Retreat for Creative Souls | Nov 2023 -Jan 2024 | Online creativity course

We invite you to a Retreat for Creative Souls – a safe, genuine, gentle, and at the same time joyful and powerful place where to grow as an artist and creator.

This is a place not only for visual artists but also for writers, poets, craftsmen and women, dancers, musicians, actors, performance artists, silent dreamers, parents of young creative souls, and anyone with an inner voice whispering: I want to create… no, I have to create.

We believe being an artist is a unique life experience, a very special way of being human – this journey is not easy, but oh how rewarding! We enjoy this a lot and would like as many people as possible to experience this. For us art is a way of breathing, a way of being, it’s our human freedom, our life.

Over the last 10 years, we have studied creativity in different forms – academically, through practical workshops, both being as attendants and running them ourselves, we have been listening to formal and not-so-formal lectures, reading all possible books we could find and we have been practicing everyday creativity ourselves as artists. This has been a topic of our continuous discussions for more than 5 years among ourselves and with other creative souls.

This journey has taught us that creativity is not a mystery.

At first, we felt it, then noticed a vague silhouette, approached it and now we are very sure – it is alive, having its skeleton, bones, flesh, and blood. It has its character, personality, beauty, and also its demon side. But all in all, we finally can admit that this is an amazing creature and we have become good friends. And no, we don’t want to tame it. We want it to stay raw, wild, unpredictable. We have learned how to share space with it, and how to fall asleep safely in its hug. We also have learned how to dress it up to be shown to our friends and the world. Or hide when it might hurt it. We have learned how to protect it without locking it in a cage.

This is a course, a training, a happy place for you to plant the seeds of your creative garden, help it grow, and get some tools to sustain it further on your own. We will guide you through this process so, that at the end you know how to keep your creativity up, you will understand why and how it works for you, and how to live a fully creative life – with all its ups and downs, sunny days and wintertimes. We don’t promise spring forever. We just know it is not possible. And it would be boring, right?

The 12-week (November 2023 – January 2024) course will begin on November 9th, 2023.

During this 12-week online journey, you will have an opportunity to:

• dive deep into our theoretical lectures/talks, where we will share our experience and what we have learned about creative being;
• do a set of specific practical exercises and techniques, that aim to help you find or rediscover your own way toward creativity;
• participate in live Zoom Q&A sessions with our direct and personalized feedback, which will be our way of holding your hand through this process;
• create your own mastermind group that will be a peer-to-peer mentoring group;
• go further and read/look/listen to our curated list of reading materials and other sources;

Zoom calls will be organized every second Thursday (the first will be held on November 9, 2023) at 20.00 Riga time (19.00 in Brussels/Copenhagen, 18.00 in London, 14.00 in New York, 11.00 in Los Angeles). All other elements (except mastermind groups) you can enjoy in the time that is convenient for you.  We will contact you shortly with all the details and an invitation to a private Facebook group, which will be our home for this Retreat for Creative Souls.

The price for the whole course is 420 EUR, which can be divided into three monthly payments of 140 EUR.

Frequently asked questions:

• What is Retreat for Creative Souls?
  • This is 12-week long creativity training/course. But we do not like this word much. For us, it is a journey that would help you to rediscover the creative way of being. This is not our regular painting course. This is a safe, genuine, gentle, and at the same time joyful and powerful place where to grow as an artist and creator.
• What is the structure of the course?
  • We have discovered that creativity is not a mystery. During 12 weeks we will share our vision of creativity formula and its elements. We will talk and work on creative blocks and negative beliefs, creative self, identity, and self-acceptance and we will help you to create a space and time for a creative way of being so that hopefully becomes part of your lifestyle. We will guide you through this process. Each week will have its own topic to discuss and work on.
• How will you guide us through this journey?
  • While working on your own projects or ideas you will have the possibility to: – listen to weekly theoretical lectures/talks prepared by Agnese Aljena and Masha Zurikova , where we will share what we have learned during the past 5 years of learning what creativity is and how to be friends with it; -work on a weekly set of specific practical exercises and coaching techniques prepared by Daina Domasute, that aim to help you find or rediscover your own way toward creativity; — every two weeks participate in live Zoom Q&A sessions with our direct and personalized feedback, which will be our way of holding your hand through this process; -every week participate in a mastermind group that will be your peer-to-peer mentoring group; -go further and read/look/listen to our curated list of reading materials and other sources. -most importantly, build a strong community with other beautiful creative souls in a closed Facebook group asking questions, commenting, and discussing.