TILT History
Bay Area video artist Lise Swenson conceived of TILT in 1995 while working with a group of teens in a continuation high school in San Francisco. The initial goal of the project was to produce a short PSA-style AIDS awareness video. This goal, though accepted as standard media arts-in-education programming, generated little real interest among the youth. As an alternative Swenson gave students the opportunity to tell a narrative story in their own words and style dealing with the reality and impact of AIDS in their lives and community. The youth immersed themselves in the project and created Love Between A Boy And Girl, a 23-minute video that premiered to a packed screening room at KQED.
The enormous and unexpected success of this project caused Swenson to undertake a thorough evaluation of the project in the hopes of creating a model for future use. From this evaluation and modeling process TILT was born and became its own 501(c)(3) in 1998. Since that time, TILT has facilitated more than 65 workshops in collaboration with schools, after-school programs, and community organizations in the Bay Area. TILT students have completed projects ranging from one-minute movies to multi-monitor video installations. TILT's award-winning youth produced movies have been exhibited in local art galleries and museums and at film and video festivals across the United States.
