How a Research-to-Practice Initiative in Neuroaesthetics Plans to Transform Health

NeuroArts Blueprint (2021). NeuroArts Blueprint: Advancing the science of arts, health, and wellbeing. Washington, DC: Johns Hopkins and Aspen Institute. Retrieved from www.neuroartsblueprint.org

Increasingly, evidence is emerging that demonstrates the positive health, economic and social benefits the arts has on a person. Neuroarts is an emerging field of research studying how the arts affect the brain, body, and behavior.

  • Overview

    The NeuroArts Blueprint is a partnership between the Johns Hopkins International Arts + Mind Lab and the Aspen Institute’s Health, Medicine & Society Program. They have developed an action plan to cultivate the creation of knowledge around the benefits of the arts and how this knowledge can be applied to improving people’s health and wellbeing. A recommendation from the plan is around the enrichment of educational curriculum and career pathways. A educational path at the intersection of science, technology, and the arts begins in early childhood and continues through well-defined university-level coursework.

  • Considerations

    Throughout history, aesthetic expressions have been part of the evolution of our societies. The NeuroArts Blueprint advocates for long-term strategic planning and implementation of the field to connect health and the arts. A transdisciplinary approach to research can translate into specific practices that advance wellbeing through arts and technology.

  • So What?

    This partnership points to an evolving practice of looking at the dynamic relationship between the arts, technology, and wellness. By informing our arts educational praxis by science, we can hopefully transform the way we think about the importance of the arts on the personal and the societal levels.

  • Mojo's Riff

    Action to stimulate funding and policies in neuroarts could develop educational and training pathways in work that connects the arts across multiple disciplines. The NeuroArts Blueprint has the capacity to create opportunities to increase infrastructure for expanded research and practice.