Join us for our 2nd annual retreat on May 15-18, 2025!
Who We Are
We believe in the power of positive connections through community and the arts. Our intention is to create time and space to reconnect with ourselves, support each other, celebrate creativity, enjoy nature, and have fun. We are here to promote positive mental health by inspiring each other to constantly keep growing and developing a sense of purpose and meaning in our lives.
We host community building events throughout the year, including a monthly open arts night, beach bonfire gatherings, and an annual arts retreat. In each of our Acorn Collective events, we aim to create a safe and inclusive space for people to come together and express themselves, share, laugh and be vulnerable. Our hope is that new art endeavors, friendships and community bonds grow out of these experiences.
We welcome your contributions to this vision and hope that together as a collective we can start a movement to have an ongoing calendar of events. We are stronger together!
OUR FOUNDERS
Amy Laybourn and Sara Camille Benson are active songwriters + musicians who reside in the Seattle area. They both rediscovered a love for music and art during the pandemic. In fact, they both went to their first open mic at Conor Byrne in Ballard, Seattle the same night in March of 2022! Their friendship origin story proves the power of the arts to build community and is of the same spirit that the Acorn Collective hopes to spread. Amy and Sara decided that they would love to attend an arts and music retreat, so decided to take a gamble and make it happen. They hope you will share this passion for building an inclusive creativity community and be excited to help us bring this vision to life!
Why Acorn?
We chose the name Acorn Collective to pay homage to the first female ship captain in Washington State who owned the ferry route where Deception Pass Bridge now stands (Deception Pass was the location for our inaugural retreat). Her name was Berte Olson, and her ship was called the M.F. Acorn.
Berte was a Norwegian immigrant who stood about 5 feet in height, but was known to many as “Little, but Oh My!” due to her feisty entrepreneurial spirit. We want to embrace that same spirit in our gatherings!
She successfully lobbied the Governor, Roland Hartley, to veto a unanimous funding bill that the Washington State legislature passed in 1929 and stop construction so her ferry route could continue. The bridge was eventually built in 1935 primarily through federal funding that the Public Works Administration facilitated during the New Deal era of President Franklin Roosevelt, a program that supported and employed artists in the service of the public.
We are all acorns like Berte - small seeds of change with the potential to grow, unite others and build great things!
Make a donation!
Are you able to help support our mission and help sponsor attendees in need? $50 can help cover the cost of lodging. Any amount would be appreciated!
“Be bold. If you're going to make an error, make a doozy, and don't be afraid to hit the ball.”
- Billie Jean King