Announcing the Neuroarts Academic Network

The NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative today announced the launch of the Neuroarts Academic Network (NAN). The NAN aims to expand the transformative power of the arts—such as music, dance, painting, and storytelling—by building the emerging interdisciplinary field of neuroarts and training the next generation of leaders. 

Building on research that demonstrates how art positively affects the brain and body, neuroarts explores how creative expression can be embedded in mainstream medicine, public health, and across society to improve health and well-being for all.

The NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative is led by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s International Arts + Mind Lab Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics and the Aspen Institute’s Health, Medicine & Society Program, with funding from The Music Man Foundation. 

The NAN, led by the Neuroarts Academic Network Working Group, will:

The NAN Working Group members, who will inform the Network’s projects and long-term goals, represent over 35 public and private universities and institutions from around the globe including Berklee College of Music, ETH-Zurich, University of California at San Francisco, Morehouse School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Stanford University, University of Memphis, University of Pennsylvania, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 

“Neuroarts is a vibrant, interdisciplinary field grounded in arts-evidence-based knowledge and united by shared research principles, practices, and values. To fully realize its potential, we must learn from one another, develop a common language, and build a collaborative framework that enables our disciplines to flourish individually while also working together to build the field,” said Susan Magsamen, co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative and executive director of the Johns Hopkins International Arts + Mind Lab Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics.

The Network’s goal is to make neuroarts an established academic and professional field across disciplines including the arts, health, basic sciences, public health, architecture, design, education, business, community development, and more. Each discipline has a distinct career path and its own unique focus, but all are rooted in the science showing the positive impact of the arts on health and well-being.  

“With today’s announcement, we’re looking at a major paradigm shift. The new Neuroarts Academic Network will unite the people who are training the neuroarts workforce of tomorrow. Together we can bring the transformative power of the arts into every corner of society,” said Sarah Lyding, president of The Music Man Foundation, a national foundation dedicated to permanently changing the way the arts are used to improve education, health, and community well-being.  

“In these challenging times of rapid change, the Neuroarts Academic Network offers a bold, collaborative model to strengthen neuroarts education, workforce development, and interdisciplinary impact,” said Ruth J. Katz, co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative and executive director of the Health, Medicine & Society Program at the Aspen Institute. “It is essential to advancing this important and game-changing work.”