FTM Gathering 2026

We invite you to join us for a beautiful weekend of Musical Connection in the Blue Ridge Mountains!

This will be our 8th Free The Music Experience in just 3 years, and we’ve grown from 13 people at our first retreat in 2023 to 300 in Spring 2025!

We have an incredible lineup of talented Musical Facilitators coming to share their gifts, prayers, creativity flow, wisdom, and teachings with you all. The venue is an incredible 260 acre mountain paradise with nature trails, hot tubs, sauna, and freshwater swimming – and a 6000 sq ft. Lodge/Indoor Workshop & Sanctuary Space.

You will get to experience a wide variety of multi-genre musical acts, as well as interactive music workshops covering topics like songwriting, rhythm and drumming, instrumentalism, music theory, electronic music & DJing, live looping, music production, confidence building, world music, and more. There will be movement medicine (yoga, dance, and xi gong), song circles, campfire jams, visual/ live art, and an amazing kids/youth program.

You will have the opportunity to participate and experience music in a whole new way. One of our goals at Free The Music is to create collaborative music spaces where everyone is included and amplified in their unique gifts. There will be space for you to share your music/poetry/songs and express yourself authentically and also plenty of space to rest, receive and experience amazing music and more! Everyone will find joy and belonging here 🙂

In addition to all this, there is a healing arts sanctuary space with amazing bodyworkers and energy healers to support you as needed throughout the weekend.

This year, we are including 1 organic community meal per day (dinner time), and there will be food vendors and a community kitchen available for use as well.

There are ample toilets and even showers available, and camping with amenities is included in the costs for the weekend, including hot tub/sauna access and freshwater swimming! There are also (very limited) accommodation options available in the Lodge and Farmhouse for those that aren’t prepared to camp.

As we share all the details about this event, we can hardly believe it’s real… but it is, and we can’t wait for you to experience what we have in these past years. So much beauty, the connection, prayer, music, and so much more! The art and community that we create at every Free The Music Experience is truly incredible, something beyond words that must be experienced in order to really understand. We are honored to hold this space. This musical medicine speaks for itself and we can’t wait to share this experience with you!