Nov 7What if talking about death could help us live more fully?For @tamischwerin and @arloestill, that question has become the heart of something pretty extraordinary. After experiencing the loss of Arlo’s brother and Tami’s son, Zafer, they helped create Death Faire—a community gathering that makes space for grief, creativity, connection, and conversations we don’t always know how to have. Death Faire is happening today (Saturday, Nov 7 from 11-5pm @theplantnc. In our latest Meet This Artist feature, guest writer Corbie Hill sits down with Tami and Arlo to talk about turning loss into community, the role of art in healing, and why being more conscious of death might help us hold the people we love a little closer. Their story is honest, moving, and full of unexpected wisdom. It’s also a reminder of the incredible creative spirit right here in Chatham County. Meet Arlo Estill and Tami Schwerin. Read their story on our website (link in bio). Our Meet this Artist features are made possible with support from the team at VRC, Ltd. Photo 1: Arlo Estill and Tami Schwerin. Photo courtesy of The Plant. Photo 2: Death Faire 2016. Photo courtesy of The Plant. Photo 3: Left to right: Arlo Estill, Lyle Estill, and Tami Schwerin. Photo courtesy of The Plant.Latest
Nov 7What if talking about death could help us live more fully?For @tamischwerin and @arloestill, that question has become the heart of something pretty extraordinary. After experiencing the loss of Arlo’s brother and Tami’s son, Zafer, they helped create Death Faire—a community gathering that makes space for grief, creativity, connection, and conversations we don’t always know how to have. Death Faire is happening today (Saturday, Nov 7 from 11-5pm @theplantnc. In our latest Meet This Artist feature, guest writer Corbie Hill sits down with Tami and Arlo to talk about turning loss into community, the role of art in healing, and why being more conscious of death might help us hold the people we love a little closer. Their story is honest, moving, and full of unexpected wisdom. It’s also a reminder of the incredible creative spirit right here in Chatham County. Meet Arlo Estill and Tami Schwerin. Read their story on our website (link in bio). Our Meet this Artist features are made possible with support from the team at VRC, Ltd. Photo 1: Arlo Estill and Tami Schwerin. Photo courtesy of The Plant. Photo 2: Death Faire 2016. Photo courtesy of The Plant. Photo 3: Left to right: Arlo Estill, Lyle Estill, and Tami Schwerin. Photo courtesy of The Plant.
Jazz hands?♥ 118 · Oct 13
Storytelling through folkloric dance.♥ 50 · Oct 15
Meet Koialina Gray (AKA Makayla Graybeal)…♥ 24 · Sep 11
Our first week back with the Artists-in-Schools Initiative has been a…♥ 18 · Sep 25
🎉 Guess who’s going back to school?♥ 15 · Sep 2
It’s pretty special to see all those individual indigo squares come together.♥ 13 · Sep 28
Jazz hands?
♥ 118 · Oct 13
Storytelling through folkloric dance.
♥ 50 · Oct 15
Meet Koialina Gray (AKA Makayla Graybeal)…
♥ 24 · Sep 11
Our first week back with the Artists-in-Schools Initiative has been a…
♥ 18 · Sep 25
🎉 Guess who’s going back to school?
♥ 15 · Sep 2
It’s pretty special to see all those individual indigo squares come together.
♥ 13 · Sep 28
Artists-in-Schools InitiativeOur Artists-in-Schools Initiative is here to change all that.
Grassroots Arts GrantsWe're thrilled to have granted nearly $200,000 over the past two decades to other nonprofits using the arts to do extraordinary work in Chatham County through annual Grassroots Arts Grants.
Artist Support GrantsThe Artist Support Grant is CLOSED for 2027.
Emerging Artist GrantsWe partner with the fine folks at the Durham Arts Council to bring the Emerging Artist Grant opportunity to Chatham County artists.
JumpstARTA sense of place, a landscape that reflects our past, present, and future as a community, is vital to our mental health and feeling of belonging.
- The George Moses Horton Project
Its mission is to spark the creative spirit in Chatham students and citizens, and to honor local history, focusing on the life and work of George Moses Horton as a hero of literacy and expression.
Partners and community
Collections
What if talking about death could help us live more fully?
Nov 7
From happy memories to changing friendships, poetry gave @mbpollardms students a way to share what was on…
Nov 3
Storytelling through folkloric dance.
Oct 1550 likes
Jazz hands?
Oct 13118 likes
Got a place in Chatham that won’t leave your mind?
Oct 68 likes
It’s pretty special to see all those individual indigo squares come together.
Sep 2813 likes
Our first week back with the Artists-in-Schools Initiative has been a phenomenal one with our friends from…
Sep 2518 likes
Read along for an artist experience on the impact of our Artists-in-Schools Initiative in honor of Arts in…
Sep 155 likes
Did you know this week is National Arts in Education Week?
Sep 147 likes
Meet This Artist: The Plant's Tami Schwerin and Arlo Estill8 min read · Oct 5
Push. Pull. Leap. Fly: Black Box Dance Theatre at Siler City Elementary2 min read · Oct 5
Meet This Artist: Performing Artist Koialina Gray1 min read · Sep 2
Announcing the 2026-2027 Artists-in-Schools Season3 min read · Aug 31
Meet This Artist: Mixed-Media Artist Paget Marion Blythe10 min read · Jul 27
ClydeFEST Sponsor Benefits1 min read · Jul 26
Meet This Artist: Muralists Stacye Leanza and Thomas Begley7 min read · Jul 5
Meet This Artist: Theater Artist Derrick Ivey1 min read · Jun 7
Artists-in-Schools 2025–2026: A Year Filled with Rhythm, Stories, Movement, and Magic4 min read · Jun 3
Meet This Artist: Painter and Potter Charline Jimenez Rojo7 min read · Apr 30
About
The Chatham Arts Council nurtures creative thinkers in Chatham County.
That’s the short version. But other folks do that, too. Here’s what makes us unique:
We’re the ones who put our arms around the artists and the kids of Chatham County.
Yep. We’ve focused in on doing two things and doing them really well:
We launched this new identity for the Chatham Arts Council in November 2014, a crazy exciting leap after a full two years of internal work and outreach in the community.
Chatham County is home to an astonishing number of artists and arts appreciators, and we’re looking forward to being the arts council this county deserves.
We value artists who paint, perform, draw, dance, act, cook, sculpt, write, sew, film, play, sing, and record.
We value professional artists, emerging artists, artists-in-secret, aspiring artists, and young artists-to-be.
You can check out We Invest in Artists and We Educate Kids through Arts to see more particulars about the whys behind our two focus areas.
Just as important as the Why is the How. And our Board and Staff are committed to doing this work in the following ways:
Chris is a full-time arts patron and sometimes writer/performer, having worked with many theatre companies in the area. His meeting notes often take the shape of page-long doodles.
What do you do with your days? Wrangle human resources policies and employee relations issues for the UNC System .