Retreats

2025 Retreat

Brave Voice Winter Retreat

1-5 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 1 (Dec. 8: inclement weather date), Lawrence

Join us for a wonderful day of writing, singing, and eating luscious food together at Caryn’s home, 3 miles south of Lawrence, with views of native prairie, woodlands, and fields, and sometimes interesting wildlife. Come celebrate your voice, make new friends, and see what you have to say to yourself and others.

Find all the information here.

 

20th Annual Brave Voice — May 11-16, 2025

Please join us for our annual 6-day retreat to dive into writing, singing, and songwriting, and surface with new work, collaborative creations, a community that supports your artistic development, and a renewed vision of your life. Early bird rates end 11/30/24.

What is Brave Voice: Brave Voice attracts people who create or want to create. All who want to explore their brave voices are welcome, whether you’re just starting out, seeking a new direction, or looking for renewed vision. Our participants are seasoned or new writers of any genre, musicians of all strips and stops, or people ready to see what they have to say to themselves and their communities. We find that the mix of people sparks ample collaboration and inspiration, and by having everyone engage in writing, songwriting, and group singing, everyone strengthens their voice in their lives. We are an inclusive and magical community that continues long after our time together through a Facebook page and informal gatherings.

Brave Voice participants find new ways to spark alive and further develop their writing — whether poetry, fiction, memoir, mixed genre, songwriters, and more—and/or music. Immersing ourselves in the power of our words written, sung, heard, and read, we find more of what our own brave voice is calling us to do and be in this life. Many books, publications, readings, CDs, performances, collaborations, and ongoing writing and music groups have come out of Brave Voice.

Register here

The Place: White Memorial Camp is in the center of the Flint Hills, a national treasure of great beauty and peace. Surrounded by breathtaking views of Council Grove Lake and the Flint Hills, the camp is located where, for thousands of years, Native American tribes of the Plains met together in council. It’s a place of big vistas and open skies as well as incredible sunsets and sunrises and lots of trails and nooks to explore.

Accommodations & Meals

Our group will be housed in cabins, some with lake views. Participants share L-shaped rooms. Healthy and hearty meals (with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options) feature delicious, largely organic, and very healthy vittles prepared by a chef who is also local producer and organic farmer.

Traveling to Brave Voice

White Memorial Camp is approximately 2.5 hours from the Kansas City airport, and 1 hour from the Wichita airport. We will provide shuttle for a small fee from Kansas City International Airport for people flying in by 4 p.m. Sunday, May 11, and flying out after 2 p.m., Fri., May 16. For people driving in, we will share with you people coming from your area for car-pooling. Please be in touch with us if you have questions.

Who Comes to Brave Voice?

 

“We were encouraged to break free, to give full expression to everything from the whimsical to the most sobering issues.” ~ Tom Marten, retired lawyer, U.S. District Judge, visiting lecturer at Washburn University Law School

“Coming to Brave Voice was an opportunity to immerse myself in creativity. The very air is full of support and love. It was so easy to be fully present here, and I came to know myself in a precious way.” ~ Annette Hope Billings, poet, actor, retired nurse, lyricist, beloved child of the creator