About Us

Welcome, traveler! What's your trip?
Why we keep asking that is to underscore that what we do is about you. And your trips. And by that we mean stuff you are into and like to do. We find local people across the globe who are masters of diverse artforms and arrange for you to meet them in their workspace or in an environment suited to the work they do. Spending time with someone whose craft is the 'medium of exchange' is the hallmark of our trips. We seek experts who are renowned and revered in their fields and talented teachers and commentators who bring their crafts and cultural traditions to life. These playful workshops provide the theme for the rest of the itinerary. We design and curate small-group gatherings where hands-on learning and social interaction are integrated. A social in when you travel is sometimes hard to come by. We think our 'travel-sized' groups, and globally minded curators can help you engage more fully with a place through its artists, artisans, and craftspeople. Our trips abroad are led by well-traveled, multi-lingual tour staff who provide for your ad hoc travel needs, translation, and interpretation. Immersion learning meets social networking? Yes, but we're borrowing that term back from the digerati; we mean face-to-face social networking.

Where we've been
Serentripity was founded by Katherine Relf-Cañas, a California native and Silvana Somma, a visual artist and art teacher in Florence, Italy. We opened our doors in the San Francisco Bay Area to take independent travelers on trips outside the U.S. beginning with a Ceramic Arts of the Amalfi Coast tour. As the world economy has altered, so have our travel plans and budgets.

Where we're going
We will re-revisit our earlier themes, bringing in different workshop leaders. And, we will launch a few new cultural explorations this year spotlighting story-crafting. Check out our schedule throughout the year for more of our California-based, 'culture-mashing' daytrips, soirees, and weekend retreats. These getaways give those of us with less in our wallets and more on our minds opportunities to gather with others, learn something, and like kids at camp, come home with something we have made. We are joined by an expanding rollodex of guest curators, workshop leaders and a board of advisors with expertise in the worlds of travel, the arts, and education. We partner with local tour operators, chambers of commerce, Zen Centers, gurus secular and sacred, and travel agency affiliates here and abroad.

What's our trip?

Melding ideas, and sourcing talent. Making travels and journeys a central focus of our lives. Mashing past and present traditions has been the curatorial driving inspiration for Serentripity since day one. At the heart of these gatherings is a desire to see what emerges from such trad-mod pairings. Cultural overlap is a sign of our times. As we explore contemporary culture, we try to shine a light on the nostalgic roots of various traditions and support the people preserving, extending and remixing them.

Small is the new big. When we created Serentripity, the thought was to make a business that brings 'travel-sized' to life. We look forward to bringing small groups together: a cast of sorts for a momentary drama. Communal experiences are not necessarily lacking in our lives, but we try to bring playfulness and dare we say, mindfulness, to what we do.

While on sabbatical in Paris with my husband and daughter a few years back I was impressed by the workshops the city offered to children. Their didactic thoroughness and whimsical presentation of a subject were so enthralling that I looked forward to the workshops perhaps more than did my daughter. A little whimsy in an atelier works for grownups, too. I would like to invite you to experience a little of that spark of pursuing knowledge in a fun setting that I felt as I tagged along with my daughter in Paris. By losing yourself in an activity, you can experience something that children remember to do every day: relax and have fun. By investing time in your own well-being, you will inevitably pass a little happy buzz to the people around you.