May 12, 2026
A local teenager paints TC Strong’s Hope Phone art installation in downtown Brevard’s Clemson Plaza on Monday, May 12.
Jonathan Rich /BrevardBeagle.com
Last weekend a tall, turquoise, free-standing structure resembling a British police call box appeared in Brevard’s Clemson Plaza, but this was no parody of the BBC’s sci-fi adventure “Doctor Who” or vintage communications device.
Instead, this was a community art project undertaken by local mental health advocacy organization TC STRONG and its Voice of the Students club in all public schools to draw awareness to their cause and offer public support to anyone struggling with their personal psychological well-being..
“As May is mental health awareness month, this project is to increase community awareness and decrease stigma around mental health by framing it in a very positive manner,” TC Strong Chair Rik Emaus said during an afternoon break in the art installation process Monday.
Emaus and and TC Strong Director of Impact and Engagement Beth Ford accompanied students from several Transylvania County middle and high schools, as well as local college students to install the organizations first “Hope Phone” which houses a telephone that when answered will play a pre-recorded message of hope and allow the person holding the receiver to record a message of their own that could later be added to future recordings.
“We really want this to be an easily accessible way for people to be able to hear a warm voice in a time of need,” Ford said as the paint dried in Clemson Plaza. “We hope this will be a way to help normalize people of all ages having a conversation about their mental health while making their day just a little lighter and a little brighter.”
This is not the nonprofit organization’s first public art installation in Clemson Plaza. In May 2024, local residents of all ages created a multi-colored “Hope Wall” of fabric and positive written messages that was attached to the exterior wall of downtown Brevard’s Co-Ed Cinema.
That art installation is now housed at the Cedar Mountain Canteen to honor one of that business’s beloved departed patrons.
The TC Strong Hope Phone will be completed and open for guests later this week and will be in Clemson Plaza at least through the end of May.