July 5 - 12, 2012

Creativity Workshop in Barcelona

Program Overview

Barcelona is a city of extraordinary Gothic and Modernist architecture, world-class museums, chic beaches, tranquil parks, fabulous nightlife, and seafood to die for. Barcelona inspired the artists Gaudi, Picasso, Dali, and Miro, all of whom have works displayed prominently here. The city also has a beautiful beach/restaurant/cafe district in which to walk, sunbathe, swim, or people watch. Seaside resort towns, such as Sitges, are only a half hour train ride away. Many of the techniques we explore in class will sharpen your appreciation of this city and the sounds and sights of Barcelona will surely feed your creative work in class.

Each day the Creativity Workshop will meet for 3½ hours, giving you the rest of your day free to wander around Barcelona. Our classroom is near the Passeig de Gracia, a beautiful tree-lined street where two of Antoni Gaudi's architectural masterpieces are situated.

What will you learn?

The workshop's exercises and instructor talks will focus on how you can:

Find new sources of inspiration
Get ideas for your projects
Learn practical techniques to stimulate your imagination
Get over creative blocks, including writer's block and the fear of failure

Explore creativity as a process rather than a product
Recognize and believe in your creative instincts
Give yourself the time, permission, and nourishment to make creative work an on-going part of your life
Develop a 15-minute daily practice to accomplish these goals

Daily Schedule

Here is a sampling of just some of the exercises and techniques we will be working with in class. Participants tell us the time in workshop seems to fly by. The order and kinds of exercises and the instructors' talks may vary. Some exercises are done individually while others are collaborative.

Thursday, July 5, 2012: Arrival. Free day

Time for you to settle in and relax.

Friday, July 6: First day of workshop

Introduction to the hows and whys of the Creativity Workshop. Exercises in relaxation technique and guided visualization.
Relaxation: Exercises in relaxation techniques to help your imagination flow.
Guided Visualization: Calling forth the vocabulary of your imagination using the myth of the hero's journey as a framework.
Automatic Drawing: Finding your hidden imagery.
Show and Tell: Retrieving and sharing childhood memories to spark new ideas. This exercise will sharpen your storytelling skills.
Instructors' talk: How some famous writers, scientists, and artists found their inspiration, and how you can use some of their methods to find yours.

More on Daily Schedule

Saturday, July 7:

Relaxation.
Guided Visualization: Map-making as a way to find, chart, and communicate your creative process and projects.
Automatic Writing: How automatic writing (also known as "free writing") can help you create in new and surprising ways. How you can use automatic writing to outrun your inner judge, get over creative blocks and discover new ways of developing and editing written work. How alternating between writing and drawing can help you develop creative flexibility and mind dexterity.
The Interview: Listening to and experiencing a life outside your own. How listening is as important as doing in creative work.

Sunday, July 8:

Guided visualization: Letter writing as a way to express voice, character and audience.
Miniature Theatre: Storytelling with found objects.
Automatic Writing: Writing in Groups. How writing and/or drawing with others can stimulate your imagination and expand your point of view.

Instructors' talks may include:

The importance of play in creative work
Valuing creative process over product
How to do on-going creative work in short modules of time
How to use luck and coincidence to jump start creative projects

Monday, July 9:

Guided Visualization: The Myth of the Other. Imagining yourself living a parallel life. What would you do that you aren?t doing now?
Trips to the Past: Using a foreign environment to invoke memory and inspire transformation.
The Close-Up: Using photography and drawing to focus on details and change the way we see.
Instructors' talks may include:

Following your innate creativity and listening to its intuition
How to rekindle fearless imagination
The Power of the Magic phrase: "What If"

Tuesday, July 10:

Guided Visualization: The Legend of the Hand.
Automatic Drawing and Writing continues with a new twist.
Cafe exercise: Writing, drawing, photographing people you find in local cafes.
The Illuminated Manuscript: A collaborative exercise in combining mediums and perspectives.
Instructors' talk may include:

The Gift of the Amateur
Creativity is a Muscle: Use it or Lose it
Making your home and work environments inspiring
How to stay creative after the Creativity Workshop ends

NOTE: There are no classes on the final day of the workshop. This day is free for participants to put to active use the various techniques learned in the workshop by exploring the cultural, historical and natural riches of each location and its people.

Excursions are not included or arranged.

Wednesday, July 11: Free day - Suggested visit:

Trip to Dali Museum in Figueras.
Trip to the medieval town of Gerona, at one time a center of Jewish mysticism and Kabbala.

Thursday, July 12: Departure

Tuition and accommodations packages

Our tuition and accommodation packages include a wide range of possibilities.

SHARED ROOM (3 STARS): $2,200
This package includes tuition, 7 nights hotel (with A/C) and breakfast. You'll be sharing a room and bath with another workshop participant at Hotel HCC Open (3 stars) or similar. If you are coming alone and register for a shared room, we will assign you a roommate of the same sex.

PRIVATE ROOM (3 STARS): $2,700
This package includes tuition, 7 nights hotel (with A/C) and breakfast in a private room with private bath at Hotel HCC Open (3 stars) or similar.

We have special hotel prices for participants bringing a spouse, friend or family members. Check with us for details and pricing.

To reserve your place: we require a non-refundable $50 deposit.
To secure your place after February 15: you need to pay a deposit of $450.
After April 1: full payment is required.

TUITION ONLY: You can register for the Creativity Workshop and make your own housing arrangements. Check with us for details and pricing.

By registering you agree with our Terms and Conditions.

The Creativity Workshop will take place at Hotel HCC Open (3 stars).

NOTES

1- We cannot guarantee the quality, cooling level, or functioning of the hotels' air conditioning. Air conditioning in Europe is seldom up to American standards of cool.
2- European hotel rooms tend to be smaller than American ones.

DISCOUNTS

$500 off for participants taking the workshop for the third time or more.
$300 off for participants taking the workshop for the second time.
$150 off each participant for groups of 4 people or more registering together. (Prague, Dubai, Crete, Barcelona, Provence and Florence workshops only).
$100 off Bring a friend to one of our Prague, Dubai, Crete, Barcelona, Provence or Florence workshops and get $100 off.
$100 off each participant for groups of 3 people registering together. (Prague, Dubai, Crete, Barcelona, Provence and Florence workshops only).
$50 off each participant for groups of 2 people registering together. (Prague, Dubai, Crete, Barcelona, Provence and Florence workshops only).

Share a double room with another workshop participant and save on the package price.
Special offers and discounts cannot be combined.

Spouses/companions who would like to travel with their partners but do not want to attend the workshop may share a room for an additional fee.
Vacancies are limited and hotel rooms will be assigned on a first come, first served basis. We encourage early registration in order to obtain the level of accommodations you seek.

By registering you agree with our Terms and Conditions.

Upcoming Workshops
2012

New York March 16 - 19
Prague March 24 - 30
Dubai April 4 - 10
New York June 8 - 11
Crete June 26 - July 3
Barcelona July 5 - 12
Provence July 15 - 22
Florence July 24 - 31
New York August 17 - 20

On-Site Training
Personal Mentoring
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"Absolutely amazing things happen when you take flight at the Creativity Workshop. You will return to earth, magically transformed. Each morning in Barcelona, we awoke to blue, sunny skies and a warm Mediterranean breeze. We spread out with our journals and colored pencils near by, and then, lulled by the cadence of our instructor's musical voice, we switched off the editor in our heads and set out to capture lost dreams."

Lalita Noronha, Author, Fiction Editor of The Baltimore Review, Baltimore, MD

Jumpstart your Creativity
in just 15 minutes a day

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Call us: 212.203.3252
Email or go to our FAQ

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Creativity Workshop in Barcelona

Program Overview

What will you learn?

Daily Schedule

Tuition and accommodations packages

Jumpstart your Creativityin just 15 minutes a day

About Us

Special Information

Take a Workshop

On-Site Training

Testimonials

Pricing

Register

Contact us

Jumpstart your Creativity
in just 15 minutes a day