Get ready to be inspired (and possibly cry). Richard Casper, co-founder of Creativets, shares his journey from combat Marine to champion of the arts. A wounded veteran — Richard’s Humvee was blown up four times in Iraq and he watched his dear friend die — Richard credits art and songwriting with saving his life. To help other veterans heal as he did, Richard co-founded Creativets, an organization that uses art and music to help wounded veterans heal from Post Traumatic Stress and brain injuries. For his work, Richard was named one of Time Magazine’s Next Generation Leaders and a CNN Hero, among many other accolades. And his creativity expands beyond his nonprofit. He’s also an entrepreneur, most recently creating an app called We Should Write Some Time, which connects songwriters around the world. This is a powerful episode about how art not only heals but also saves lives -- repurposing devastating memories as good ones and remapping our experiences.

Takeaways:

• Dream big and stick with your dream, no matter how hard it gets because you have no idea the impact you’ll eventually make
• Ask for what you want — the worst thing that can happen is they will say no
• Art is an option for everyone

Resources:

Follow Creativets @creativets

Follow Richard @veteranart

Follow the songwriting app, We Should Write Sometime @weshouldwritesometime

Find out more about Creativets and donate!

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

The Intrepid Center

Mark Irwin

American Warrior Partnership

Camp Resilience

Big Machine Label Group