Trails & Vistas mission is to create community by celebrating the arts and nature.
Building community is at the center of all we do. And growing our community, giving voice to our community, learning from our community, and fostering belonging within our community are at the center of our art in nature programs. We are proud to build community with our art and dance workshops, our signature Art Hikes, Truckee’s Historical Tour Fundraiser, and
The Dreaming Tree Field Trips.
We respectfully acknowledge that we walk on the unceded land of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.
The Dreaming Tree Field Trip at Lake Tahoe is a stunning project dedicated to the arts and environmental stewardship. What started as an effort in 2011 to host an outdoor classroom has since grown into an experience of land, art, and community for over 400 Truckee and North Tahoe third grade students.
"Thank you once again for this amazing opportunity! The Trails & Vistas artists and experiences they provided at Donner Memorial State Park provided a unique opportunity for my students to connect with nature on a highly personal basis. They came back to the classroom highly energized and engaged from their experience. In fact, our day with Trails & Vistas provided a springboard from which students created poetry and conducted research about the native plant and animal species they saw at Donner Lake. Learning is always much more powerful when it is based on experience. Thank you once again for opening my students' eyes to the beauty and wonder that is all around them! " – Brook Binley, 3/4 Grade Teacher, Forest Charter School, Truckee
The art in nature field trips are designed to uphold the value of hands-on environmental education through nature hikes infused with creative arts such as music, poetry, visual art and storytelling. Trails & Vistas field trips support the idea that an outdoor classroom in nature is where learning comes to life and connections to the natural world are discovered through writing poems, creating art, listening to a storyteller and exploring the natural environment on the shores of Lake Tahoe.
For Volunteer Guide Training RSVP: Nancy Lopez, info@trailsandvistas.org
Sophie Moeller will lead this complimentary guide training to help us build community, set intentions to trust the forest, and make a deeper connection to the land and life around us.
Artist Romina Branje
RSVP: Nancy Lopez, info@trailsandvistas.org
Stories and conversation are powerful because they can focus our attention, connect us and help us see from different perspectives. We want to create narrative transportation with Community Art & Dance Workshops to build community. The first step is to bridge our Latine community and non-Latine community with a personal invitation to a visual and dance classes. Attendees are invited to attend the art in nature programs such as Trails & Vistas art hike to create community.
Trails & Vistas has partnered with Truckee artist, Romina Branje over the past year to create the Impact Project Latinx Community Art program, which provides art workshops for the youth and adults of the Truckee community. Trails & Vistas will continue to seek funding to offer art and nature experiences for under-privileged families, especially those in Kings Beach and Truckee communities. Trails & Vistas funds bilingual staff that support Spanish-speaking children and families who come to the community workshops and art hikes. "We wanted to offer a community program where all children and adults of all socio-economic levels can create and walk together,’ said Romina Branje, Trails & Vistas outreach coordinator.
Trails & Vistas events are structured to move towards change and being intentional with our actions to expand our professional circle of artists, and build relationships within our local Latine community to create a more just community. Challenges in our rural town include a racial divide between two main cultures, with one having more access to the arts than the other. One of our goals is to bridge that divide. The Community Art workshops will utilize creative practices with a wide range of art genres to impact social issues affecting our rural mountain community, including education, environmental sustainability, health and wellbeing. Trails & Vistas community art events promote treating each other and the world with care.
Since 2004, Trails & Vistas has established a regional and local partnership program designed to foster the performing, visual and literary arts, and inspire environmental stewardship. Jay Howard, park supervisor of Lake Tahoe Sand Harbor State Park said “ The Art Hikes, Art Hikes for Schools, World Concert, and other various hikes done at Sand Harbor and Spooner Backcountry is a fun and unique way to enjoy the great outdoors. The way Trails and Vistas joins art and nature in an outdoor setting is simply an experience that every child must have.”
Founded in 2004, Trails & Vistas has grown to offer Art Hikes, Art in Nature Field Trips, World Concert, and community art/dance workshops. Trails & Vistas is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization partnered with several Truckee/Tahoe non-profit organizations, InnerRhythms Dance, Lake Tahoe Nevada State Parks, California State Parks, Truckee Donner Land Trust, and The Culture/Language Department of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.
The Indigenous peoples of the Washoe Tribe are the original caretakers of this land.
InnerRhythms Dance
InnerRhythms Dance Theatre is a proud founding partner of Trails & Vistas since 2004. InnerRhythms mission is to use the power of dance and music to cultivate life skills in our youth, promote global stewardship, and create an everlasting passion for the arts in the communities we serve. www.innerrhythms.org
Jay Howard
Park Supervisor, Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park
Curtis
3rd grader, Creekside School
Ian Case
Musician
M. Joseph
World Concert fan
Scarlet Rivera
Musician
Stephanie Y.
Art Hiker
Community Outreach
Taking kids outdoors to create, discover, and learn with the Dreaming Tree Field Trips.
Community art and dance workshops
Trails & Vistas is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. (26-4300208)
By donating to Trails & Vistas you're supporting the arts and helping to bring immersive
experiences in creativity for local students and communities.
We respectfully acknowledge that we walk on the unceded land of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.
Trails & Vistas strives to create a more sustainable and healthy world for all people across race, class, gender, geography, and other differences.
All materials copyright of Trails & Vistas Inc. ©2004-2024. Use of any materials and photographs other than Trails & Vistas event promotion require written approval by the Executive Director Nancy Lopez at info@trailsandvistas.org For all press inquiries contact: Nancy Tieken Lopez, Founder and Artistic Director