The Great American Paint In (R)

In the 1990s, William C. Weinaug and his wife, Mary, set out to be ambassadors of change. They purchased Wekiva Island with a focus on Sustainability, Learning, and Art. With a goal to become the first carbon-neutral business of their type, they signed up to the "2030 Challenge", an initiative backed by the U.S. Department of Energy to make buildings carbon-neutral by 2030. Their mission is steered by their trademarked toolkit C.E.R.O.(R), which stands for Conservation, Efficiencies, Renewables, and Offsets. With art as a critical area of focus, Gallery CERO, an art gallery at Wekiva Island, opened. By March 2020, with the influx of the world pandemic, many people were impacted by business shutdowns, and that pain included the art community. Weinaug's daughter Ashley unveiled an idea to ensure the family's business could stay relevant and do something for others, and the concept of The Great American Paint In(R) was born.