Our Lives Under the Wheel

The name, Life Under the Wheel, came from our desire to find a symbol that was prevalent throughout the music festival community.  At many festivals today, one of the most common attractions that you will find is a Ferris wheel. Festival goers frequent the Ferris wheel in order to garner a bird’s eye view, because it gives them a unique perspective on the size and scope of the event.  We have personally heard some patrons describe their festival Ferris wheel experience as a brief, but remarkable, memory that created a euphoric sense of freedom as they circled high above the life that was occurring under the wheel.  

At Life Under the Wheel, our team had crossed paths many times on their journeys through the music festival industry.  However, in 2017, they discovered they shared a common belief.  The belief that music festivals create communities bound together by a passion for music and a love of sharing that experience with others. When you’re there, you belong to a collective group of spirited music lovers. It’s as if differences are left behind once you walk through the festival gates. Time and time again, they had witnessed that music festival patrons didn't care about race, gender, sexual orientation, or economic status. Inside the gates, everyone belonged. 

Together, they decided that they wanted to share all the joys of the music festival experience with music lovers who might need it the most. A life-threatening diagnosis is a life-changing event that can have a powerful impact on an individual. At Life Under the Wheel, we do not pretend to understand how this type of diagnosis affects a person. What we do know is that a music festival is a special place filled with a sense of community and a shared love of music. Our hope is that an individual selected for the receipt of a festival grant from us will be able to experience all of the brilliance that a music festival has to offer.