Schedule
We are sold out! Please contact Caryn to join our waiting list.
Sunday, May 11:
4-5 p.m. — Check in
6-6:45 p.m. — Welcome Dinner
7-9 p.m. — Opening Session
Monday, May 12:
8 a.m. – Breakfast
9-11:30 a.m. – Writing as Time Travel: Writing as a practice — artistic, emotional, and/or spiritual — is also a way to practice seeing the past with new eyes, envisioning our callings into the future, and gleaning insights on where and who we are right now. At this 20th anniversary of Brave Voice, we will use our first writing workshop to explore and celebrate where we’ve traveled in our time as well as the what goodness, gumption, and grace we can cultivate into the future.
11:30 a.m. — Gentle Movement: A Little Dancing with Kelley
12 – Lunch
1-1:45 p.m. – Care and Feeding Of the Artist — Stories, strategies, and notions to tend your creative soul, plus time for your questions and ideas.
2-6 p.m. – Coming Home to Yourself: Take a walk, explore the camp, collaborate with a new friend, create, or relax.
6 p.m. – Dinner
7:30-8:15 – An Intimate Concert with Kelley Hunt
8:30-9:15 – Open Mic
Tuesday, May 13:
8 a.m. – Breakfast
9-11 a.m. –Soulful Songwriting & Singing, Part 1: Each workshop will combine both songwriting and singing, giving us more opportunities to dive into both mediums the very first session and will include: reviewing the basic building blocks of writing a song, getting started on our own, safe & easy vocal warm-ups and group singing. Celebrating our 20th year of Brave Voice, we’ll sing both old favorites and new songs. Whether you’re already an accomplished songwriter & singer or just getting started, we’ll focus on easing our way to what our own soul has to say and sing. As songwriter Paul McCartney says “Nothing pleases me more than to go into a room and come out with a piece of music.”
11-11:30 — Finding the Melody of Your Soul with Kathryn Lorenzen: With or without an instrument, you can create a melody! We don’t have to be musical sophisticates to compose – we have only to open ourselves to listen to our own voices and play out loud. Let’s share some common ground with melodies we know, and how we can invent our own, with lyrics or without.
11:30 — Gentle yoga with Caryn
12 –Lunch
1 — Canoeing and kayaking (weather permitting, extra fee)
1-6 p.m. – Coming Home to Yourself: Take a walk, explore the camp, collaborate with a new friend, create, or relax.
6 p.m. – Dinner
7:30-8:15 p.m. — An Intimate Reading with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg
8:30-9 p.m. – Singing and telling stories around the fire
Wednesday, May 14:
8 a.m. – Breakfast
9-11:30 a.m. – Writing Light: Writing, as a ritual and practice, can help us kindle more light in dark times and also lighten (or at least better see) the burdens we carry. We’ll explore writing that inspires seeing and following the light while also lessening the weight of what holds us back from fuller presence and even joy.
11:30 — Aimless Movement with Erin
12 – Lunch
2-6 p.m. – Coming Home to Yourself: Take a walk, explore the camp, collaborate with a new friend, create, or relax.
6 p.m. – Dinner
7:30 p.m. – Collaborative Performance with Kelley Hunt & Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg
Thursday, May 15:
8 a.m. – Breakfast
9-11:30 a.m. – Soulful Songwriting & Singing, Part 2: During this session we’ll explore new ways to take both our songs and singing up a notch, including even more advanced singing techniques, singing new songs, and fun ways to hone in on starting, editing, and finishing our song(s). We’ll find the tools we need to inspire us to keep creating, singing, and writing throughout the year to come. There will also be opportunities to collaborate with each other and, as always, we’ll sing together! As legendary composer & lyricist Stephen Sondheim said, “If I cannot fly, let me sing.”
11:30 — Micro Walk with Susan
12 – Lunch
1-6 p.m. – Coming Home to Yourself: Take a walk, explore the camp, collaborate with a new friend, create, or relax.
6 p.m. – Group Dinner & Surprises
7:30 p.m. – A Celebration of Ourselves — Readings and Performances Solo and Choral with all participants ready to share their work.
Friday, May 16:
8 a.m. — Breakfast
9:30 – 10:30 a.m. — Closing Circle
Staff & Activities — Brave Voice May 11-16, 2025
Staff: Here are our staff (to be updated if there are any changes). Erin McGrane and Amy Nixon are on board to welcome participants and help them find balance and homecoming throughout the week.
Erin McGrane is an actress; musician; author; and professional development mentor. Notably, Erin appears in the Oscar-nominated film, UP IN THE AIR alongside George Clooney. She is known for her unforgettable cabaret stage performances and toured extensively for a decade with her early-jazz musical group, Victor & Penny. Committed to mentorship and community building for artists, she co-founded an annual immersive educational event focused on performance skills, creativity, and songwriting and serves as a director on the boards of two arts-based non-profits. Currently, Erin is authoring a spoken-word project set to original music exploring anxiety, isolation, and growing up in rural Iowa. Erin was honored in KC Magazine’s “The 100: People who make Life Better in KC” and is proud to say she misspent her youth singing in a rock band.
Amy Nixon is thrilled to attend her 11th Brave Voice at White Memorial Camp. She is a writer and all-around creative who loves stories, animals, iridescence, and her vintage Dynamo label maker. We are also very happy to have Amy back after her many years as our staff in the past. Her warmth and creativity lift us all up.
Afternoon Arts & Activities: Each afternoon features a stretch of open space and time for you to write, sing, create and more.
Consultations: Kelley or Caryn are available for 20-minute consultations (late afternoon) throughout the week to discuss a song, poem, story, marketing or career or performing idea or opportunity, or anything else related to writing, singing, songwriting, performing, publishing, making a living through the arts, etc.
In-Depth Consultation: Kelley and Caryn offer a limited number of in-depth consultations (50 minutes long) at Brave Voice for an additional fee. See registration for details.
What Participants Say
“As a professional psychotherapist, the last thing I want to do is go to another workshop. This is not that! This is a retreat to rediscover creativity. The schedule pace is relaxing and invigorating. It’s personal and communal, fun and quiet. More than anything, I come here to listen to my own voice without having to shout above my regular din.” — Teresa Hernandez, psychotherapist and cellist, Salina, KS
“Where else can you plod in, carrying the baggage of your daily life and expectations, and after five days, joyously float away light as a blue jay feather on a gentle spring wind?” — Nancy Hubble, seller of rare books and art, poet and artist, Lawrence, KS
“Where the earth meets the sky and you wonder why you never walked here before. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll soar, you’ll fly, and you’ll want more, more, more!” — Sherry Brooks, musician, writer, sage, counselor, Lake Hamilton, FL
“One of the things we find at Brave Voice is a mirror. Whether it reflects creative process process, music, movement, or soul or even pain, looking into it enables us to remember who we truly are and then to go home and be that person.” — Olive L. Sullivan, writer, writing coach, editor, poet, and now songwriter! Pittsburg, KS
“Attending Brave Voice provides poets, creative writers, lyricists, and musicians experience in how to develop their crafts.” — Allena Ross, Singer, composer, and teacher, Topeka, KS