Fans of Filsinger Games know how important it is to me to support creativity. We’ve been doing it for years and we’re continuing to do it today.

I believe every child has the hidden potential to be a creative genius and excel in some creative endeavor whether it’s writing, music, acting, film making, sculpting…the list is endless. The key is getting kids started early and allowing them to explore the enjoyment of being creative and the fulfillment of a job well done.

I wrote at length about the psychology of creativity in my book, “The Dark Menace of the Universe,” which resulted in (if nothing else) a permanent nickname for me as the Dark Menace! But as Dark Menaces I meant all creative people who felt they didn’t fit in and had to be resilient in exploring their creative side.

Through the donations of Filsinger Games I am trying to make it less of a battle for youngsters. My goal is to give them encouragement for their creative skills and the hope is in some cases it’ll make a difference in their lives.

I remember when I was in grade school and I used to write little “books” typed on standard lined paper with an old-fashioned typewriter and including hand-drawn illustrations of my own. The books had titles like “The New House” and “The Red Ball.” I showed my “mini-classics” to a librarian at Harvey Rice Elementary School in East Cleveland (where I went to school) and she put a sign-out pocket in the back and put my “books” in the library! This was very encouraging to me and some of my classmates actually took out my books and read them!

I want to have the same impact on children and my partners in this goal are local schools and organizations. For several years Filsinger Games made donations to Falconer Middle School for programs that supported creativity.

This year Filsinger Games has made a donation to Infinity Visual and Performing Arts, Inc. in Jamestown, New York. I am a great admirer of their goals. I’ll let them speak for themselves with their mission statement:

“Infinity Visual and Performing Arts, Inc. creates and sustains an environment in which young people, based solely on their desire to participate, can grow, learn, and lead through participation in the visual and performing arts.”

Infinity Visual and Performing Arts, Inc. is dedicated to building the resiliency of our community’s youth by providing unique opportunity through access to the arts. More than a place, more than a program, Infinity is an experience for the body, mind, and soul; a chance for youth to become immersed in music, the arts and learning, to take creative risks, and to discover their infinite potential.”

Sounds perfect to me. I may even teach a short class for them at some point!

If you are interested in my “Dark Menace” book you can check it out article I wrote that was posted online called “Creativity and Rebellion: Why They Go Hand in Hand.”

Thanks to our incredible game fans that supported creativity through their donations at the GalactiCon 2013 auction. I can vouch for the fact that creativity is a skill that keeps giving pleasure for a whole lifetime…