Black Mountain – The LEAF Retreat in Black Mountain, scheduled for May 8-11, honors international artists as usual, providing a variety of musical styles and cultural activities as a respite from post-Helene recovery.
LEAF founder and overseer Jennifer Pickering views the upcoming LEAF Retreat, a scaled-back version of the fall festival, as “both a healing and rebooting piece. There’s plenty of ceremony. There are many opportunities for stories and cheers, hugs and resilience. You can shed tears. There’s release, honoring, healing, and finding new happiness.”
Pickering estimates that half to 60 percent of her festival-goers are from western North Carolina, the epicenter of Tropical Storm Helene’s destruction in late September. LEAF Global Arts’ theme in 2025, its 30th year, is “Shine your light, share the love.”…