COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT EVENTS
Connecting People and Place
Connecting People to the Power of Place
As the world becomes more connected digitally but increasingly disconnected physically, creating in-person, place-based experiences that evoke a sense of belonging and inclusivity is vital. Erica’s programs help communities forge lasting connections that honor their roots while embracing a shared vision for the future.
In a time where meaningful connection can feel fleeting, community engagement experiences that inspire inclusion, belonging, and collective stewardship are more important than ever. Erica’s keynotes, concerts, workshops and walks foster not just awareness and appreciation but action—empowering participants to become engaged stewards of their own stories, their communities, and the places that define them.
Erica helps communities rediscover their shared sense of identity and belonging. Through her engaging programs, community members will find deeper meaning in their local history, the natural world, and the heritage that binds them together. Whether through storytelling and hands-on activities, celebratory concerts, and collective reflection,
Erica’s work revolves around the idea that meaningful engagement isn’t just about education or information—it’s about creating emotional, cultural, and spiritual bonds that tie people to each other and to the land they call home.
Build Stronger Communities
Erica’s programs are an excellent fit for mission-aligned or grant-funded projects that focus on building stronger, more connected communities. Whether your organization is seeking funding for education, heritage preservation, or community well-being initiatives, Erica’s programs align with key funding priorities, including:
Place-based storytelling and preservation initiatives.
Community-driven stewardship and engagement.
Intergenerational and inclusive programs promoting a sense of belonging.
Celebrate what makes your place unique and create lasting connection that resonate with those who live, work, play or visit your community with programs are designed to uplift, inspire, and foster genuine connections.
Working with Erica, your organization can provide experiences that strengthen the bonds between people, history, and landscapes, nurturing what a community really values and fostering a culture of care and collaboration. These programs not only bring awareness to local heritage but also encourage a collective approach based on appreciation to preserving and celebrating that heritage, ensuring its vitality for future generations.
Offer a Sense of Place Performance, Workshop or Walk
Erica specializes in helping communities deepen appreciation of all they have and celebrating the unique history, nature, culture, and places hold, and our personal stories of connections to these places from the past or present.
Sense of Place Performances
Celebrate place and belonging through a story, song, and conversation. Erica customizes her concerts and keynotes to include insights that celebrate the power of place and evoke a sense of shared heritage from the present as well as the past.
Erica can include a participatory “story-catching” activity as a fun, meaningful, and immediate way to connect people to places.
Sense of Place Story Workshop
Workshops on storytelling, creativity, and personal connection to place.
Erica offers a guided sequence of short reflective prompts to help participants capture stories from their past or present and create vivid, sensory-rich writings drawn from personal experiences.
These workshops are for all levels of experience and include reflection, writing, conversation, and sensory awareness practices.
Guided Walks and Saunters
Engage participants with the power of place with presence, reflection, and history. Erica curates a reflective, interactive walk that blends stories and histories with reflective prompts, sensory awareness, and conversation.
The result is an experience that deepens bonds of connection and inspires caring for community treasures.
Partnerships and Collaborations:
Erica has partnered with leading organizations to create impactful events including:
Smithsonian Affiliate Programs – Place-based storytelling workshops and keynotes.
National Endowment for the Arts Big Read Event- Community writing workshops plus a concert and community writers showcase.
National Park Service Sites – Community engagement and sense of place programs.
Regional Land Trusts – Events celebrating stewardship and place connection.
Learning Centers, Retreat Centers and Libraries – Writing and creativity workshops and concerts.
Team Building and Community Building Programs
Community Story and Vision Sessions: Guided sessions that explore community identity, values, and future aspirations through a sense of place lens. These interactive experiences combine story crafting, conversation and practical tools to engage participants in meaningful discussions that help individuals and groups build connections across backgrounds and perspectives. These can be part of a concert, workshop or saunter experience, or held as a stand-alone event.
Rooted Leadership: This seminar is perfect for team retreats or development days. Learn how to stay centered and resilient through meaningful connections to place. Learn more here
Youth Leadership: Erica partners with organizations to bring her programs to youth leadership programs as well as school settings. These programs are customized to engage different age groups. Learn more here
Work with Erica:
Initial Consultation: Discuss your community's goals, values, and mission.
Program Selection & Customization: Choose from pre-designed programs like storytelling workshops, concerts, and visioning sessions—or customize a program to fit your community’s needs.
Impact Assessment & Follow-Up: Measure the success of your event and ensure its lasting impact on the community.
What Clients Are Saying
“Erica’s program brought us closer as a community. We left feeling inspired to care for our history and our future.”
“Her ability to connect people through their personal stories is a gift. Everyone walked away with a sense of belonging.”
“This event helped us see our community through fresh eyes. It was powerful and uplifting.”
Engagement Events
“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“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
Concerts
”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.”
— Planet Jackson Hole
“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.”
— Baltimore Woods Nature Center, Marcellus, NY“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.”
— Laurie Shepherd Brown, Life Coach and Integrative Health Consultant, Jackson, WY
Workshops
“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.”
— Giulietta "Julie" Nardone, Participant, Upton Forest State Park, MA“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.”
— Claire Dacey, Naturalist, Artist
Ready to Engage Your Community?
Let’s bring your community together through the power of place and story.
Contact Erica to get started or learn more about the community engagement programs.