A World in Crisis:
Building New Narratives For The Future
8th to 12th October 2025
The most extraordinary experience of your life
Five days in the foothills of the Pyrénées, with some of the most forward thinking artists, thought leaders and entrepreneurs, participating in an immersive and experiential learning journey that will bring healing to our world
At a time of huge global crisis, Building New Narratives For The Future, is an extraordinary leadership learning experience that will challenge you to think differently about your leadership in the world and how we can solve the crises of our times.
Going beyond traditional leadership training methods, we draw on artistic processes, on pedagogies of listening, learning and simulations, to implement environments in which people feel welcomed, more understood, and emotionally connected.
We create spaces in which participants have the safety to express a multiplicity of perspectives, experiences and sides of themselves, creating relationships that are truly satisfying.
Benefits for you and your organisation
Enhanced Leadership Presence: Leaders who can connect authentically with their teams foster stronger relationships, improve communication, and drive greater engagement.
Increased Emotional Intelligence: By understanding and managing their emotions, leaders can make better decisions, navigate conflict effectively, and build a more positive work environment.
Improved Communication Skills: Through theatre-based techniques, leaders develop the ability to communicate with clarity, confidence, and impact, inspiring and motivating their teams.
Greater Innovation and Creativity: By tapping into their authentic selves, leaders unlock their creative potential and foster a culture of innovation within their organizations.
Building New Narratives For The Future is not just a workshop; it's an investment in your personal and professional growth as a leader. It's an opportunity to cultivate the skills and qualities that drive success in today's complex world.
Building New Narratives For The Future is an exclusive retreat led by three award-winning artist-leaders, musician Guy Mendilow, spoken word poet Regie Gibson and Ukrainian sand artist Kseniya Siminova
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Guy Mendilow
Guy Mendilow was raised in an academic immigrant family devoted to increasing belonging and dignity, especially for those society tacitly deems it permissible to dismiss. For example, Mendilow’s maternal grandparents smuggled Jews out of WWII Hungary and founded a humanist home for youth-at-risk premised on full societal integration, defying the norm of isolating institutional dependence.
Mendilow has a long record with the use of moving artistic experiences and processes to cultivate belonging. It stretches from childhood participation in one of Johannesburg’s only integrated churches at the height of Apartheid to masters-level research and workshop development for Arab, Israeli, Pakistani and Indian educators using improvisation to set the stage for mediation.
Since 1996, Mendilow has designed and facilitated residencies in communities ranging from the
Navajo Reservation and rural Midwest to business schools (e.g. Babson College). Mendilow’s productions have received multiple funding awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Boston Foundation and the New England Foundation for the Arts on the basis of artistry, cultural preservation and the strengthening of communities through the arts.
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Regie Gibson
Regie Gibson has lectured and performed widely in the US, Cuba, and Europe. In Italy, representing the US, Regie received both the Absolute Poetry Award (Monfalcone) and the Europa en Versi Award (LaGuardia di Como). He has been honored with fellowships with Mass Cultural Council and YMCA and served as poet-in-residence at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and Lexington MA’s Cary Memorial Library. A widely anthologized poet, author and playwright, Gibson has also performed with, and composed texts for, the Boston City Singers, the Mystic Chorale, and Handel+Haydn Society.
Gibson’s thought-partnership has informed the NEA’s “How Art Works” initiative and the “Mere Distinction of Colour” — a permanent exhibit examining the legacy of slavery and the U.S. Constitution at James Madison’s Montpelier home in Virginia. Regie is currently the creative lead on a team of scientists and members of the Red Cross-Red Crescent Climate Center (Hague, Netherlands), helping to craft language regarding issues of climate change. He teaches at Clark University in Worcester. Gibson now lives in Lexington, MA, USA.
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Kseniya Simonova
Winner of Ukraine’s Got Talent (with 40 million+ views for her semifinal video), and Golden Buzzer winner on both America’s Got Talent: The Champions and Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions, Kseniya Simonova has astonished audiences in over 40 countries with her remarkable sand storytelling.
Simonova developed her sand animation technique by sifting volcanic sand through her hands over a lightboard. During her performances she creates, obliterates and morphs her images to create a flowing narrative.
Simonova has been featured on Eurovision, has recorded with artists from Esperanza Spalding to the YouTube Orchestra and is invited to share her stories before presidents, heads of states and royalty. Simonova lives in Yevpatoria, Ukraine.
Each of the artistic media plays a vital role: words + visuals + music.
Guy, Regie and Kseniya are a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and diverse team. Their perspectives are unique and their vision is expansive.
Your Retreat
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Setting the Scene
Arrival in Pau and transfer to hotels
Brief performance introducing Gibson, Mendilow, Simonova, leading into Listening Lab
Introduction to The Centre for the Arts and Global Leadership, Clos de Gaye, and the Festival for the Arts and Social Change
Dinner in the gardens at Clos de Gaye
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Listening to our Stories
Ponder to Page - day-long workshop (see below)
Evening walk through the mountains and Ten-Toasts Dinner at l’Etable d’Ossau
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Building a New Narrative
Transfer to St Jean de Luz
Lunch discussion on building new narratives for change
Afternoon train trip into the Pyrenee mountains, overlooking the Basque coast
Workshop and dinner
Gibson, Mendilow, Simonova:
Focused solo creation time for final presentation, reflecting participants’ experiences through live, powerful spoken word, music, and sand/snow/oil paint animation
Revisions
Group rehearsal
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When the show ends, what begins?
Transfer to Chateau de Pau for visit; lunch at Palais Beaumont;
Plan of action
Final closing ceremony including presentation of an original piece, reflecting
participants’ experiences through live, powerful spoken word, music, and
sand/snow/oil paint animation
FAQs
Listening Lab
Listening Labs are forums in which moving stories told through powerful spoken word, music, and theatrically projected sand animation facilitate generous listening with fellow participants in conversations that are honest, intimate, and alive.
Ponder to Page
This powerful workshop process is a personal narrative awakening. All of us have stories inside of us — experiences begging to travel the path from our minds to written lines. But how to do this? In this workshop, literary performer Regie Gibson will take you through his fun, easy, creative, step-by-step process of making small, meaningful written texts out of small, meaningful moments.
Participants come with a few sheets of paper, a writing instrument, and a willingness to listen to those who volunteer to share.
To Those Who Shape Us: A Ten-Toasts Dinner
(*Note: the theme below is a sample. Actual theme and numbers will reflect the participants in each group)
Each of us contains a world of stories about those people who have shaped us. The risks they took, their choices and chances and even the mistakes they may have made make us who we are today. In this special dinner, we will regale each other with meaningful conversation and stories in the form of toasts reflecting a theme drawn from our time together: To Those Who Shape Us.
Guests dine in groups of 8-10 fellow travelers who you do not know each other (yet!). At some point in the dinner, each guest is invited to ding their glass and share a brief story or experience that ideally no one at the table has heard before, relating to our theme: A story about (e.g. a person that shaped the teller), and about a way the teller was changed. At the end of their story, the teller raises their glass and toasts to an element or value their story highlights (e.g. to those who taught us resilience!) and invites all others in their group to raise their glasses as well.
The only other rule is that the last person has to sing their toast!
Together, these three extraordinary artists blend their experiences of global leadership, the search for identity and belonging, and their multi-cultural identities to forge new ways of thinking about the challenges and opportunities of our time
All retreats and high-impact summits are lead by Caroline Watson, visionary founder of The Centre for the Arts and Global Leadership, and the Global Arts Impact Agenda. An award-winning entrepreneur, Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum (Davos) and a talented performer herself, using the arts to effect large-scale social change across the world, Caroline is the owner of Clos de Gaye and a masterful hostess and creator of extraordinary experiences.
Caroline Watson, Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, Harvard, Yale, INSEAD, Oxford
Coach and leadership development expert to global heads of state, corporate executives and world leaders.
Unfolding your leadership potential
Clos de Gaye
Extraordinary experiences where the world comes together for impact
Welcome to Clos de Gaye, a unique and special place in the far southwest of France, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, close to the border of Spain and the stunning Basque coast.
Clos de Gaye (pronounced ‘guy’) means ‘Place of Happiness’ and it is at once a private home, a residential retreat, a creative and artistic workspace, organic farm, community kitchen, restaurant and tea house, and a convening ground for global leaders, artists, creatives, entrepreneurs and all those charged with the care and governance of our planet. Think of it as the meeting point between the Bloomsbury set’s Charleston and Camp David. It is a place to stay, to play, to share and to transform our world.
The spirit of Clos de Gaye is one of contribution, generosity and accountability. Those that have a seat of the table have arrived there through hard work and a genuine desire to be of service to the world. Time spent here is for you to reflect on what has been achieved so far and to be a springboard into future leadership and the continued desire to be a force for good in the world.
Deep in the heart of the French countryside, embedded in the ‘old world’ rises a new way of thinking about the future. The best of European heritage, beauty and aesthetic, with interiors from all over the world, reflecting our founder’s upbringing in Asia, and bringing energy, dynamism and a sense of inclusion of the new world.
An opportunity to reclaim the very best of European culture and values, with a renewed way of thinking about its relationship with the rest of the world, restoring humanity to everyone.
Each summit-retreat takes place against the backdrop of some of the most beautiful corners of south west France and includes visits to the following places
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The Pic du Midi d’Ossau
Evening picnic on the Plateau de Benou
Stunning views from Clos de Gaye
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Soothing effect of the ocean
Dramatic waves
Award-winning cuisine
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Culture
Heritage
History
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Elegance
Sophistication
Refinement
Accommodation will be provided on the Clos de Gaye estate, at nearby Clos Mirabel or at Secret Pyrénées nearby. It is also possible to stay in our luxury ‘stargazer’ bell tents on the grounds of Fischer’s Farm (weather depending).
All meals are prepared using fresh, local, and often organic ingredients, sourced either from Fischer’s Farm itself or from local providers in the Béarn and Basque regions.
Clos de Gaye is situated in the Jurancon wine region and there will be thoughtful pairings of wine and other non-alcoholic drinks with each meal.
Our spaces are unique, artistic and soulful.
Each retreat is part of a year-long learning journey lead by Caroline herself that comes with an individual, one-to-one personal development leadership programme, as well as a group coaching Masterclass development programme, ‘The Art of Leadership’ , based on her own experience as an award-winning leader and entrepreneur.
Caroline is no ordinary coach. Departing from a very technical approach, that focuses on externally-driven directives, Caroline works at a deeper level with her coachees to support their spiritual growth and the emergence of much more refined thought about their leadership. Sought after by corporate executives, heads of state and leaders from across the world, a coaching experience with Caroline will uncover layers of beauty, authenticity and substance in both your personal and professional journey, to help you emerge as the transformational leader our world really needs.
Following the retreat, our team members will work with you to shape the inspiration you received during the retreat into tangible and concrete action to make a difference in the world. We will support you over a 3, 6, 9 and 12 month timeline to bring to fruition your vision from the retreat, leveraging our world-class networks, to ensure that your time spent with us has real world impact.
There will also be bi-monthly networking opportunities to continue to grow, learn and share with others from your cohort to ensure the transformation you go through is deeply embedded in your everyday life.
All participants are also invited to be life-long members of our ‘Higher Order’ Leadership community, offering ongoing networking opportunities and continued benefits into the future.
When the show ends, what begins?
These retreats ask the big questions. They are part of a series of high-level ‘retreat summits’ held on the Clos de Gaye estate each summer and autumn, lead by the founder of The Centre for the Arts and Global Leadership, Caroline Watson,
They re-imagine our world.
Transformational experiences, they are an exploration into our deeper humanity.
We use the arts to unlock a deeper level of discussion, and then explore how the arts can also be applied to solving the greatest challenges of our time.
For more information about the full ‘summit retreat’ programme and how your participation will be part of larger world-changing initiatives, click below
Make it
Our retreats bring together exceptional people from all over the world - corporate, government and civil society leaders, academics, artists and cultural leaders - all those with a desire to bring about positive impact in our world.
By bringing together such a diverse mix of people, your own networks will expand in truly global ways and opportunities for collaboration on large-scale issues across the world will unfold.
Outcomes
● Moving and memorable experiences connecting fellow leaders from very different cultures and backgrounds
● Get to know each other as fellow humans by listening to one another, and being heard.
● Explore one’s own backstories in surprising and refreshing ways. Increase understanding of each other's differences, shared values and experiences and what has brought us to our current perspectives, concerns, aspirations, fears, and joys.
● Draw upon artistic experience and creative processes that use the power of human curiosity to traverse expanded terrains, aligning thoughts, emotions and actions.
● Participate in an extraordinary experience, guided by a team of world-class artist facilitators, that is powerful enough that it becomes the start of ongoing relationships, connections and perspective shifting that bring about meaningful change in our world
Tangible Outputs for Past Clients
Fundraising and Investment
In working with corporate leaders and government clients, we have helped past participants secure investments for projects, get buy-in for major policy initiatives, and influence key decision-makers at the highest level
Innovation and New Project Ideas
We have helped multi-national clients develop ideas for new industries in emerging markets, advocate for policy changes and rethink both local and global strategies for large-scale initiatives
Improve Products and Services
We have developed more human-centered approaches to new product development and service provision, ensuring they are more deeply-rooted in what the user needs and effective in their delivery
Leadership and Communication
Empowered the personal leadership of countless global leaders across the world, enabling them to develop the courage and confidence to communicate effectively and lead both ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’
Change Management, Company Culture and Values
Working with senior management to identify challenges in execution related to company culture and strategy, helping to seed new transformation initiatives and get support from stakeholders at all levels
Getting Here
From your home to Clos de Gaye
Clos de Gaye is situated less than 20 minutes away from both Pau airport and train station in south west France. We are also 50 minutes away from Tarbes/Lourdes airport. Biarritz, Bordeaux and Toulouse are all between 1 - 2 hours drive or train ride.
In keeping with our vision to have a positive impact on the world, all retreats start and end at Gare Montparnasse in Paris, so you can use train travel to ‘set the scene’ on your extraordinary journey and reduce your carbon footprint. We also kindly ask all international visitors to offset the carbon from their plane travel to Paris through a reputable carbon-offsetting scheme.
We suggest that you aim for a plane or train to arrive in Paris on the morning of the retreat date, and to take the 2pm train from Montparnasse to arrive in time for dinner. Transfers from the train station to Clos de Gaye can be arranged ahead of time and the transfer time takes less than 20 minutes.
Dates
8th to 12th October 2025
Come together with some of the world’s foremost leaders to take part in transformative workshops, discussions, performances and experiences that will change the world.
We are also able to offer bespoke retreats for companies and organisations wishing to do this as an offsite.
Investment
10,000 euros per person for retreat alone
25,000 euros per person for the year-long programme, to include one-to-one coaching and leadership development course.
20% sales tax applies
The retreat can also be paid for through our US-based 501 (c) 3 as a charitable donation and offset against taxes.
Included:
Retreat
All workshops, talks, dinners, and performances at the retreat in October
Your Accommodation on the Clos de Gaye estate or a similar property nearby
All your meals, including eating out
Your day trips to the Pyrénées and the Basque coast
Possibility for additional days at Clos de Gaye for individual retreats at reduced price
Year-long personal development programme
All the above plus:
Year-long one-to-one, tailored, leadership development programme for each individual
Group coaching and networking with rest of your cohort for the 12 month period
Additional learning content for the 12 months surrounding the retreat experience through a micro-learning app (Gnowbe)
As a socially-entrepreneurial for-profit company, choosing to work with The Centre for the Arts and Global Leadership creates employment opportunities for artists and creatives, supports low-income and marginalised communities to also take part in extraordinary experiences at Clos de Gaye and elsewhere in the world, so your participation in this retreat also enables others to benefit from the life-transforming effects of our programmes.
Possible side trips to add to your itinerary
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Paris
City of Lights, one of the most romantic capitals in the world, and host of the summer Olympics 2024. An easy train ride from Paris with lots to see and do, we recommend a few days stop here en route to Clos de Gaye when flying internationally.
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Toulouse
Just two hours from Clos de Gaye, this gorgeous ‘pink city’ is unique in France for its distinct architecture and vibrant and youthful spirit. Our partnership with the Hotel des Arts provides a wonderful addition to your stay with us.
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Basque Coast
With it’s dramatic landscape and Michelin-award winning cuisine, the Basque coast and the towns of Bayonne and Biarritz, St Jean de Luz and the Spanish city of San Sebastian make for a stunning driving holiday to finish off your trip.
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Bordeaux
Stunning French city in the heart of the famed wine region, world class dining, and the possibility to visit vineyards, chateaux and the surrounding Dordogne and Landes region
Clos de Gaye
Extraordinary experiences where the world comes together for impact
Because our world needs a new kind of leadership
