Are You A Creative? Take A Monthlong Sabbatical In The US

Have you ever thought of experiencing a career break in the States? We often don’t give ourselves permission or time to recharge our batteries and find new inspiration but sometimes we need to step away from the usual work routine, gain a new perspective through travel, hone our craft, and rejuvenate our professional and personal selves.

The good news is we don’t need extended time off to get refocused: a couple of months would be enough to reignite a passion that’s been sitting dormant. Organisations like WWOOF (volunteering projects on organic farms), Habitat for Humanity (building homes) or RemoteYear (in case you would prefer working from a phone or computer) offer several options.

But in case you are a creative professional, feeling overwhelmed or burned out, and constantly daydream about running away from it all but can’t take more than one month off, there is a new organisation able to provide short-term sabbaticals in beautiful places across the USA. Amble is a crowd-funded start-up that organises monthlong retreats that pair creative professionals (visual designers, UX designers, photographers and videographers, content producers, illustrators) with budget-strapped national park conservancies. 

It’s not a holiday but an active pursuit of purpose- founder of Amble, Ilyssa Kyu, said- a new way to flex your creative muscles and apply your skills & expertise in a new way while gaining confidence, new experiences and projects you can add to your portfolio.

Amble partners with nonprofits, conservancies and small towns to provide unique opportunities to work on meaningful and exciting projects with project stakeholders. These initiatives might involve helping refresh a park’s website, aiding in wildlife protection, or lending a hand to local, underfunded programs and each guest is expected to offer time and effort at least -18 hours a week- to different projects. 

Short-term destination sabbaticals in beautiful places

This past spring session has seen four creative professionals from the USA and Canada working with the Sierra Foothill Conservancy and developing strategic recommendations for their brand, communications, content strategy, and member engagement. The Martin Wildlife Preserve—which lays just outside of Yosemite, Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Parks—is a 300+ acre ranch where our creatives called home for a while. The preserve includes mostly blue oak woodland and some riparian habitat. There are also ephemeral streams, springs, and four ponds on the property, which make it a haven for foothill wildlife species.

This fall, Amble offers a month exploring the “The Crown Jewel of the Continent”.Glacier National Park Conservancy is providing an opportunity to stay in nearby staff housing, otherwise unavailable to the public, and a chance to work on impactful creative projects that support this magical place. With over 700 miles of trail and nearly 400 historic structures, countless artefacts and archaeology sites, and the storied Ptarmigan Tunnel, Glacier stretches across one million acres of forest, prairie and alpine parkland

Wait, am I paying to do work?

Many of these accommodations provide unique and exclusive access to lodging and landscapes otherwise unavailable to the public. Program fees range from US$1600 (€1437) for a shared room to US$2000 (€1796) for a private room; private apartments are also available for US$2800 (€2515).