Inspire Community Engagement
Sense of Place Performances, Workshops, and Walks
for Mission-Based Organizations
Place-centered experiences that foster connection and belonging
Erica Wheeler offers creative, curated community programs that go beyond lectures or entertainment. These experiences are designed to help people slow down, reconnect, and feel a deeper sense of belonging—both to one another and to the places they share.
Rooted in decades of experience working with parks, museums, libraries, land trusts, and community organizations, these programs are mission-aligned, professionally delivered, and deeply meaningful. They are especially resonant during times when people are seeking connection, reflection, and renewal.
Whether through music, story, writing, or shared experience, these offerings help make the value of your work visible—and felt—within the communities you serve.
Sense of Place Programs Offered:
✓ Keynotes and Concerts
✓ Writing Workshops, Walks, and Saunters
✓ Youth Leadership and Academic Seminars
✓ Interpretation and Leadership Training
“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.”
— Bill Leahy, Executive Director, Big Sur Land Trust, CA
Program Options
Bring people together for shared experiences rooted in story, community, connection, and place.
Ideal For: Special Events, Event Series, Milestones and Celebrations
Sense of Place Concerts
Curated journeys through song, story, and conversation.
Researched and crafted for your location and occasion, these concerts are more than entertainment—they create moments of presence and connection that help people feel rooted in place and with one another.
Ideal for: Community engagement series, milestones, and celebrations—when you want to bring people together through shared story and reflection.
Writing Workshops
A guided sequence of writing prompts to tap into stories of place, memory, and meaning.
This participatory workshop guide participants through writing, creative reflection, and sensory awareness—helping them uncover their own stories of place and meaning.
Ideal for: When you want to offer people a chance to build a deeper sense of place and connection, revealing the kind of bonds that lead to caring and stewardship.
Sense of Place Saunters
Slow walks with songs, readings, and invitations for reflection and conversation.
These guided experiences help participants engage their senses, reflect on their feelings, and notice what’s often overlooked in a place— fostering deeper appreciation.
Ideal for: Community gatherings and special programs when you want to invite shared experiential connections to place.
"Erica's music takes the audience on a trip through space and time. 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."
— Baltimore Woods Nature Center, NY
Build community connections to your mission.
Erica offers customized programs that help communities rediscover their shared sense of identity and belonging—finding deeper individual and collective meaning in the local history, natural world, and heritage that surrounds them.
She brings decades of experience and has facilitated programs from youth leadership to community-wide celebrations. Her programs spark a sense of place and belonging that is deeply needed in the world today.
Partnerships and Collaborations
Erica’s approach aligns naturally with grant-funded and mission-driven initiatives focused on community connection, cultural preservation, and place-based engagement.
Her programs provide a welcoming, memorable gathering that activates engagement. These creative, engaging experiences can also be a great way to gather stories from the community about their sense of place connections.
Selected partnerships include:
National Endowment for the Arts – Community workshops, concerts, NEA Big Read programs
Smithsonian Affiliate Programs – Place-based storytelling workshops and keynotes
National Park Service sites – Public programs, celebrations, and community engagement
National and regional land trusts – Trust for Public Land, Big Sur Land Trust, Land Trust Alliance
Youth programs – Wyoming Youth Congress on Children and Nature, New Bedford Youth Leadership Academy, The Trustees
Whether your organization focuses on heritage preservation, conservation, education, or community well-being, these programs support key funding priorities:
✓ Place-based storytelling and cultural preservation
✓ Community-driven stewardship and engagement
✓ Intergenerational programs promoting belonging
✓ Youth leadership development tied to place and identity
“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.”
— Leigh Youngblood, Executive Director, Mount Grace Land Trust, MA
