Rethinking the Retreat: Winter as a Time to Refocus and Reconnect

“Refinery Arts helped us create an action plan for the next week, the next quarter, and the next year that realistically and aspirationally moves us toward our dream future.”

-Laurah Mericier, Founder & Artistic Director, MSS

Winter often brings the January Blues, but at Refinery Arts, we see these quieter months as the perfect opportunity to pause, reflect, and realign. After the rush of year-end fundraising and holiday events, it’s time to ask: What’s the best way to set your organization up for success in the new year?

This is the time to check in with your staff and board. Are your mission and values aligned with your programs? Does everyone feel supported in their roles? And how can you engage your board to leverage each member’s unique strengths for the good of the organization? These are the kinds of questions tailored staff and board intensives are designed to explore.

Every arts organization is like a finely-tuned machine, with individuals focused on their specific tasks. But without opportunities to step back and reflect, even the most dedicated teams can lose sight of the larger mission. Intensives offer a space to reconnect, refocus, and align, ensuring that every person understands their role in the bigger picture.

For many staff members though,  the thought of stepping away from their daily responsibilities for a retreat style event sparks frustration rather than excitement. In small arts organizations, there’s often skepticism around retreats, partly because so many of these models were designed to translate artistic thinking into corporate environments—an approach that doesn’t tend to resonate with arts professionals.

Recognizing that time away from daily responsibilities is precious, intensives should be  focused, intentional, and rooted in the practical realities of your organization’s work. Unlike old retreat models that can feel disconnected from day-to-day operations, sessions should be designed to support, not disrupt, your team’s efforts. In the end, a well-crafted intensive isn’t a disruption—it’s an opportunity. It gives teams the breathing room to pause, refocus, and return to their work with renewed energy and purpose. At its best, the experience makes everyone's job not just more manageable, but more exciting.

We recently worked with Miami Sound Space, a thriving organization celebrating five years of making music in community. As a small but ambitious group, their board and staff knew that supporting sustainable growth would require strategic planning and intentional collaboration. We designed a five-hour intensive to help their board identify how they could best support Artistic Director and Founder, Laurah Mericier, as she dreamed big about the organization’s future.

The goal of the day was to translate Laurah’s ambitious vision into actionable steps; breaking big ideas into manageable pieces that each board member could own based on their individual strengths. By the end of the session, the board felt energized, aligned, and empowered with clear next steps to help the staff succeed and expand their impact.

Whether you’re preparing for growth, navigating a leadership transition, or simply seeking a reset, a well-planned intensive offers a chance to recharge, realign, and return with clarity and purpose—ready to tackle the year ahead with renewed focus.

Let's Collaborate!