arts from her native Ecuador, where she also presents work.

The award for Career Arts goes to sculptor Mardie Rees. Rees creates figurative work in bronze, and has shown throughout the Northwest and California. Her current work, a life-size bronze "Saint Anthony and Child," will be displayed in the lobby of St. Anthony's Hospital, under construction in Gig Harbor.

The award ceremony will be preceded by a reception at 5:30 p.m.

Who’s afraid of “Dracula”?
Not Tacoma City Ballet. The company is performing this original ballet tonight and tomorrow, to live orchestral music of Elgar and Smetana. Bring the family and wear costume. 7:30 p.m. tonight, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1. $25. Theatre on the Square, 915 Broadway, Tacoma. 253-591-5894, www.broadwaycenter.org

Party with the Dead
Dia de los Muertos is this Sunday. Make sugar skulls and papel picado, and see a tapete and ofrendas at Tacoma Art Museum, then join with life-size skeletons in the 6th Avenue parade, with hot drinks after. 12-6 p.m. free community festival at Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma. 253-272-4258, www.tacomaartmuseum.org; 6 p.m. parade convenes at Masa, 2811 6th Ave., Tacoma. www.on6thave.com

Midwest Reflections at The Gallery at TCC
Pastel artist Melinda Liebers Cox and photographer Linda Staats teamed up for two road trips through the American Midwest: “Heartland Intersections” is the result. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays through Dec. 19. Free. The Gallery at Tacoma Community College, enter off S. 12th and Mildred Streets, Tacoma. 253-460-4306, www.tacomacc.edu/thegallery

“Beautiful Angle” at PLU
You’ve seen the posters around town: hand-printed, hand-pasted, original poetry, off-beat design. Now you can meet the guys behind them: Lance Kagey and Tom Llewellyn, a.k.a. Beautiful Angle, at the opening of their PLU gallery show. 5-7 p.m. Nov.5. Free. Ingram Hall, Pacific Lutheran University, 121st St. S. and Wheeler St. South, Tacoma. 253-535-7150, www.plu.edu/~artd/events.html