VINX

Many of you have reach out to say you would love to come to France to attend a Creativity Retreat this year, but with the difficulties around the world and back home, it's not easy to fly to France right now.   Although this online opportunity is a wrap - more are coming - reach out to Jennifer to see when!

4-Day Online Creativity Workshop - May 19, 20, 21 and 26 - 2 one hour sessions per day. No lecture series; it’s a living, breathing lab for your ideas, alongside fellow artists and songwriters from around the world.  We've done over 50 Soul Kitchen creativity retreats now - and that is worth celebrating - and a reason to jump back into the mix, revisit your favorite exercises and catch up with your fellow creatives!

November 2025: Creativity / Songwriting Retreat in France
See what our participants had to say about their experience on a Group Creativity retreat with Vinx at his studio in France. 
Check out the video below….

April 2025; Our first Group Creativity Retreat in Sarlat-La-Caneda

What a great start to group creativity retreats in my new hometown and my new studio space. A small group of creatives joined me for five days in April 2025. See what happened in the video below…
 

Ghana Highlights 2024! 

At the beginning of February 2024 I had an exquisite trip to Ghana with a group of wonderful friends, culture vultures and music fans, where we were able to take time to truly experience the beautiful people, history and surroundings of this diverse and fascinating country.

From the moment we arrived in Accra, we experienced the famous Ghanaian “Akwaaba” hospitality from some truly wonderful people. Everyone we met was excited to hear about our plans for the tour and the International Serenade Festival on February 3 at +233 Jazz Club. It was pure joy to share in their excitement at our visit.

Among our wonderful group of adventurers were many who were returning to Africa for the first time and who were eager to hear about their ancestors.  

We explored Accra, seeing Jamestown, The Black Star Monument, Independence Square, The Arts Center, the President Nkrumah Memorial & Museum. We jumped rope with village children who have never seen the ocean or an airplane. We conquered swinging bridges 400 meters above the jungle at Kakum National Park and saw the largest bamboo plants I've ever seen!

We laughed with baboons, swam under a waterfall, took a boat trip at beautiful Lake Volta and Stood at the Door of No Return at Elmina Castle taking in hundreds of years of pain and anguish.

The skies were pink with dust from the Sahara - a lens that colored our daily views and mellowed the sunsets to pastel hues.
We faced traffic worse than LA with dirt roads and open sewers as boundaries NOT to be tested but couldn't stop the vendors balancing everything from cold water and fresh Ghanaian donuts to bathroom scales and car parts on their heads. 

It was, at times, a joy ride that rivalled any theme park roller coaster!

We met local artists and artisans of all styles - from traditional craftsmen, each doing their part to create the most beautiful instruments, to cutting edge fashion designers with textiles and colors and movement that mixes traditional with high fashion and would make any Paris fashion house weep. 
 

We learned about Ghanaian life as told through traditional beads - don't miss @suntradebeads on Instagram

We learned a traditional call and respond with our Ghanaian tour guide…
Agoo - listen up!
Ameeee - we hear you!

We ate spicy Ghanaian cuisine and the freshest of ripe mangoes, pineapples, and sweet coconuts that dwarf any store bought candy. We went from bush meat at the roadside to spicy local Ghanaian high cuisine and the tastiest Ethiopian food. We enjoyed outdoor dining courtesy of our tour guide and chef team who cooked up several feasts of Ghanaian dishes. Delicious. 

I hosted my first International Serenade Festival in Africa at +233 Jazz Club in Accra. We were serenaded by beautiful and inspiring songs from American artists Purple Haze, Shelley Nicole and Loretta E, as well as Ghanaian artist DeGate Zion, all accompanied by the superb Ghana Jazz Collective. Loretta took to the stage for her first ever live performance and De Gate had never performed with a live band before, yet they all managed to light up the stage with great performances.

2022; Limoux Creativity & Songwriting Retreat was AMAZING … 

Check out the video below for a few highlights of the two weeks!

Held in November, 2022, this session of our amazing SOUL KITCHEN CREATIVITY RETREATS took place in the heart of the stunning Languedoc wine country, steeped in the spiritual history of the Cathar region - where Medieval castle spires and the Pyrenees mountains seem to touch the heavens themselves – close to the fortified city of Carcassonne - one of the world's most beautiful places to delve into your craft and explore your creativity! 

The retreat included workshops, rehearsals, hands on recording studio experiences, individual and group creativity and writing sessions, multiple live performance opportunities in various retreat spaces, studios and in our main performance space, aka the Suga Lip Lounge! We stayed in a beautiful domaine with its own recording studio, comfortable rooms and our own personal chef. Professionals came to work on their craft and novices learned from the best international teachers. 

Below are a selection of videos showing a little what has come before I opened my studio in France. So much wasn't documented, but thanks to the beautiful artists who recorded moments of workshops in the past, whether Songwriters Soul Kitchen, Vocal Summit, Workshops or other Sessions, I am able to show you a glimpse. I am grateful to you all.