Campus Connection

Alumna learned viability of the arts, starting with her UWL therapeutic recreation degrees

[caption id="attachment_5596" align="alignleft" width="325"] Cheryl Castille, ’81 & ’93, became executive director of the Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism in the state of Louisiana in April. She earned her undergraduate and master’s degree in therapeutic recreation.[/caption] Cheryl Castille, ’81 & ‘93, first learned the power of the arts as a UWL student studying therapeutic recreation. As a therapeutic recreation and mental health intern at Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Oshkosh, she helped teens work through addiction struggles by focusing on leisure skills such as painting, creative writing and music. “It was a way for people to work through what they were experiencing emotionally — that they couldn’t verbally express through words,” she says. Today, as the Executive Director for the Louisiana Division of the Arts, it’s Castille’s full-time job to explain the value of the arts, a particularly daunting role as Louisiana faces a projected $750 million deficit during this two-year budget cycle. But talking about the value of art isn’t difficult for Castille. She has watched art heal, educate, and drive local economies throughout her career. Moreover, she’s felt art’s intrinsic quality — that can bring people to tears and laughter — but unfortunately cannot be quantified. “My job is really working with people in general to understand that art is a profession. It’s too often looked at as only a hobby,” she says. “And I want people to really understand that the intrinsic value of art is so important — those emotions you experience when you hear music, paint or see art. But I also know that if you can’t show that in terms of numbers, you won’t get the assistance you need.” After her internship, Castille continued to work for fifteen years in addiction and mental health programs including Gundersen Health Systems. When she moved to Louisiana to join her husband in 1992, Castille continued to see the value of the arts in other aspects of life. Her husband’s parents purchased a historic building in Opelousas, Louisiana so it wouldn’t be demolished. Castille started an art gallery and music shop inside, What Bayou Trading Company, which she ran for eight years. There she sold art, music and books by Louisiana artists. She met people who made a living selling their work, yet often struggled to prove they had the same community worth and valuable products as other business owners. “I learned how much work and effort goes into being artist as an individual business owner,” she explains. “You have to do the same things as other small business owners, but a lot more justifying as to why your work is important.” When Castille took an assistant county government role in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, she saw artistic businesses becoming the economic anchors for communities, encouraging other small businesses and people to move in. Though Castille has a strong background showing art’s economic value, she hasn’t forgotten that intrinsic, unquantifiable value that she learned about early on as a recreation therapy student. In fact, learning about the value of leisure time — doing something simply for the sake of how it feels — and what that can do for humans, emotionally and holistically —is one of the most important lessons she learned from UWL, she says. “Therapeutic recreation is about helping people find things in their lives that allow them to engage in stress management, find joy and relaxation,” she says. “Everything I learned in the therapeutic recreation program has transferred over to what I do today.”