TRAILS AND VISTAS INC

Trails & Vistas is the Truckee/North Tahoe region's premiere art within nature non-profit. We facilitate performance and visual art events in natural settings for people of all ages, including dance, poetry, music and storytelling.

Your donation supports:

1. YOUTH - Trails & Vistas' annual Dreaming Tree Field Trip takes over 400 Truckee/North Lake Tahoe third grade students on an interactive art walk at either Sand Harbor State Park or Donner Memorial State Park. The children experience music, storytelling and environmental lessons. They learn from elders of the Washoe Tribe of California and Nevada. They write poetry, and they create a class visual art project.

2. VETERANS, SENIORS and INDIVIDUALS with sensory, cognitive and physical disabilities - in partnership with Achieve Tahoe, Trails and Vistas' annual art walk at Donner Memorial State Park invites participates to quiet their minds and connect with nature through visual art, poetry and music.

3. Family friendly ART HIKES - Trails & Vistas' signature Art Hike takes participants on a 3 mile guided hike with dance, poetry, music, storytelling and environmental art. Imagine hiking to a beautiful forest glen where you listen to an acoustic guitarist and a beat boxer, then continuing down the trail to meadow where a musician plays singing bowls that have been nestled among the Mule's ears flowers, then walking to a ridge the overlooks Devil's Peak to find ballet dancers -- Our Art Hikes typically feature 7 unique art installations. In order to keep our events affordable for people in all income brackets, our ticket prices only cover approximately 50% of our total event cost. We fundraise to cover the remaining 50%.

4. LATINX COMMUNITY AND TEENS. Trails & Vistas offers a free art hike in Spanish for members of our region's Latinx community. Trails & Vistas also holds community art workshops created for the Latinx population, including workshops for parenting teens in partnership with Truckee's STEPP program (Sierra Teen Education Parenting Program).

4. Community WORLD CONCERT - Trails & Vistas collaborates with the Truckee Donner Recreation and Parks District to sponsor one of their outdoor summer concerts. We introduce our mountain region to music and dance from a variety of world cultures. This year's concert featured Reno Tsurunokai Taiko drums and Sambadá, a Brazilian band with dancers. When informally surveyed, approximately two-thirds of the audience had not previously experienced the joy of the traditional Japanese folk art of Taiko drums.

5. Community Art Workshops- We offer free community art workshops. This year participants were invited to create clay poppies, which were displayed during our 2024 Art Hike.

READ what participants have to say about Trails & Vistas' events:

2024 Art Hike Participant Val Fern said, "With every step, I felt the snares of the world breaking away. Never before had I experienced the perfect blending of Nature and Art that Trails & Vistas provided. And the magic, the love, the time and effort of the numerous creative people who put Trails & Vistas (Art Hikes) together, especially the creator and visionary, Nancy Tieken Lopez."

2024 Awe Walk for Veterans Participant Kevin wrote, "I just want to say WOW! That was such an amazing experience, and so well executed. From all of us who attended, I would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Speaking for myself, I will do everything I can to spread the word and promote your organization and this activity specifically. Thank you!”

2024 Dreaming Tree Field Trip Teacher: Heidi Richards from Forest Charter said, "The overall field trip experience was exceptional. As a new participant I was surprised, and thrilled about the incredible thought, planning, and participation on the part of the Trails and Vistas organization and each of the individual station leaders. The presentations were perfectly matched to the needs of the students. The day left us relaxed and enriched after a variety of experiences and activities that we will look forward to each year we have the opportunity to participate!"

Poetry Created by 3rd Graders at The Dreaming Tree Field Trips:

1.

A tree, a very tall tree

Water in the river

The forest

I wonder what fish are in the water

- Alina

2.

I see a stream that is as swift as a salmon swimming upstream

I hear the water colliding together like banging rocks

I smell the flowers letting out their scent

I feel the wind like a swift stream pushing against me

- Ben