Susan Magsamen is the founder and executive director of the International Arts + Mind Lab (IAM Lab), Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics, a groundbreaking neuroaesthetics initiative at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Magsamen’s work focuses on how the arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the brain, body, and behavior. Her work also focuses on how this knowledge can be translated to inform health, wellbeing, and learning programs in medicine, public health, and education.
Magsamen is the author of Impact Thinking, an interdisciplinary translational research model to enhance human potential through the use of arts and aesthetics. This model is a generative framework that applies a new scientific method to arts and aesthetics research and, at the same time, considers how the research can be scaled, disseminated, and evaluated for impact. In addition to her role at IAM Lab, she is the codirector of the NeuroArts Blueprint project in partnership with the Aspen Institute. The Blueprint aims to create the field of Neuroarts where arts and aesthetics are mainstream in medicine and public health. Magsamen is also the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, written for the general public.
Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, by authors Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross, explores neuroaesthetics: how our brains and bodies transform when we participate in the arts. This New York Times bestseller explains how the arts and aesthetics can help us transform traditional medicine, build healthier communities, enhance learning, and mend an aching planet. Featuring conversations with artists such as David Byrne, Renée Fleming, and evolutionary biologist E. O. Wilson, the book includes breakthrough research and compelling stories about how the arts enhance our lives.
Arts & Wellbeing books are available for purchase in the Kennedy Center Gift Shop.
Arts & Wellbeing
Change Your Story, Change Your Life: A Class with IN-Q
Sun. Mar. 16, 2025
In this one-of-a-kind storytelling session, songwriter and national poetry slam champion IN-Q will guide attendees from performance and prompts into writing and sharing exercises.
Arts & Wellbeing
The Power of Poetry with IN-Q
Sun. Mar. 16, 2025
Award-winning poet IN-Q will take you on a journey through the mind, heart, and soul in this inspiring and entertaining spoken-word performance.
Millennium Stage (In-Person and Livestream)
Arts & Wellness Panel
Nov. 13, 2024
The Kennedy Center joins the NeuroArts Blueprint, an initiative of the Aspen Institute and Johns Hopkins Medicine, to present a series of in-depth discussions about the potential of the arts to improve our health and well-being.
Arts & Wellbeing
Music and Arts as Medicine
Mon. Oct. 14, 2024
Join us for a conversation with Renée Fleming, Susan Magsamen, and Dr. Daniel J. Levitin about the growing role of music and the arts in healthcare and beyond. Focusing on not just the artistic merits but also the social, neurological, and physiological uses for arts, we expand the definition of what great art can do for us.
Millennium Stage (In-Person and Livestream)
Arts & Wellness with NeuroArts Blueprint
Jan. 17, 2024
How do the many spaces we inhabit change us and impact our health? The "Arts & Wellness with NeuroArts Blueprint" series continues with a discussion on the art and neuroscience of design – plus a special "Tuning the Audience" singing activation with Sing for Hope! Join co-hosts Renée Fleming and Susan Magsamen to explore how neuroscientists, architects, and artists use intentional design and neuroaesthetics to bring communities together through creative expression.
Millennium Stage Livestream
Arts & Wellness Panel
Jun. 14, 2023
Join us for a discussion with Kennedy Center Artistic Advisor-at-Large Reneé Fleming and Susan Magsamen, director of the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University and co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint, as part of the Kennedy Center’s Arts and Wellness programming.
Panelists include Ellen Galinsky, Tracie Jenkins, Jeanette McCune, and Tom Sweitzer MTT MT-BC.
