Experiences

  • Stand Among the Ancient Giants

  • Ink the Deal

  • Steeped in Connection

  • The Taste of Tomorrow

  • Learning from the Land

  • The Art of Seeing Clearly

  • Forage with Intention

Stand Among the Ancient Giants

Few things reset perspective like standing beneath an ancient tree that’s seen centuries pass. On this guided expedition through Vancouver’s last remaining old-growth forests, Colin Spratt leads your team on a shared quest to find towering firs, ancient cedars, and the largest maple in Canada. Moving through forest trails together, guests learn how to read the landscape, track these living giants, and understand their ecological and cultural significance.

The experience builds quiet awe and collective focus — strengthening trust, connection, and a shared sense of humility shaped by nature’s scale.

Your Host

Colin Spratt

Colin is the founder of Ancient Trees of Vancouver and an avid big tree seeker dedicated to documenting the last remaining old-growth giants of the Pacific Northwest. A member of the BC Big Tree Committee, Colin spends most of his free time researching, measuring, and locating significant trees. Colin’s passion began in Stanley Park, where he has spent countless hours studying the forest’s ecology and history. Through tours, social media, and field research, he invites others to see Vancouver’s urban forest as living history.

  • Founder of Ancient Trees of Vancouver

  • Member of the BC Big Tree Committee

  • Discovered the “North Shore Giant,” featured by CBC News

  • Profiled in media for his work as a big tree seeker and documentarian

  • Guides deep-dive tree tours focused on ecology, history, and local stories

Ink the Deal

Printmaking is a dance between intention and chance — where slowing down can lead to the most surprising results. In this hands-on studio workshop, printmaker Scotty Alvberg introduces your team to the collaborative craft of printmaking. Guests experiment with simple tools, expressive techniques, and tactile processes that invite curiosity rather than perfection.

The session encourages creative problem-solving, patience, and discovery — leaving teams grounded, inspired, and connected through the act of making together.

Your Host

Scotty Alvberg

Scotty is an interdisciplinary artist working across painting, printmaking, and drawing. His studio practice investigates themes of identification, materiality, and design, often examining how objects and information move through networks of meaning. His work has been exhibited locally at Dynamo Arts Association and the Interurban Gallery, and he is a member of the Duplex Artist Society. Scotty is a settler currently living and working on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, also known as Vancouver, BC.

  • Graduate of Emily Carr University of Art + Design (Visual Arts)

  • Exhibited at Dynamo Arts Association and the Interurban Gallery

  • Participating artist with Leaning Out of Windows (LOoW)

  • Member of the Duplex Artist Society

  • Explores painting, printmaking, and drawing through systems-informed conceptual practice

Steeped in Connection

Tea asks us to slow down, listen, observe, and share space with intention. Led by tea master and sommelier Claudia Tse, this calming sensory ritual guides your team through the origins, stories, and meaning behind each leaf. Guests move through a deliberate tasting practice, learning how aroma, temperature, and timing shape flavour and presence.

The experience offers a rare pause — creating quiet connection, grounded conversation, and a shared moment of stillness in the midst of busy lives.

Your Host

Claudia Tse

Claudia is a curator of specialty tea and the founder of Teakan, a Toronto-based tea atelier focused on tea appreciation, education, and meaningful experiences. Trained as a certified THAC Tea Sommelier and Chinese Tea Master with the Tea & Coffee Institute (TCI), Claudia blends traditional tea practices with contemporary creativity — from brewing classic Gongfucha sessions to crafting original tea mixology and pairings.

  • Founder of Teakan, a specialty tea studio and experience platform in Toronto (teakan.co)

  • Certified THAC Tea Sommelier and Chinese Tea Master with the Tea & Coffee Institute (TCI)

  • Leads tea appreciation sessions and educational experiences with mindfulness and sensory exploration

  • Engages community through curated tea events and workshops

The Taste of Tomorrow

Food trends come and go, but they’re often a window into understanding why we eat the way we do. In this engaging, hands-on workshop, culinary trendologist Christine Couvelier translates global food culture into insight you can taste. Whether exploring olive oils, charcuterie, or emerging trends, guests engage in guided tastings paired with storytelling, context, and practical takeaways.

The session sparks curiosity and conversation, leaving teams energized, informed, and excited to think differently about food, culture, and collaboration.

Your Host

Christine Couvelier

Christine is a culinary strategist, executive chef, and trendologist with over 40 years of experience shaping the future of food. As the founder of Culinary Concierge, she advises brands, retailers, and food producers on innovation, product development, sustainability, and future-focused culinary strategy. A global voice in sustainability, food waste reduction, and circular economy practices, Christine combines trend forecasting with consumer insight. She travels internationally to research emerging food movements and regularly speaks at food conferences, sharing stages with leaders such as Deepak Chopra. She has cooked for the Royal Family on multiple occasions.

  • Founder of Culinary Concierge, a global food innovation and strategy consultancy

  • Former Director of Culinary & Beverage and Executive Chef at Cara Operations

  • Chair of The Chef School at George Brown College

  • Director of Global Innovation for Unilever

  • Director of Culinary Strategy at Maple Leaf Foods

  • Recognized global voice in sustainability, food waste, and circular economy

Learning from the Land

Plants hold stories of medicine, survival, and responsibility — if we take the time to listen. Métis herbalist LoriAnn Bird guides participants through the living knowledge of local medicinal and edible plants, sharing teachings focused on Indigenous culture and ecological care. Guests learn to recognize plants, understand their uses, and reflect on their relationship to the land.

The experience is grounding and reflective, fostering awareness, respect, and a deeper sense of place shaped by stewardship and connection.

Your Host

LoriAnn Bird

LoriAnn is an Indigenous Métis herbalist, educator, and founder of Earth Awareness Realized Through Health & Company, a Vancouver-based initiative dedicated to reconnecting people with wild, medicinal, and edible plants growing in everyday spaces. Through plant walks, medicine-making workshops, garden consulting, and public speaking, LoriAnn shares First Peoples’ perspectives on plant knowledge, ecological stewardship, and land-based healing practices.

  • Founder of Earth Awareness Realized Through Health & Company (est. 2013)

  • Author of Revered Roots, a guide to Indigenous plant teachings, identification, harvesting, and medicinal use

  • Collaborated with the Provincial Health Services Authority of BC on the Farm2School Project, supporting the development of nine Indigenous foodscapes in Vancouver schools

  • Worked with Vancouver Parks Board, VanDusen Botanical Garden, Douglas College, Village Vancouver, and numerous community gardens

  • Former Artist in Residence at Hastings Community Centre (2020–2022), sharing plant wisdom through art-based programming

  • Consulted with the David Suzuki Foundation on native plant initiatives

The Art of Seeing Clearly

Thinking you left your art skills back at school? Think again. Good drawing is often about paying attention. In this gentle, welcoming workshop, sketch artist Nishant Jain introduces your team to quick drawing as a practice of observation. Using simple techniques, guests learn to slow down, notice detail, and translate what they see onto the page without pressure or judgment.

The result is a warm, reflective session that builds creative confidence while reconnecting participants to curiosity, place, and their own way of seeing.

Your Host

Nishant Jain

Nishant is an artist, author, and the creator of The Sneaky Artist, a public sketching practice where he creates “sneaky” drawings of everyday city life. Originally from Kolkata, India, Nishant trained as an engineer before ultimately choosing to pursue storytelling full-time. Now based in Vancouver, Nishant shares his work through commissions, workshops, his biweekly Substack newsletter The SneakyArt Post, and his book Make (Sneaky) Art — a guide to building a sketchbook habit and reclaiming focus in a distracted world.

  • Creator of The Sneaky Artist

  • Author of Make (Sneaky) Art

  • Endorsed by Gabriel Campanario (Founder of Urban Sketchers), Samantha Dion Baker, and Amy Stewart

  • Featured and reviewed by Midwest Book Review

  • Writes the biweekly Substack newsletter The SneakyArt Post

Forage with Intention

The landscape often becomes richer when you know what you’re looking at. On this guided seasonal foraging experience, renowned mycologist and author Willoughby Arévalo leads your team through forests, fields, or shorelines. Guests learn to identify wild mushrooms, plants, and sea life while exploring their ecological roles and cultural meaning.

The experience builds awareness, respect, and a renewed connection to nature — grounding teams in shared learning and thoughtful exploration.

Your Host

Willoughby Arévalo

Willoughby is a mycologist, artist, educator, and author who has spent over three decades in dedicated study of fungi. Originally from Arcata, California, he now lives and works as a guest on unceded Coast Salish Territory in Vancouver, Canada, where he balances mycology, art, farming, and family life. Willoughby has led mushroom walks across North America since 2011 and has been a featured speaker at mushroom festivals and gatherings in Canada, the United States, Greece, and Mexico.

  • TBCMycologist, educator, and author with over 30 years of lived experience studying fungi

  • Featured speaker at international mushroom festivals and mycology gatherings (Canada, USA, Greece, Mexico)

  • Serves on the Education Committee of the Vancouver Mycological Society

  • Collaborator with Art & Fungi, integrating mycology and creative practice

  • Works part-time on an organic vegetable farm while cultivating mushrooms in Vancouver

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