Every summer, APTP teen and staff artists embark on a week-long retreat. Our retreats take teen artists to places in the United States to which few, if any, have previously traveled, such as Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, Maine's Atlantic coast and Acadia National Park, the red mesas of northern New Mexico, the mountains of upstate New York, and the Pacific coast of the Olympic Peninsula.
Our retreats provide an opportunity for youth and staff to spend concentrated time living together as a community, discovering new environments for the first time together, and taking on challenges outside our normal activities together (hiking, rafting, kayaking, horseback riding). During the annual retreat, the ensemble reflects on the year that it has completed and collectively imagines and plans for the year to come. Teens and staff agree that the annual artistic retreat is an essential ingredient in APTP's success at creating a community where people nurture one another and work together with respect, sensitivity, and trust.