Advancing Health and Wellbeing through the Arts

It’s an incredibly exciting time within the arts and healing movement. While many of us have intuitively known that the arts are healing and enrich our lives in countless ways, now research has validated impressive clinical outcomes.

A new field of study, the neuroarts, examines how the arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the brain and body and how this knowledge is translated into practices that advance health and wellbeing. As noted in a report published by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the Aspen Institute, and the Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics, the arts can help people prevent, manage, and recover from physical and mental challenges, stop tremors in Parkinson’s disease, and give voice to people who are unable to speak. The arts can return memories in the face of dementia, raise the spirits of those who are depressed, and lessen stress and inflammation by lowering cortisol levels. The arts can also foster social cohesion that is so essential to community health. I encourage you to access the report titled Advancing the Science of Arts, Health, and Wellbeing.

The Bakken Center continues to grow our focus on the arts and healing. For close to a decade, we have been teaching academic courses that focus on music, the creative arts, and healing. In the article Bach to Rock and Roll, Jenzi Silverman shares how music, emotion, and memory are interconnected. Check out the student comments and learn about the many ways that our courses have been inspiring and life changing. 

I am very excited about the ongoing partnership with the Minnesota Orchestra. The Magic of Music story highlights a recent unique collaboration that focused on anxiety and mental health. The Center’s Mindfulness and Wellbeing Instructor Mariann Johnson began the night with some background on mindfulness followed by a guided meditation. The attendees then practiced listening mindfully to a live performance and afterwards, had the opportunity to interact with the musicians to share their experiences and feedback. I am so grateful for the outstanding leadership of Mariann and Sue Nankivell, who leads our business development and community engagement work. Their passion, creativity, and deep commitment to this work and partnership has been instrumental in the success of this collaboration. 

The Oracle is All of Us is an introduction to a new initiative led by Molly Sturges, an artist, composer, and researcher. Based in the SONIC lab with biomedical engineer Dr. Hubert Lim, Molly is creating immersive arts experiences that blend art and science in support of personal and community healing and wellbeing. We recently had our first taste of a pop-up Oracle event that was held in the Center’s Meditation Space in October that is described in the article. Pop up events will continue in the spring at which time we will also launch a new collaboration with the Weisman Art Museum. Stay tuned for what’s to come! 

If any of these initiatives ignite your passion as a donor, we’d love to have a conversation with you. I am incredible grateful to our community of donors that enable us to offer such unique programming that touches so many lives.

Wishing you, your families, and all you celebrate with Happy Holidays! 

Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, RN, FAAN
Founder and Director
Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing