Treat yourself to an immersive retreat, and let this region’s unconventional art and intriguing beauty reinvigorate your own creative powers.
14-17 May 2027
Early bird discount on now: €1,650 €1,450
When the future feels uncertain, the most powerful thing you can do is shape it yourself, at our 3-day retreat.
Break through creative blocks and self-doubt to show up with more confidence in your visual work.
Fill your creative tanks with a mix of walking, nature, sketching, museums and dining, to fuel your work long after you return home.
Boost your visual storytelling skills, and find renewed creative energy and fresh approaches to your visual communication.
Find a supportive community of like-minded professionals who’ll inspire and encourage your creative growth.
As gen-AI pumps out more and more, the future will belong to creatives who don’t simply ‘make things’ but who build a clear purpose, distinctive voice, and a future-proof strategy for their work and business that is not easy to copy. This retreat is for you if...
Axelle is a highly-renowned graphic recorder at Visual Harvesting, who has transformed hundreds of speakers’ words into attractive thoughtful visual summaries at conferences and gatherings all over the world, for over 10 years. She is also an in-demand trainer, leadership coach and speaker.
Her mission is to enable anyone in the world to convey a message with a drawing, and to help those drawings gain power in every organization, to do business and innovate more successfully. This passion fuels incredible amounts of creativity. Axelle is the author of Start to Draw.
Ben is well-known for his strategic facilitation, business illustration, training, and graphic recording. As a designer for over 25 years, he learned the importance of always sketching his ideas, as well as helping others to bring their ideas to life visually, to create products and services that are more usable, useful and enjoyable.
As an independent consultant at Bright Pilots, he enjoys helping teams of all kinds find and solve problems better, think and communicate together better, and ship faster. He is also the author of Presto Sketching, as well as Draw in 4 and 50 Remote-Friendly Icebreakers.
We are honoured to be joined on this retreat by Jeroen De Flander. Jeroen is the bestselling author of Strategy Execution Heroes and The Execution Shortcut, is one of the world’s most influential thinkers on strategy execution, and a highly regarded keynote speaker.
He has a wonderful knack for combining strategic thinking with just about any discpline, from finance to photography to AI. Learn more about him at jeroen-de-flander.com/.
“What made this retreat truly unforgettable was not only the city and its art, but the international group of facilitators we were part of, coming together from Denmark, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands and Australia. We left Florence with fresh perspectives, new friendships, and a deepened passion for our craft as graphic facilitators and visual note-takers.”
Robert De Groot, Visual Strategist
“Since I came home I can't stop raving about the experience. The art (both street art and classical art) worked wonders. Big kudos to the organisers for a great location, a great venue, excellent organisation (skipping the line to get into the Galleria), selection of restaurants, etc. But also the group of participants was very supportive of each other, no matter the level of experience of the other participants. I will not quickly forget this retreat!”
Gert Van den Bergh, Consultant
“This retreat is one of the best investments I have made into my creative career! The way Ben and Axelle guided us through an inspirational learning journey was admirable. And meeting other creative people from all around the world who not depending on experience level all struggle with the same things was no less than AMAZING! I developed a whole new character style in just 3 days! Just WOW. I am ready for the next retreat, wherever it might be.”
Susanne Krogh-Hansen, Lead Digital Designer
“For me, this was a safe learning environment where I was challenged to push beyond my comfort zone for growth. All of this against a mesmerizing backdrop with superb food in a magical setting.”
Rudy Begas, Communication Trainer
Here’s what’s included in the price of the retreat:
Earlybird discounted price: €1,450 (161 days to go)
Standard price: €1,650
This intimate retreat is designed for a small group to ensure personalised guidance and deep creative growth, so we cap the number of people to 15.
Register now, or join the waitlist to find out when to register for the next scheduled retreat.
Our home base for the Catalonia creative retreat is the dreamy artist village of Cadaqués, nestled deep in the Costa Brava in Catalonia, Northern Spain. It’s famous for its picturesque white houses, cobblestone streets, and deep ties to artist Salvador Dalí.
Stay tuned to find out about the hotel we’ll be staying at. It’s sure to be an absolute gem, and perfect for relaxing, reconnecting with your creativity, and connecting with other like-minded creatives.
Getting there: You can get a high-speed train to Figueres, or a plane to nearby Girona. We will collect you at Figueres and organise transport to Cadaqués.
Next retreat: 14-17 May 2027
Earlybird discounted price: €1,650 €1,450 (161 days to go)
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Think of this as a 3-day creative lab for future-thinking business storytellers. It’s not a holiday (although Cadaqués is fun and beautiful), and it’s definitely not typical training. It’s an immersive experience designed to help you connect more deeply to your own purpose, and to boost your creative confidence, and then use that in your communications at work (e.g. meetings, flipcharts, presentations, whiteboards) for greater impact and greater competitive edge.
Yes indeed it is, since this qualifies as professional development.
No, you don’t need to be able to draw. You just need to be curious and open to trying. Our participants have been anywhere from complete beginners (e.g. a business manager who wanted to use whiteboards better in her meetings), to seasoned veterans (e.g. a long-time graphic recorder), and without doubt all have been equally satisfied. We’ve even had complete beginners develop new visual styles in 3 days. It’s about developing confidence, not attaining perfection.
Absolutely. Even experienced illustrators and visual practitioners told us that this retreat transformed their approach to visual storytelling, and renewed their passion for the craft.
No, you don’t need to be super-skilled in AI. Yes, there is opportunity to use a variety of tools, and we will help each other do that.
We stick to English. Our participants typically come from a wide range of countries, so we find it best to keep everything ‘official’ in English, and then you can feel free to have any informal conversations with others in your own language. Axelle speaks Flemish, English, French, Italian and Spanish. Ben... let’s just say that he’ll stick to English!
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