Music, dance and poetry to come alive at island retreat

Guitar playing, screen printing, salsa and poetry are all on the agenda for The Chewstick Foundation’s second artistic retreat.

The charity held its first ever retreat on Paget Island back in March and thanks to its popularity and success it has decided to hold a second.

This month’s extended retreat takes place from Friday, May 27 until Sunday, May 29 at the same location.

As part of the weekend’s events, there will be a number of creative breakout sessions featuring prominent creative figures in the community.

The breakout sessions include guitar playing by Jules from the reggae band Ital Foundation, screen printing by Aden Peets, salsa dancing by Kieran Bradshaw and poetry from Stephan Johnstone.

They will all perform and teach their skills to participants of the retreat.

There will also be an acoustic fireside open-mic jam session and an adventure hike of Paget Island.

Chewstick’s Carlita Lodge said: “The purpose for the retreat is to empower people in an intense, artistic and spiritual environment that encourages personal growth and collaboration. The weekend will comprise workshops taught by local experts from various fields, collaborative work, group sessions and alone time to allow for personal deepening.”

Hardy Underwriting Bermuda  and other private sponsors have donated funds to subsidise the retreat and to provide full scholarships for 15 participants together with partial scholarships for another 30.

The donation from Hardy  to Chewstick comes from Hardy’s philanthropic mission to support the arts in Bermuda

Chewstick founder, Gavin Djata Smith added: “It’s great to have Hardy come on-board as the first corporate sponsor of the retreat, particularly because it is going to enable people that would otherwise not be able to attend to do so. 

“This programme has changed my life and I’m hoping it can do the same for others.”

Participants and Chewstick members will depart from St. George’s on Friday evening at 6pm sharp. Paget Island is fully serviced with dorms where attendees will be sleeping on single-sized bunk beds. Anyone interested in attending needs to bring their own bedding.

There are clean and modern bathroom facilities including showers.

The retreat costs $150 or $135 for members, which includes transport to and from Paget Island; six meals, accommodation, an introductory creative inquiry workshop; four creative breakouts; bocce tournament; outdoors summer activities and acoustic fireside open-mic jam session.

For more information, a full schedule of events and breakout session offerings, or to sign-up visit www.chewstick.org or call 292-2439 Monday to Friday, 9-5pm Outside regular office hours e-mail at [email protected].