New beginnings for thousands of kids! Let's reach out together!
Your donation today will support dancing, singing, art, laughter, and joy for thousands of children. Your contribution gives these students the opportunity to find their creativity and unique gifts. We offer an interactive and experiential arts program using a unique model that builds our participants confidence in their own and each other's creativity.
Using a working model that is based on inclusiveness, community engagement and collaboration, Turning the Wheel seeks to reconnect youth to their lives and society; to encourage a collective ethic of caring for others and ourselves and to be a contributing force in fostering healthy, creative communities.
Just $20 a month can make a big difference! Become a monthly donor today and have your first month matched by Colorado Gives!
“Turning the Wheel, thank you so much for taking the time to move us, to teach us the beautiful colors we hold inside. Thank you for making us the wind, moving around smoothly. Thank you for making us fish, working together.” -Middle School Student, Boulder CO.
Turning the Wheel Productions is a national nonprofit arts and education organization dedicated to making body based creative expression and play accessible to individuals of all ages, experiences, genders, and cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
We are committed to being a contributing force in fostering vibrant, healthy communities nationwide.
Founded 36 years ago in Boulder, Turning the Wheel has impacted the lives of over 150,000 youth in 13 cities through over 1200 schools and organizations around the country. TTW has successfully targeted the underserved and virtually invisible youth in schools, youth organizations, rehab centers, homeless shelters, and juvenile detention centers; making them visible to themselves and to the community which surrounds them. Our participants are diverse in race, ethnicity, financial circumstances, physical and cognitive abilities, and emotional well-being.
Our residencies engage youth in a unique curriculum of dance, rhythm, theater, prose, poetry, visual arts, and culminate in a final performance, which allows them to be seen by their peers and their families, to experience co-creating in groups, and to ignite their innate creativity and confidence. Students work with themes that are meaningful for them, like trust, body changes, and fears about the future. Working together they write dialogue, build sets, create murals and costumes, take photos for video, and learn their parts.
Our highly interactive activities encourage creative expression and authenticity, welcoming them into the room just as they are. As the youth interact and share with diverse groups, many stereotypes are broken down, and new friendships are formed. Leadership and collaboration skills are built into all the Turning the Wheel exercises, and participation in the outreach program fosters expanded self-esteem and well-being for the youth. They begin to build awareness of their own value and understand that they can have an impact on their community, setting them up for a more empowered path forward.
In addition, we have trained many teens, educators and caretakers in our model of using the creative arts to foster unconditional acceptance of self and other. Our teen mentorship program, in which teens (16 and older) assume leadership roles with young students, continues to thrive and have profound impact. Our School Readiness Program is entering its tenth year and the request for our unique programming is in constant demand in schools across the country.
Organization name
Turning the Wheel Productions Inc
other names
Turning the Wheel; TTW
1989
Tax id (EIN)
84-1254913
Category
Youth Development, Arts, Culture & Humanities, Education, Public & Societal Benefit
Organization Size
Medium Organization
Address
1123 County Road 83Boulder County, CO, US
Broomfield County, CO, US