This isn't a tech bootcamp. It's a creative residency that happens to use AI
Slow mornings. Forest hikes. And the most exciting creative tools of a generation.
The creative landscape is shifting faster than any moment since the invention of the camera. AI-generated imagery, video, and code are no longer experiments—they're shaping the films, exhibitions, and media we see every day.
But here's the problem: most of what's out there for learning these tools is built for engineers, not artists. It's tutorial culture. Fast. Surface-level. Disconnected from the questions that actually matter to creative people—questions about authorship, aesthetics, meaning, and voice.
This retreat was designed to fix that.
Over two weeks on Vancouver Island, you'll work directly with Dr. Brad Necyk—a PhD-holding artist, filmmaker, and professor who has spent fourteen years teaching digital media at the university level and four years in postdoctoral research on creative AI. Brad doesn't just understand the technology. He understands what artists need from it.
You'll leave with real, tangible work: a completed AI-generated short film or digital media project you're proud of. But more importantly, you'll leave with a way of thinking—a framework for using these tools that's grounded in artistic intention, not hype.
This Isn't Like Anything Else Out There
Not a YouTube tutorial. This is mentorship. One-on-one guidance from an artist and educator who's been teaching this for over a decade. Your questions get answered in real time. Your work gets real feedback.
Not a tech conference. No fluorescent lighting. No lanyards. You're on Vancouver Island—swimming in rivers, hiking old-growth forests, and making art in a setting designed for deep focus and creative risk.
Not just for experts. Complete beginners sit alongside experienced artists. The curriculum meets you where you are. Whether you've never opened Photoshop or you're a working filmmaker exploring AI for the first time, you'll be supported.
Not surface-level. You won't just learn which buttons to press. You'll engage with the ideas behind the tools—authorship, appropriation, visual culture, the ethics of machine-generated art—the same conversations happening in the best university programs, without the institutional gatekeeping.
What You'll Walk Away With
After two weeks, you'll have:
→ A completed AI-generated short film, video artwork, or digital media project
→ Working fluency across image, video, and AI-assisted creative workflows
→ The ability to use creative coding—without writing code from scratch
→ A conceptual vocabulary for thinking critically about digital and intelligent media
→ Confidence to keep experimenting long after the retreat ends
→ A small, tight-knit creative community of fellow participants
Who Comes to This Retreat
Visual artists who want to understand how AI fits into their practice.
Filmmakers curious about AI-generated video. Writers exploring visual storytelling for the first time.
Educators who want to bring these tools into their classrooms.
Designers rethinking their creative process.
And complete beginners who simply feel the pull—something is happening in creative technology, and they want to understand it firsthand.
There's no portfolio requirement. No technical prerequisite. Just genuine curiosity and a willingness to try.
Instructor
Most AI workshops are taught by technologists. This one is taught by an artist.
Brad Necyk holds a BFA, MFA, and PhD. He's a co-creator of The Psychedelic Puppet Show—a viral AI short film series blending philosophy, humour, and digital surrealism. He's spent four years in postdoctoral research focused specifically on creative applications of artificial intelligence. And for fourteen years, he's been in the classroom, teaching real students how to think with and through digital media.
That combination—technical depth, artistic sensitivity, and genuine teaching experience—is extraordinarily rare. It's the reason participants consistently describe the mentorship as the most valuable part of the retreat.
AI Film “Flight 888” by Brad Necyk and Jason Silva. Created with the AI pipeline taught in this class
AI Film “Seeing like an artist” by Brad Necyk and Jason Silva using Midjourney, Sora, Suno, and Elevenlabs
Digital Media & AI: A Creative Upgrade Retreat
March 16–30, 2026 · Vancouver Island · All Levels Welcome
$1,950 CAD (~$1,400 USD) — Accommodation + Tuition included.
$600 CAD (~450 USD)— Asynchronous online with Zoom mentorship sessions
Limited spots. Small group for maximum mentorship.
Creative Coding example project by Brad Necyk
MindOS — creative coding project by Brad Necyk