Erica Wheeler

Hello and Welcome!

So glad you stopped by.


I'm a singer/songwriter, educator and speaker who works with individuals, communities, organizations and educators. I offer concerts, talks, workshops, trainings and retreats to help people discover, define and enrich their sense of place.

As a result of my programs, people forge powerful, personal connections with nature, history and culture, which helps them enjoy places more today, and take care of places for future generations.

Programs Offered

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Why the Soulful Landscape?

There's a famous Wendell Berry Quote that reads "You can't know who you are if you don't know where you are."

People today are concerned about the disconnect between people and place and the impact that has on our environment, our cities and towns, our agricultural land, historic sites and open spaces. How do we heal this disconnect so that the full spectrum of places we need for our health and well being, and for the health of the planet, are well taken care of?

Some call this "creation care," others call it "stewardship." I believe that whatever you call it, the capacity for caring comes from both what we know (the ecological, economic and historic facts about a place) combined with how a place makes us feel. I help people cultivate a sense of caring through my programs. I call it Soulfully Connecting to Place.

(You can learn more when you download my free workbook "Seven Soulful Ways to Connect to Place" (PDF). Sign up in the upper right hand corner of this page to get your copy.)

How I Help

I believe everyone has stories of place and belonging, even if they have never called it that before. Can you look back over your life and think of a time you felt really connected to a place? It could have been a sunset over a city skyline or a wilderness trip. All kinds of places can captivate our senses and stir our soul. In my experience working with groups and individuals, everyone has stories of place and belonging, waiting to be remembered and revealed.

When you attend one of my programs or bring me to your community or organization, you'll walk away with a deeper connection to yourself, "your" place, and an understanding that our love for places is what we have in common. Your interpretation of what is special about a place may be very different than others, but often what we have in common with others is the places we love. When we find that common ground, acting on behalf of a place becomes a simpler process.

How I work it by offering sense of place concerts and talks that are customized performances. Each one include songs, stories and a nuanced reflections about your place and region. I also offer introductory to in-depth workshops and trainings that provide practical tools and experiences to help you find and express your own connection to places.

Why it Matters

Your 'sense of place' is as unique as you are, yet in the places we live, visit, work and play, place are what we all have in common. Places need our love and affection just as much as we need the soul nourishing, life enhancing qualities places give us. Everyone's love and everyone's voice is needed if we're to find a balance between using places and using them up.

When you can articulate why you personally care about a place, (as opposed to why you should care) your heart is engaged and action easily follows. We take care of what we value. Sometimes it can be that simple.

Experience

For the past 20 years I've been a nationally touring performing artist with music that has charted on Billboard and garnered interviews from NPR's 'All Things Considered' to the Washington Post.  For the past 10 years I've offer my Soulful Landscape, integrating my music into programs that inspire and educate, offering people insight into why places matter to them personally, inspiring the foundation for caring about places today and for the future.

I integrate my background in environmental studies (I went to college to be a wildlife field biologist) with my passion for place (my songs and writings are inspired by my sense of place wherever I go) and my expertise working with parks, museums, nature centers and conservation organizations to create inspiring, educational and transformational programs.

My work connecting people and place has been featured in national publications such as Orion, Yes! and Yankee magazines, and I have been a presenter at events from Walden Woods to Yosemite National Park.