Hello, AEA365 community, and happy Conference Week from Indianapolis! The AEA staff have been working overtime to prepare for our biggest event of the year. Whether you will be joining us for the conference or not, you can keep up with our happenings via the AEA365 blog. See you around!
-Liz DiLuzio, Lead Curator
Hello AEA friends –
This is Corrie Whitmore, the 2023 President of AEA. I’m thrilled to be in Indianapolis for EVAL2023: The Power of Story and hope to see many of you here, attending workshops and conference sessions and enjoying the great local attractions.
Our conference week kicks off on October 9, which is also “Indigenous People’s Day.” Indigenous People’s Day is special to me, because I’m the mother of Indigenous children, and also because it offers such a clear example of The Power of Story. Let me explain…
In 1937, the Knights of Columbus successfully lobbied Congress and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to recognize “Columbus Day” as a federal holiday to honor Christopher Columbus’s “discovery” of the new world (US Embassy, N.D.). In 2021, President Joe Biden was the first president to instead recognize the second Monday in October as “Indigenous People’s Day” (AP News, 2021).
Between 1937 and 2021, the story of Columbus’s arrival and actions in North America evolved from one glorifying discovery (and disregarding egregious human rights violations) to one acknowledging that Indigenous Americans were here before Columbus arrived and are still here today.
That story didn’t change by itself. Activists got loud. Tribal organizations replaced Columbus Day on their calendar with Family Wellness Day and other events. Local and then state governments began to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day. And – now – it’s recognized at the federal level.
That change is powerful and it shows us why story matters: instead of learning that American history began when European settlers arrived, kids will learn about the First Peoples, along with the European settlement that led to the official founding of the United States.
The stories we evaluators tell matter too: they are important to our funders, the program staff we work with, clients who receive services being evaluated, and many others. As a field we’ve developed a multitude of technical skills, robust theoretical frameworks, and methodological techniques to digest stories into rich data, use data to tell important stories, and bring the work we do to life. Story fuels evaluation, just as evaluation crafts story. At EVAL2023 the Presidential Strand sessions (which are available in person and through the “digital conference” for those who can’t join us in person) will reflect on how storytelling contributes to and shapes the narrative of evaluations, and dive deeper into storytelling’s usage, benefits, and impacts on our practices. Our plenary speakers Tanaya Winder, Dr. Randal Pinkett, and Dr. Gladys Rowe will share their stories with us. Ms. Winder’s Opening Plenary will highlight “Igniting Healing Through Storytelling.” Dr. Pinkett’s Thursday Plenary will share the story of his work to support Data-Driven Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work. On Saturday, Dr. Rowe – an Indigenous scholar, evaluator, and poet – will offer closing plenary on why “The Stories That We Tell Matter: The Courage to Show Up.”
I look forward to sharing my story with you in Indianapolis and learning from the presenters and attendees I will meet this week. I hope to see you there!
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