We welcome corporations and nonprofits for board meetings, weekend planning retreats, team-building events, as well as those seeking a change of scenery to gain new ideas and fresh perspectives. We also work with schools to create quality literary programming for elementary, middle, and high school students. Previously, we’ve worked with Whole Kids Foundation, Book in a Box, McCombs Business School, Austin Monthly, Women Communicators of Austin, DPR Construction, GirlForward, St. Francis School, Literacy First, and more.
As demand for corporate creativity increases, we are now offering tailor-made workshops to suit a variety of business and nonprofit needs.
Corporate/Nonprofit Workshops
Creative Roots: Connecting to Self and Community
In this three-hour workshop, Writing Barn staff will lead the group in a variety of exercises designed to uncover the creative within. Once we connect with our personal creative core we will explore ways to connect to our team before we branch out into thinking about our clients and target audience. This workshop will incorporate developing your own “core question”, unearthing the poet within, a nature walk if weather permits (with a writing exercise), and generating community-based narratives where the customer and client and those who work behind the scenes all remain engaged and connected.
Exploring the F Word: Feelings
In this six-hour workshop, Writing Barn staff will lead the group in a variety of exercises to take the group from their thinking centers—the brain—to their feeling centers—the heart.
We will access childhood memories, giving us the power to play, create vulnerability, and to access emotion to take our businesses/nonprofit team builders to new levels of satisfaction and connection in their blogging, verbal sharing with partners, donors, and more.
Attendee Praise for Nonprofit Workshops
“We left feeling energized…It really helped EVERYONE see themselves in the role of storyteller, which was exactly our goal.”
“Both Claire and Bethany were great and obviously highly experienced in this area. The activities were very interesting and encouraged lots of communication…Totally amazing!”
School Visits
Our interactive school visits inspire young writers to embrace their creativity and hone their storytelling skills. These field trips can include:
- Author talk by Writing Barn Founder and Creative Director Bethany Hegedus.
- Presentation on The Grandfather Gandhi series, including Be The Change, a Green Earth Book Award nominee.
Nature walk and accompanying writing activities that focus on sensory description, using metaphor, sharing work with others, and/or personal narrative.- Discussions on being part of a writing community and enacting positive change through art.
- Book signing with books purchased from local bookstore BookPeople.
- Closing rock ceremony so students can experience the same celebration as professional writers who visit the Barn.