Little Nights Big Weekend takes the ideas at the heart of our event series —trying something new without the pressure of having to do it well, and doing it in community—and expands it into multi-day retreats in different scenic locations outside New York City.
Unlike other retreats or residencies, you don’t have to be a writer or an artist to come along. You don’t need a portfolio or a writing sample. You don’t even need to have any experience writing or drawing. All you need is to want to spend a few days focused on your creative practice, and an interest in doing that work in a small community of 6-8 others.
Sound like fun? Learn more below, and join us for a few days of writing, drawing, and exercising all those creative muscles we rarely have time to fully activate in our daily lives.
Upcoming Retreats
Applications for our Labor Day Weekend Retreat open on June 1st.
Join the mailing list for updates on new retreats and events around NYC.
What’s a typical retreat like?
Each day we’ll hold two 2-hour workshops, with one in the morning and one in the afternoon. There will be writing and drawing prompts, craft exercises, lessons on different mediums and approaches, and ways to practice your observation.
Past exercises include automatic and ekphrastic writing, blind-contour drawings, and making both paper and fabric cyanotypes . (To get a feel for our teaching style, check out the photos below from past retreats, or see what Josh and Hannah have done in the past.)
In between workshops, there’s intentionally unstructured time for you to write, draw, read, rest, or privately explore your practice however you wish. There will also be optional evening activities, and vegan/vegetarian-friendly communal meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
After a few days of making, sharing, and discussing your process together, our hope is you’ll have made connections that’ll continue to support you long after the retreat is over.
The Hosts
Josh Krigman is a writer, teacher, and facilitator in New York City.
He has taught creative writing at Hunter College, the United Nations International School, 826NYC, Center for Fictio, and for National Geographic Expeditions. Currently, he is a private writing coach and instructor for writers of all ages and levels of experience. Through Little Nights, he’s led over 100 writing, drawing, and storytelling events for thousands of participants across New York and New Jersey.
As a writer, Josh has been awarded residencies from Vermont Studio Center, and received his MFA in fiction from Hunter College. His plays have been developed and staged by The Abingdon Theatre and Psychopomp Productions, and his short fiction has appeared in Barrelhouse, The Summerset Review, Akashic Books, Necessary Fiction, and elsewhere.
Prior to Little Nights, he co-founded Club Motte, an international storytelling series that held events in London, New York, and San Francisco, and continues to run in Berlin.
Hannah Perrine Mode (she/they) is an artist, educator, and designer working at the confluence of art and environmental science. Through making, teaching, and organizing, she harnesses creative practices to deepen human connection to Earth systems and foster intersectional approaches to climate justice.
Hannah works extensively with environmental and outdoor organizations to develop curricula, create programming, and teach art. She currently serves in faculty/leadership roles with the Juneau Icefield Research Program and Inspiring Girls* Expeditions, and previously was a visiting artist with Chulengo Expeditions, the International Arctic Science Committee, Parks Canada, Alaska State Parks, Google, Vermont Studio Center, and Central Michigan University. Hannah has exhibited at museums and galleries around the country, in addition to creating large-scale public artworks.
She is the Design Director at Storyroot, an environmental and social impact studio. She holds an MFA in Visual Art from Mills College and a BS in Studio Art from Skidmore College. Hannah lives in Providence, RI and spends her summers in Alaska.