Art & Advocacy

CWEET shares our work in many ways. We share our story often on panel discussions in urban areas building bridges of understanding about how rural needs urban and how urban needs rural, often a misunderstood dependence. CWEET has been featured in as well as creating videos to better tell our stories. We have participated and presented at the Appalachian Studies Conference, Appalachian Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, Community Economic Development Network, Knoxville Historic Society, Greenville Town Hall at the Cinema, Get Off the Grid Charette, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (57th year), and more. Communication is essential. CWEET strives to create spaces that allow ALL voices to be heard and respected, find common ground, build consensus, and take action.

​

For nearly the past decade, CWEET has held an annual Art and Garden Festival in Cosby, TN. This day-long event offers art activities, gardening workshops, seed swaps, live music, and more for people of all ages. For the past several years we have received grants from the Tennessee Arts Commission to help with funding the event. Due to the pandemic, the event was canceled in 2020 and instead we mailed seeds, stickers, and postcards to over 100 different households who signed up. This year (2021) we held Art: A Drive By Gallery in both Hartford and Cosby where local artists were able to showcase their artwork on display in a Covid-safe environment, and we used that opportunity for public outreach to educate and gain support in the public commenting period concerning the NPDES Permit renewal for Blue Ridge Paper in Canton, NC.

​

Chalk4Peace is an international annual event that CWEET has proudly participated in since 2007. With a partnership from a local business, we have been able to secure a public outside space for artists and local citizens to come together and raise awareness for peace through chalk art designs created during the event in the venue parking lot. This has helped us to bridge the gap between generations as we have had participation from all ages each year, creating conscious conversations about what a sustainable world free from violence would look like.

The AIR Institute works with seven states in the Appalachian Region. The Tennessee Art Commission has partnered with them to include our state, and our director is one of the Tennessee facilitators. The AIR Institute has this to say about CWEET: “...experience and success creating healthy, natural, diverse social and thriving economic environments by employing the tactics of constructive communication, support, education, organization, and creative art outlets.”