Get to the heart of the matter.
Community Programs that Inspire and Engage.
Erica works with mission-based organizations that engage with the public, such as conservation and preservation organizations, land trusts, parks, and historic sites, as well as community-building groups and place-making organizations.
When partnering with organizations and sites that have a mission that includes connecting people and place, Erica helps event attendees take their mission to heart. When people come together to recharge and restore their passion for their work, it increases their capacity to make a difference in the world.
Engage your Community. Recharge your Team.
✓ Evoke sense of place stories in all ages.
✓ Inspire caring that leads to appreciation.
✓ Build community around the theme of sense of place.
Through customized keynotes, workshops, seminars and tours, as well as working with youth and schools. she takes to mind the heart of your work and mission and the power of your place, to help forge a deep bond between people and place.
Equally effective for working with urban, historic, or natural settings.
Ways we can work together:
Customized
Keynote Performances
A journey across the American landscape through story, song and reflection. Each performance is customized to enrich your sense of place. Perfect for special events from festivals to annual meetings.
Inspire Personal Connections to Place
In the field or inside- practices to deepen connections to right where you are — to inspire caring that leads to stewardship.
Sense of Place and
Story Workshops
Discover personal sense of place stories. Gain a creative practice, and generate fresh ideas. Leave inspired and with a deep sense of place. Sharing stories bonds communities from a different perspective.
Why Choose Erica’s Sense of Place Approach?
Erica’s creative approach to connecting people and places has led to inspiring a passion for place, and changing minds and hearts across the country. Her programs are transformative events.
Erica’s philosophy that finding personal stories of connection leads to caring, and ultimately stewardship actions— is at the heart of her work. Her mission of evoking personal connections to places to inspire caring and stewardship is woven throughout her programs.
She leaves people uplifted and empowered to make choices that make a difference in their lives and the world around them.
Outcomes can include:
Gaining and retaining new members.
Increasing supporter numbers and donor dollars.
Engaging caring by inspiring participants to create and share their own stories of connection
Discovering a story that can become a poem or song which evokes a feeling of connection to a place and can inspire others.
Kind Words
““Particularly well suited for land trusts and other conservation organizations, as her art is intimately tied to the landscape and the sense of identity people derive from their surroundings.” ”
““We invited Erica out for a week to help celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Big Sur Land Trust with a variety of events. Her positive impact reverberated throughout our community and continues to this day. Erica’s ability to connect people and place beautifully aligned with our mission to strengthen communities and inspire stewardship” ”
““When Erica Wheeler comes to town, her passion to give voice to this land and to stretch our hearts wide open is beyond inspiring. I believe we all come away craving an even deeper relationship with, and a renewed passion for our wilderness home. Erica is blessed with a life purpose that encourages us all to strengthen and “step up” our commitment to place. I know that after I’ve been with her, I am more keen, more grateful and more enlivened on my path as a proper steward of the land.” ”
““At the end of the 3- part writing prompt, I had enough material to write several powerful essays as well as a new idea for an inspirational card deck. If that wasn’t enough, Erica listened to what I wrote and in less than a minute had whipped up a terrific song. If anyone can rally the preservation troops to get “a sense of place” off the endangered species list, it’s Erica Wheeler.” ”
““If I had one word to describe Erica Wheeler’s Soulful Landscape workshop, it would be ‘magical.’ The workshop was a big ‘ah-ha’ moment. I am a conservation professional, and although I hadn’t put my finger on it until the workshop, I had been struggling with a sense of loss regarding my connection to nature that first inspired me to work in this field. The workshop rekindled that connection. I left with the tools and resolve to more intentionally tap into the power of place as well as the inspiration to help others do the same.” ”
““Erica’s music takes the audience on a trip through space and time. The concert took me from the foothills of the Adirondacks to the Rocky Mountains where the aspens turn their golden color each Fall. When she paints a landscape with song, she strikes a chord that resonates at a deep emotional level. This powerful food for the soul moves people to question the conventions we use to value property – and to value themselves as stewards.””
“”Listening to ‘Good Summer Rain’ is like flipping through the photo album of an Ansel Adams road trip. Each artfully created song transports the listener to a particular location, like a snapshot in time.”
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