NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative Launches Nationwide Network of Community Neuroarts Coalitions

Music helping people with memory loss, dance improving movement for those with Parkinson’s disease, and art supporting children’s social and emotional development: these are some of the ways communities are building neuroarts solutions. Neuroarts is an emerging field, rooted in the science of neuroaesthetics and ways of knowing, which explores how the arts and aesthetic experiences change the brain, body, and behavior and how this knowledge can be applied to advance health and well-being across society. Today, the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative launched the Community Neuroarts Coalitions (CNC) Network to support 11 communities across the U.S. using the power of the arts to improve health and well-being. Each CNC will create evidence-to-impact collaborations among local partners to translate the science of neuroarts into practical programs that enhance the health, well-being, cohesion, and resilience of their communities.

The NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative is a partnership between the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s International Arts + Mind Lab Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics and the Aspen Institute’s Health, Medicine & Society Program. The Initiative is dedicated to building the field of neuroarts and ensuring that it is fully recognized as a translational, research-to-practice discipline. The CNC Network will extend the work of the Initiative through community engagement across the country and, eventually, around the globe as international coalitions join in 2026.

The CNC Network’s goal is to bring evidence-based arts practices and creative programs into the communities they serve through partnerships that unite health, science, education, business, government, and arts organizations at the local and state levels. Modeled on the work of three ground-breaking neuroarts community coalitions in Kansas City, Missouri; New York, New York; and Palm Beach County, Florida, each member of the CNC Network will develop neuroarts-based, sustainable, community-led programming that fosters measurable impacts on health. Each CNC’s activities will be guided by the needs of their communities and may be based in a variety of settings such as hospitals, community centers, museums, and public spaces. Their work will also be instrumental in helping advance the field of neuroarts by generating community-based research results.

“The Community Neuroarts Coalitions Network is a key building block of the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative, which focuses on advancing the field of neuroarts through rigorous research, interdisciplinary workforce development, and deep engagement with communities across the country, and around the globe,” 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. “We are coalescing knowledge about how art influences the body and brain and translating that knowledge into actionable tools that communities have identified as essential. Each CNC is creating these tools for meaningful and direct impact.”

The CNC Network comprises the three original coalitions launched in 2022 to pilot the concept and eight new CNCs now joining from across the country. These 11 coalitions—listed by the city or state they cover and the anchor institutions leading them—form the inaugural group of the national CNC Network.

Original Coalitions

New Coalitions

“This network of coalitions is applying the scientific evidence that has accrued about the positive effect the arts—engagement with music, movement, visual arts, prose, poetry, built environments, or intentional spaces—can have on individual health and well-being and translating this knowledge into community-based programs and activities designed to meet the specific needs of their neighbors,” said Ruth J. Katz, co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative and executive director of the Health, Medicine & Society Program at the Aspen Institute. “This is where we can see the real impact of the field of neuroarts.”