1056 - The Interconnectedness of Place and Practice: An Experiential Workshop

AEA 2024 calls us to consider how our work amplifies and empowers voices in evaluation through uplifting emerging, underrepresented, and typically unheard voices. We posit that one voice left out of this call - yet intricately impacting all evaluation work - is the voice of Nature. Given that how one views Nature - as separate from or intimately interconnected with humans - is reflected in one’s values system, greater attention to Nature’s voice is needed. Indeed, Patton (2021) points out that “evaluators care about certain things and what they care about influences how they conduct evaluations” (p. 176). Simply put, if we care about the planet and all its inhabitants (living and nonliving) then our evaluation practice will reflect this care. This half-day experiential workshop explores the Nature-Culture connection through the lens of evaluative practice. Participants will engage in contemplative activities designed to unite lessons from Nature with evaluative thinking. Through storytelling, guided reflections, and group dialogue, participants will engage their heart, mind, and spirit in identifying key questions to guide evaluative practice informed by the Nature-Culture connection. Participants will leave with a (re)new(ed) sense of the interconnectedness of place-practice and strategies to apply this sense to their evaluation work. If you are an evaluator concerned for the planet and desiring to infuse your evaluation practice with your personal value of care for the planet and its inhabitants but wrestling with how to do so, this workshop is for you.