UK VOCAL IMPROV FESTIVAL RETREAT 2023
October 18 - 22
We are delighted to return for our second-ever gathering of vocal improvisers in the UK!
Following on from 2022's incredibly enriching gathering, we are pleased to announce that we will be returning to Penny Brohn in October 2023 to launch our second UK Vocal Improv Festival Retreat.
Join us to dive into the worlds of possibility that the voice opens up for both musical and interpersonal exploration. Experience a myriad of ‘ways in’ including collaborative vocal improvisation (CVI), body music, co-created spaces, immersive experiences, circle singing, nature connection, technique-based geek-outs, embodied movement, live looping and play.
Together we will embrace the excitement of gathering in person and celebrating creative vocal expression, while also honouring the more inward, nurturing, perhaps sacred connection invited by this practice, making this experience both ‘festival’ AND ‘retreat’.
2022 Afterfilm
We are proud to return to our format of a four-day festival retreat at the stunning Penny Brohn, the national centre of a charity which provides free, integrative care to people living with cancer, and we are so happy to continue to support this cause.
We will be staying and singing in a peaceful, nurturing retreat venue, with stunning singing spaces, nourishing meals and lots of different spaces to simply connect and be. This year we are thrilled to be able to offer a camping option as well as space for campervans, alongside the shared rooms and private ensuite accommodation options, and we will be surrounded by tranquil landscaped gardens, woodland, and views across the River Avon.
This gathering is both the earth and the fire, the yin and the yang, the outward and the inward, and the tapestry of magic in between.
Let us celebrate the aliveness of our creative voices. Let us embrace the wholeness of vocal improvisation in all its forms. Let us come together on this evolving journey.
Welcome!
Accommodation & Ticket Options
Roll up, roll up! Ready for the digits?
All our fabulous festival-retreat tickets include the following:
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4 nights accommodation ranging from private ensuite room to campervan options (see below for details), in the stunning spaces and grounds of Penny Brohn
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5 days of delicious meals from our arrival dinner on Wednesday evening to our farewell lunch on Sunday afternoon
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3 full days of a variety of workshops (from morning warm-ups, to small group sessions, to whole group celebrations, and space to freely connect and co-create)
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3 varied evenings of performances, group sings, cabarets, jams and celebrations
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Opening and closing ceremonies to welcome us in and see us off
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…and all the magic that bubbles and blooms in the in betweens!
(Hover to reveal prices and descriptions)
Sweet Ensuite
(1 person)
£1150
Indulge in your own private double room with ensuite shower & toilet. Ooh la la!
SOLD OUT!
Buddy Power
(2 people)
£900 (per person)
Team up and share a room with two single beds, ensuite shower & toilet.
Double Sweet Ensuite
(2 people)
£900 (per person)
Share a double bed with ensuite shower & toilet. Woo-ee!
SOLD OUT!
Double Bring-Your-Owns
(2 people)
£600 (per person)
Share a room between two people and each bring your own blow-up mattress (we'll provide bedding). Indoor shared toilet facilities and outdoor shower cubicles. This is the indoor camping experience!
Nomad Land
£575
Bring your campervan and have access to indoor/outdoor shared toilets and outdoor shower cubicles.
#vanlife!
Camping
£475
Bring your tent to the field - have access to indoor/outdoor shared toilets & outdoor shower cubicles.
#camping!
SOLD OUT!
We would like to highlight that a proportion of these ticket prices will go directly to our host venue Penny Brohn, which helps people with the practical, emotional, physical and social support they need to live as well as they can with the impact of cancer. We are really pleased to be supporting this cause.
Programme
MORNING WARM-UPS
A range of optional body and voice warm-ups in different spaces, either self-led or with different leaders. Space for yoga, dance, meditation, choral warm-ups, and more.
CHECK-INS
Daily moments of small group connection to come together and check in with yourself and others around how you are doing and what is coming up.
IMPROV BAZAAR
A supported space to come together and decide what to explore and with whom. This is an in-the-moment marketplace of options to cater for spontaneity and responding to what you want to dive into, with facilitator-led, peer-led and co-created sessions.
CHOOSE YOUR ADVENTURE WORKSHOPS
Pre-selected, facilitator-led workshops which are chosen before the event. You will be able to state preferences so you can craft your experience to suit your interests.
EVENING CELEBRATIONS
A time for all the focus of the day to erupt in a joint celebration of our community. Expect performances from our experienced practitioners, cabaret, jamming, and some surprises!
OPENING & CLOSING CIRCLES
Gathering together as a whole group in ceremony to honour the transitions of arrival and departure.
LANDING MORNING
An opportunity to let the dust of travel and newness settle, focussing on arriving, connecting, and landing together in a small group setting.
WHOLE GROUP SESSIONS
Workshops which invite the whole group to gather together and play in large scale musical improvisation.
MAGICAL MYSTERY
Experiences which tap into the immersive, nature connection, ritualistic, magical, mystical realm…
think water, fire, sunrise, and more!
FREE-TIME
Quiet time, space to reflect, hang out, read a book, decompress, go for a walk, whatever you need to resource yourself.
Experience the magic of eight wonderful facilitators, with all the different flavours that they bring, and a range of workshop sessions, both facilitator-led and co-created, from whole group experiences to more intimate small group exploration. There will be opportunities to pre-select the workshops you are particularly interested in and dive deeper, as well as supported spaces for in-the-moment collaboration.
On top of the many daytime workshops there will be evening celebrations, with performances from our experienced practitioners and opportunities for participants to get up in front of an audience. There will also be ceremony, dance, nature connection, and free time to play, connect with others, and explore our voices.
We have curated a daily schedule that we hope will foster an inclusive, community-building, retreat experience. We feel it’s important to offer both small-group intimate settings, as well as uplifting whole-group experiences. We want you to be able to try out everything on offer if you so choose, but also to have time for quiet, reflection, and rest. We want to inspire and challenge you, as well as give you space to explore your own interests.
How to Book
Please fill out the below Google Registration Form to book your ticket. Here you can specify the type of accommodation you would like, if you would like to share a room with anyone, as well as other information that will enable us to run the event as efficiently as possible.
We would greatly appreciate it if those who have the means to pay their full ticket price upon registration do so. However, if you are not able to pay the full ticket price immediately, there are two payment options. After paying your deposit to book your space, you may arrange to pay the rest in instalments or in full, due by August 1st, 2023.* (If you register after this date, you will be expected to pay in full upon confirmation that we have your ticket available).
Once you have sent in your registration, you will receive a confirmation email with our bank details. Your registration will not be complete until we have received your transfer. Upon receiving your transfer, we will send you a confirmation email acknowledging receipt and you’ll be good to go!
Bursaries
* Deadline extended to July 1st, 2023, 12:00pm
We are proud to offer two bursaries to attend the Festival Retreat this October. If you need financial aid and believe you may qualify for one of the bursaries, please fill out the bursary registration form below. We will accept applications and make decisions on a rolling basis. The deadline to receive applications for our review is June 1st, 2023 12:00pm. We will send out our decisions by July 1st.
One bursary is reserved for a full-time independent artist or music/community facilitator who identifies as disabled.
The other is reserved for a full-time independent artist or music/community facilitator from the Global Majority.*
Curious about our thinking? Read about our values below.
Bursary recipients will receive a reduced-price Sweet Ensuite, or Double Sweet Ensuite Ticket at £350 (£800/£550 reduction) to participate in the Festival Retreat.
In the registration form, we will ask you about your financial need, your practice, and your background. Please get in touch with us directly if you have any questions. ukvocalimprov@gmail.com
*This includes people of Black Caribbean, Black African, South Asian, East Asian, Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern, Arab, Latinx, Jewish, Romany and Irish Traveller heritage.
Work-Exchange: Well-being Team
We are looking for four people to form our well-being team, either fully out of the generosity of their hearts, or in return for a reduced-price work-exchange ticket.
Our well-being team will be there to provide support should anyone need a shoulder to lean on. Preferably, you have some training in mental health and/or experience working with vulnerable people. The responsibility will be shared between all four of you, ensuring that you have down time, and can participate fully in the workshops. However, there is a chance that at times your ability to participate in activities may be affected.
Ideally, we'd like to offer these work-exchange roles to people who need financial aid in order to attend. They will receive a reduced-price Double-Bring-Your-Owns ticket, Nomadland, or Wild Camping ticket at £350.
However, if you don’t need financial aid, and still feel called to assist us, please apply anyway; we want to be sure to find the right individuals for the roles, and if you don't need the aid, then we can offer your reduced price ticket as a bursary to another soul.
We have 4 roles to fill. The deadline to receive applications for our review is June 1st, 2022 12:00pm. We will send our decisions by July 1st. Please click the link below to apply. Thank-you!
Volunteering
We need a mini community of volunteers who help the day-to-day running of the Festival Retreat! These will be small roles that fit in around the scheduled activities and should not impact your ability to attend sessions.
If you'd like to help, click the button to find out how you can get involved, and let us know what you're interested in doing when you register for your ticket. Thank you!
Meet Our Facilitators
Our Story
We are a community of vocal improvisation artists and facilitators woven together through a variety of projects, explorations, workshops, performances and cups of tea.
At the beginning of the pandemic, we, like most people, clunkily navigated our way through the trials and tribulations of offering an online space to our communities. The undeniably shiny silver lining is that we started talking regularly, co-creating spaces, and really digging into what collaborative vocal improvisation actually means to us. Most importantly, we realised that by joining our forces together, we could reach more people and help the artform to flourish.
Some of the exciting projects that germinated from this commitment to closer collaboration, connection, and cross-pollination include: The Daily 10&6, a new album of improvised songs “Remembering”, Guillermo’s Anthropos, The Wellspring Collective formed by Emma and the Kates, Jaka and Randolph working on the Collective Identity project, Kate Smith and Uran’s time-travel livestream, and more.
This journey has grown us all so much! And, most importantly, we have realised how rich and varied the idea of improvising using voice, particularly in a group setting, can be – as well as how hungry people are to dive into this work!,
We couldn’t NOT offer a space for people to FINALLY come together and celebrate this richness once the world opened up again!
We - Kate Smith, Uran Apak, Kate Mellors, Emma Coleman, Jaka Škapin, Guillermo Rozenthuler, Briony Greenhill and Randolph Matthews - are absolutely thrilled to be continuing this journey of collaboration, and are so excited to be offering the second year of the UK Vocal Improvisation Festival Retreat.
We'll be the facilitator team offering the varied menu of workshops over the course of the event, each exploring different, contrasting flavours of the artform. We are focusing this year on the wealth of experience and expertise already within the organising team, but hope that in future years we will be able to secure funding to invite other teachers in too.
Finally, we are grateful to so many influential artists, teachers, and improv greats, who have influenced us all and who we would like to honour for their contribution to this artform. Thank you particularly to Bobby McFerrin for his incredible innovation and continuous inspiration, and also to Rhiannon for her pioneering teaching resources - Vocal River. Thank you also to our friends and collaborators in the UK including Jenni Roditi, Cleveland Watkiss, and many many more.
Our Home
Our home for this beautiful adventure is Penny Brohn, the national centre of a charity which provides free, integrative care to people living with cancer. Penny Brohn appreciates the growing need for psychological and emotional support for people living with cancer; the founder recognised that she needed to care for her, “mind, spirit, emotions, heart and soul” as well as her body. Everyone who attends the festival retreat is contributing towards these life-changing services and we are honoured to support such a charity.
Penny Brohn UK is set in a collection of grade ll-listed Georgian buildings, surrounded by four acres of beautifully-maintained gardens, on the outskirts of Bristol. The whole space and grounds is imbued with a sense of calm and careful attention to detail, and it feels so full of love and care as soon as you step foot inside.
The four main indoor singing spaces for the festival retreat are: The Sanctuary, The Garden Room, The Music Room and The Library. They all have glorious high ceilings and are wonderfully resonant - perfect for filling with voice! There are floor-to-ceiling windows which let the light pour in and look out onto the gardens, woodland, or courtyard spaces. You are never far from the lush greenery and the natural surroundings.
There is a spacious dining room where we will gather to enjoy nourishing and nutritious meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner - and the bedrooms range from private ensuite affairs to shared budget options, catering for all income levels.
There are toilets and washrooms on the main ground floor corridor for your use. There are two washrooms, one male and one female, with three toilet cubicles in each. Between these two washrooms are two accessible washrooms.
The building and grounds are accessible to people who use mobility aids. There is a lift to all floors, as well as an accessible bathroom/toilet with shower and bath.
Food
From our arrival dinner on Wednesday evening to our farewell lunch on Sunday, Penny Brohn's talented Head Chef Emma Liddington will be providing us with all meals - breakfast, lunch, and dinner - so we can fully relax into this festival retreat experience.
With a focus on fresh, handmade, seasonal, and healthy food, each menu will be carefully created to accommodate all dietary requirements and always consider the nutritional value, whilst still remaining incredibly delicious and indulgent. Yum!
All meals will be vegetarian, and sometimes there will be an ethically sourced meat option. Other dietary requirements can easily be catered for, just let us know on the ticket form.
We will provide tea and coffee, but please bring your own snacks, or further support Penny Brohn by purchasing snacks from their shop, which also has a selection of gifts, books, teas, and other lovely things!
Travel
Penny Brohn sits just outside Bristol, right here:
Penny Brohn UK
Chapel Pill Lane,
Pill, Bristol,
BS20 0HH
It is dead easy to get to if you are driving- junction 19 off the M5 and possible on public transport too. Easiest way is a taxi from Bristol Temple Meads (about 20 minutes), or on 2 buses which can get you to the pub round the corner (The Anchor Inn). If you need any help, shout, and if you fancy lift sharing we will be encouraging this closer to the event.
