An extraordinary invitation
to be part of restoring our shared humanity
What?
Five high-level ‘retreat-summits’, bringing together world class leaders in business, government, civil society and the arts to develop a new way of thinking about global governance and leadership….
…to rebuild our world
A leadership journey like no other
Our world is in a dangerous place, and we urgently need courageous, creative and compassionate leaders who, once they have committed to the interior journey required of them, are able to unleash a powerful force that can bring about transformative change within themselves, the communities they lead, and, most importantly, the wider world.
We bring together leaders who are committed to developing the interior journey of what it means to be a leader, for extraordinary, life-changing and transformative experiences that enable us to come together with others to work on concrete solutions, to be a beacon of light for a more human-centered world.
All of our ‘summit retreats’ are designed to put you in the driving seat of your own leadership journey. They give you the space and time for reflection, the opportunity to build new leadership skills, forge connections that enable you to achieve outsized impact in your work and, critically, to take action on the most pressing challenges our world is facing right now.
THEORY OF CHANGE yu do?
When the show ends, what begins?
These summits ask the big questions of us all.
They re-imagine our world.
Transformational experiences, they are an exploration into our deeper humanity and invite us all on a shared journey towards taking action on some of the biggest problems we are facing in our world right now.
We use the arts, creativity and extraordinary experiences, to unlock a deeper level of engagement, and then explore how the artistic and creative side within each one of us can be applied to solving the greatest challenges of our time.
When?
Summer and Fall 2025
Where?
Clos de Gaye, South West France
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.
Beauty. Authenticity. Soul.
The Magic of Clos de Gaye
Immersive experiences against the stunning backdrop of the Pyrénées
Connecting with your creative self through arts and culture
Leadership development with world-class facilitators from across the world
Afternoon tea on the terrace
Dining under the stars
Late-night discussions with world-class thinkers
Hiking the Pic du Midi d’Ossau
Boat trips along the Basque coast
Exploring the stunning south west of France, on the border with Spain
Building enduring friendships of depth and bustance
Stargazer tents or beautiful bedrooms overlooking the Pyréneees
Nature as you have never seen her before
Preparing food grown on Fischer’s Farm together
The intimacy and authenticity of being part of a real home and family
Each summit takes place against the backdrop of some of the most beautiful corners of south west France and include trips to many of these destinations
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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
Intimacy. Authenticity. Awe. Wonder
The Summits
Leading the Future
Five-day family retreat on the topic of peace and global security through the eyes of children and young people. Co-lead by blind opera singer Laurie Rubin and composer Jenny Taira, you will have an opportunity to work together with young children from across the world to explore ways in which we can better build peace together.
This retreat will include excerpts from Peace on your Wings, a groundbreaking production on the story of the atomic bomb, as a cautionary tale of the dangers of global conflict.
Building a New Narrative for our World
At the intersection of identity, belonging, and story, we bring you musician and composer Guy Mendilow, spoken word poet Regie Gibson, and sand artist Kseniya Simonova, for an extraordinary retreat that will engage, entertain, affect, educate and elevate.
At a time when our world needs healing from divisions within our world, our community but, most deeply, within ourselves, we create a safe space to process the trauma of our time, not wanting to eliminate conflict but seeking to be regenerative in the questions we ask ourselves.
“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Trusting Your Story - Feminine Leadership in a Brave New World
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Preeti Vasudevan
CLASSICALLY-TRAINED DANCER
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Clarice Assad
SINGER AND COMPOSER
An exclusive retreat, for both men and women, focused on the role that feminine power plays in rewriting the narrative of our collective future.
Reimagining Bloomsbury
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Rebecca Taber is a British Artist 1976 born in London UK, living and working in Pau France. Working in painting, drawing and film. Her work is largely concerned with the process of transformation & evolving states of being. From dark to light. The essential elements of life are very important to her practice and also the materiality using either paint, ink or film to portray the essence of being human. Enveloping the viewer and inviting them to dance in the light.
Rebecca is also herself a descendent of Roger Fry, one of the pre-eminent members of the Bloomsbury Group.
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Founder and Director of The Centre for the Arts and Global Leadership and the Global Arts Impact Agenda,
The Bloomsbury group were an influential group of artists, writers, economists and thought leaders - Virginia Wolf, Roger Fry, JM Keynes - who wished to raise the profile of the arts in our world. Inspired by their vision, we seek to build on their legacy to shape a new way of thinking of the role the arts can play in global leadership, peace-building and reframing the relationship between the individual and society.
Join us for a uniquely curated retreat, co-hosted by Caroline Watson and artist Rebecca Taber, with the next generation of global thought leaders and cultural shapers from Nigeria, China, India, Palestine and the Middle East, Iran and Europe as we transform Clos de Gaye into the new Charleston.
New Models of Global Governance
(by invitation only)
The events of the past year, in particular the failure of the international community to avert the genocide in Gaza, have laid bare the complete inadequacies of our global governance systems and the moral corruption of our leadership. The subsequent election of Donald Trump and the transformation of the world’s superpower, the USA, into a tech oligarchy, is further underlining the urgency with which we need to rapidly identify alternative models of governance and leadership to address the challenges of the future.
Bringing together high-level ‘leaders of conscience’, capable of superseding political and economic interest with moral courage, this extraordinary retreat will open the door to radically new ways of thinking about global governance, systems change, leadership, and human flourishing.
The invited individuals will be deep and substantive thinkers who are passionately and humbly committed to being of service in our world. They will be drawn from various walks of life, from both the Global South and the West, and represent all levels of society. They will all have a stated and visible commitment towards making the world a better place and be able to exhibit the humility, courage, and willingness to think differently about what is required.
Critically, this is not about bringing together those with ‘influence’ in the way we have come to think about it to date, but those with moral fibre and upstanding character, and a willingness to learn, grow, and do things differently.
We need a radical reassessment of all the assumptions we hold dear about how best to run our world.
And we need bold and compassionate thinking that leaves no possibility unturned in our quest to rescue our world from destruction.
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. Actress, thought-leader and an award-winning entrepreneur using the arts to effect large-scale social change, Caroline is also a masterful hostess and creator of extraordinary experiences.
Our leading edge…..
Our founder, Caroline Watson, is an award-winning global leader and has intimate experience of leadership development programmes, retreats and high-level forums on the state of the world. She has spoken at Davos, attended leadership development programmes at Harvard, Oxford, Yale, amongst many others, and has always been deeply disappointed by the experience. Forums such as these are predominantly self-congratulatory, Western-centric in both their constituent base, as well as their formats, and, if they use the arts at all, it is in the form of ‘edutainment’, just to stimulate the senses. Panel discussions, powerpoint, speaking ‘at’ and not ‘with’ an audience is the usual format, and rarely do the gatherings bring about lasting change on the most challenging problems of our time.
We believe that for a retreat to be effective, it has to be both high-level in vision but deeply rooted in a more authentic and human-centered understanding of the world’s challenges. It needs to bring together those with the capacity for deep thought and with real lived experience of multiple global contexts. It needs to use methodologies that can ‘dig deep’ into the hidden aspects of our behaviour and personal development and inspire ‘higher order’ leadership that makes a serious commitment to positive change at a global level. And, most importantly, it has to be accountable to all those not physically present in the room.
We take ‘impact’ seriously
Each retreat is part of a year-long learning journey that comes with an individual, one-to-one leadership development programme, group coaching and networking with others from your cohort, micro-learning content and additional online learning options for your continued personal and professional development to ensure the transformation you go through is deeply embedded in your everyday life.
Additionally, 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, to ensure that your time spent with us has real world impact.
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.
Expected Impacts in the world
Deep and profound transformations in your personal and professional development
New skills developed, your potential empowered, and the confidence and leadership needed for the world emerged
New and diverse thinking about how we can meet the challenges of our time
Frameworks that restore humanity to our world that you can be part of shaping
High-level policy changes at government level
Building of social movements that bring large-scale change to our world
New models of global governance
Scaleable solutions to the world’s biggest problems
A peer-led community of leaders committed to ‘higher order’ leadership in business, government and civil society
New ‘content’ in the form of books, talks, podcasts, films, performance, courses, programmes, enterprises and initiatives, that catalyse deep-level change in our world
ACTION propelled by ‘higher order’ thinking from those committed to servant leadership within themselves
Each ‘retreat-summit’ includes an ‘artist-storyteller’, someone who comes alongside us to document the experiences, stories, transformative moments that will help us shape a better world, ensuring each retreat has an outsized impact
The Global Arts Impact Agenda
The Global Arts Impact Agenda seeks to leverage the power of the arts to solve the biggest challenges of our time. It is an initiative that grew out of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council of the Role of the Arts in Society, spearheaded by Caroline Watson, with the support of cultural leaders Peter Sellars, Elif Shafak, Ozwald Boateng, Carol Becker, Nigel Osborne, Malika Sarabhai and ‘Princess of Africa’ Yvonne Chaka Chaka.
The summits at Clos de Gaye are at the forefront of the policies, practices and procedures that inform the Global Arts Impact Agenda’s work on the global stage.
Our world needs a revolution
We believe artists - those on a professional journey, but also the artist within each one of us - can and should be at the forefront of the revolution, for their superior understanding of humanity, and their capacity to imagine new possibilities for our world
So how do I get involved?
Want to be part of a movement for real change in our world?
If you are:
· Thinking deeply about what constitutes true change in our world.
· Looking for ‘communities of purpose’ where you can come together with others and build meaningful projects that compel transformative change in our world
· Willing to put your time and resources towards things of depth and substance and more profound impact
· Interested in the larger questions about humanity, recognising true change emanates from deep within each one of us.
· A true global leader with a ‘global’ world view, and a more nuanced understanding of the challenges our world is facing right now.
· Prepared to ‘dig deep’ in the interior journey they face as leaders and prepared to make that commitment to change in order to serve society.
Clos de Gaye
Extraordinary experiences where the world comes together for impact
