The NeuroArts Blueprint initiative, a partnership between the Johns Hopkins International Arts + Mind Lab Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics and the Aspen Institute’s Health, Medicine & Society Program, was launched in 2019. Its mission is to cultivate an ecosystem for neuroarts, defined as the transdisciplinary and extradisciplinary study of how the arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the body, brain, and behavior, and how this knowledge is translated into specific practices that advance health and wellbeing. Read more.
The NIH launched the Sound Health initiative that focuses on expanding current knowledge and understanding of how listening, performing, or creating music involves intricate circuitry in the brain that can be harnessed for health and wellness applications in daily life. Read more.
In 2023, the NIH hosted Music as Medicine, a two-day online conference focused on accomplishments in advancing scientific research on music and health throughout the last six years. This event may serve as a blueprint for the next phase of research, and explored strategies to further build the research community. View a recording of the meeting.
The Renée Fleming Foundation has joined forces with the NeuroArts Blueprint initiative to establish the Renée Fleming NeuroArts Investigator Awards. The awards will support both basic and applied research that expands the evidence base of the emerging field of neuroarts and furthers the mission of the Neuroarts Blueprint. Read more.
Recently, the University of Minnesota was awarded a $21M grant from NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health to perform a comprehensive functional mapping study of how the brain and body interact to maintain or alter physiological states relevant for clinical practice, spanning cardiac, autonomic, metabolic, immune, digestive, and brain conditions. The goal is to create the largest publicly available database on the functional effects of the vagus nerve across the body and brain that has implications for health and wellbeing. Read more.