what to expect at our songwriting retreats

more than just workshops

We believe that the creation and sharing of songs can be the most nourishing way express ourselves and get to know each other, and we invite songwriters wherever they are in their creative journey.

The workshops will be filled with prompts, games, inspirations to guide you to new musical ideas that you can explore freely, without the pressure of a performance or ‘finished product’ required at the end.

The days are designed with your energy in mind, from delicious veggie meals to optional group walks in nature and free time to give your creative self the space it needs to reflect.

Finding your voice and the right people to create with can take time. What happens when you put yourself out there creatively and it doesn’t quite click? You try again!

Our retreats give you the chance to spend a few days working alongside lots of different women and gender-diverse musicians, building confidence, experimenting with collaboration and discovering what works for you. You might love co-writing from the get-go, or discover that you prefer writing independently and bringing others in when you’re ready to share, develop an idea or add something new to an arrangement.

There’s no right way to collaborate - the retreat is a space to try things out, meet new people and find your own creative rhythm.

Women and gender diverse musicians

Anna Anise is a songwriter, folk musician, facilitator and creative producer whose practice is rooted in the belief that songwriting can be a powerful tool for self-expression and connection. Alongside her own music, Anna has spent years exploring how the spaces we create around songwriting can shape the way people collaborate, take creative risks and develop confidence in their work.

In 2024, Anna was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to research collaborative songwriting retreats in the USA. She visited six programmes across the country, speaking with songwriters, facilitators and producers and exploring the different ways retreats can foster creative experimentation, community and lasting peer networks. Her research looked beyond songwriting technique to the wider conditions that help artists thrive: intentional community-building, supportive facilitation, opportunities to share work without completion, and spaces where people feel able to be vulnerable and try something new.

This research continues to shape Anna’s practice and the development of CHORUS. She is particularly interested in how residential creative spaces can support artists not only to make better work, but to feel more connected to their peers, more confident in their creative identity and more able to sustain a life in music. Her work brings together her experience as a songwriter, event producer and facilitator with an ongoing curiosity about what happens when we make the creative process genuinely collaborative and connecting.

meet anna the founder of chorus songwriting retreats

The other businesses that we work with to curate the Chorus Songwriting retreat experience have been carefully chosen to reflect the values we hold dear. We’re a non-profit, and we choose partners who share our belief that creative experiences can be nourishing, accessible and genuinely life-affirming.

Ingredients of a Chorus Retreat

We work with food rescue services such as Café Abundance and Food in Community, organisations that intercept surplus supplies from supermarkets to cook nutritious meals. Our caterers have delivered us delicious dinners over the years, from bao buns to spaghetti to curries.

WilderMe is a wonderful glamping site, perched right on the end of the Rame Peninsula on the South West Coast Path surrounded by the sea. Throughout the summer they support holidays for autistic adults and SEND children from across the country. We are delighted to be one of few to host retreats at their stunning site alongside this incredible initiative.

Eden Rise is an eco-friendly residential retreat and workshop venue located in the Devon countryside, roughly two miles west of Totnes. The building runs on 100% renewables using solar and green energy, we produce fresh UV filtered water from their borehole, upcycle/recycle, compost food waste onsite, and use sustainable and eco-products.

Songwriting in the Wild

LOCATIONS

Our retreats are chosen for their proximity to nature, and having enough space for us all to be cosy and comfortable, have multiple writing spaces and live in community for a few joyful days. We know that music is what we’re all here for, and that spark we all have in common around our passion for songs - but it sure does help the creative process with a big breath of country-air and a pretty view out the window.

We often find our locations delicately woven into the fabric of the songs we create. We’ve seen the places we stay find their way into the songs themselves: sunlight streaming through windows, rain pattering on farmhouse roofs, sea air, muddy walks and late-night fires all becoming part of the creative landscape.