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Announcing 10 Renée Fleming Neuroarts Investigator Awards

The Renée Fleming Foundation and NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative announce awardees for the third annual round of grants supporting innovative research collaborations exploring the impact of arts on health and wellbeing.

Washington, DC, April 15, 2026 — Today, 10 teams of artists and early career researchers were named 2026 Renée Fleming Neuroarts Investigator Awards recipients. Each team will receive a grant of $25,000 to support an interdisciplinary research project whose results will contribute to the growing body of scientific evidence underpinning the field of neuroarts. The awards program, established by the Renée Fleming Foundation in 2024, is administered through the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative, a partnership between Johns Hopkins University and the Aspen Institute. With this latest cohort of awards, approximately $600,000 has been provided to carry out 26 innovative, cross-disciplinary neuroarts research projects.

Neuroarts is an interdisciplinary 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 individual and community health and well-being as well as other aspects of society. Unique in its interdisciplinary approach, the Renée Fleming Neuroarts Investigator Awards program is designed to help build the field of neuroarts by

  • providing seed funding for arts practitioners and early career researchers to collaborate on innovative neuroarts research
  • identifying and filling key gaps in neuroarts research
  • encouraging, developing, and supporting a new generation of neuroarts professionals.

Acclaimed soprano, Renée Fleming, co-chair of the NeuroArts Blueprint Advisory Council, Goodwill Ambassador for Arts and Health for the World Health Organization, and author of the anthology Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness, has long been committed to a broader understanding the science behind the power of the arts. Her work to establish this program and the awarding of a third round of grants reflects her ongoing commitment to fostering inquiry and collaboration among artists and young scientists.

“From my own experience as an artist, I have long been aware that the arts and wellbeing are inextricably linked,” said Fleming. “But empirical scientific evidence is crucial for understanding these connections. The Investigator Awards give pairs of artists and scientists the unique opportunity to collaborate in this space and advance the benefits of arts and aesthetic experiences to help us flourish both as individuals and as a society.”

Expressing her excitement as the new cohort of grantees is announced, Susan Magsamen, executive director of the Johns Hopkins International Arts + Mind Lab Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics and co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative, commented, “This group of awards demonstrates that the field of neuroarts is a rich source for scientific exploration and these teams, which will each be paired with mentors from the neuroarts field, are studying important questions about how the arts can be harnessed to positively affect health across an array of conditions.”

The 10 research projects represent a range of innovative methodologies across diverse art forms and scientific disciplines to address significant health and wellbeing issues:

The Music Within: Neural Markers of Imagined Sound and Memory – Can we observe and characterize imagination processes in the brain and apply that knowledge to study artistic experiences? Could this lead to a non-invasive approach to studying musical imagination?

  • Dr. Claire Arthur and Dr. Alexandria Smith, Georgia Institute of Technology

Music for Autonomic Rehabilitation in Long COVID: A Pilot Study – Can a program integrating live performance, storytelling, and audience engagement help us learn how aesthetic experiences affect the body and healing in chronic disease?

  • Dr. Elizabeth Bast, Miami Veterans Medical Center and Joshua Roman, cellist and composer

Sticks and Kicks: Using fNIRS to Explore Rhythmic Improvisation in Drummers and Tap Dancers – Can we learn what happens in the brain when musicians and dancers engage in rhythmic improv or performance and use that knowledge to create rhythm-based interventions for clinical populations?

  • Dr. Katelyn Berg, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Dr. Elinor Harrison, Washington University in St. Louis

Neural Patterns of Meaning-Making to Study How Art Produces Shared Social Realities – Does artistic interpretation lead to shared meaning between artists and audiences? Can we learn how this happens and apply that knowledge to study the therapeutic impact of neuroarts?

  • Dr. Heidi Biggs, Georgia Institute of Technology and Dr. Sonali Gupta, Wavelet Labs

“Parkinson’s, And”: Medical Improv for People with Parkinson’s Disease – Can medical improv, using creative expression and social interaction, improve quality of life for participants with Parkinson’s Disease by reducing social isolation, stigma, and symptoms?

  • Dr. Sneha Mantri and Dan Sipp, Duke University School of Medicine

We Made This Film: An Investigation of Filmmaking as a Therapeutic Tool in School-based Occupational Therapy – Can filmmaking be used to help develop executive function, fine motor skills, and social-emotional learning for children in Special Education?

  • Dr. Lisa Raymond-Tolan, New York University and Julie Meslin, We Made This Film

Building Resilient Beginnings through a Virtual Music Program for Preterm Infants – Can a virtual music intervention address parent responsiveness, which is key for infants’ social and language development, and support preterm infants and their caregivers?

  • Dr. Amy Smith and Dr. Miriam Lense, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Evaluating Theatre and Storytelling as a Neuroarts-Informed Health Coaching Intervention for Young Adults Living with Obsessive-Compulsive Related Disorders (OCRDs) and Complex Trauma – Can creative health coaching employing theatre and storytelling support young adults with OCRDs and/or trauma?

  • Dr. Zoe Smith, University of Denver and Dr. Saharra Dixon, Arts in Health Practitioner

Shining Light on Story Drama: Neural Correlates of Emotion Processing in Preschoolers with and without Neurodiversities – Can story drama, an approach in which students embody and reenact character journeys, help children develop skills for learning and social success?

  • Dr. Neelima Wagley, Arizona State University and Jenny Millinger, Childsplay Theatre

SLOWART Connections: A Social Prescription for Dementia-Care Dyads in Southeastern North Carolina – Can SLOWART Connections, a visual arts engagement program tailored for dementia care, benefit those with dementia and their caregivers?

  • Dr. Charlotte Weiss, University of North Carolina Wilmington School of Nursing and September Krueger, Cameron Art Museum

Dr. Emmeline Edwards, Director of Research for the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative commented, “With this new cohort of Fleming awardees, I am extremely pleased to note that we have a well-balanced and diversified portfolio, spanning multiple art forms, various academic disciplines, and strong interdisciplinary teams of researchers, artists, and art practitioners engaged in research addressing how the arts impact health and well-being across the lifespan.”

“As this unique award program continues to mature, I am delighted to see that we are receiving ever stronger applications reflecting the real potential of neuroarts research and the growing importance of further building the evidence that demonstrates how the arts, from music to movement to prose to painting, can positively affect our brain, body, and behavior,” said Dr. Eric Nestler, renowned neuroscientist and dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who co-chaired the independent review committee that evaluated the grant proposals.

Jewel, a 4-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, visual artist, actress, best-selling author, and mental health pioneer, joined Dr. Nestler as co-chair of the awards review committee. “In my visual art practice, I explore how immersive environments shaped by sound, light, and data can engage our minds and bodies to support more restorative, regulated states as well as connections to our natural world. I’m honored to support the Renée Fleming Neuroarts Investigator Awards, which bring together artists and researchers advancing innovative, interdisciplinary work on how the arts enhance mind-body connections and wellbeing. At a time when we struggle to remain grounded in an ever-changing, dynamic world, I think it is especially important to explore how creative experiences foster resilience, healing, and interconnectedness.”

“Once again, through the Renée Fleming Neuroarts Investigator Awards, creative and promising research will receive well-deserved yet desperately needed support, generating new knowledge and promoting a new cadre of professionals—all in the cause of building the field of neuroarts,” added Ruth J. Katz, executive director of the Health, Medicine & Society Program at the Aspen Institute and co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative. “We are very excited and most proud about our 2026 awardees. We wish them all the best and look forward to seeing their results.”

Learn more about the 2026 Renée Fleming Neuroarts Investigator Awards recipients:
https://neuroartsblueprint.org/neuroarts-investigator-awards/award-winners-2026/

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About Renée Fleming and the Renée Fleming Foundation

Renée Fleming is one of the most highly acclaimed singers of our time, honored with five Grammy® awards and the US National Medal of Arts. A 2023 Kennedy Center Honoree, she is the co-chair of the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative, and a World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for Arts and Health. As a leading advocate for research spanning arts, health, and neuroscience, Fleming has presented her program Music and Mind around the world. In April 2024, Viking Penguin Random House published her anthology Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness. Her other awards include the 2023 Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum, the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, Harvard Medical School’s David Mahoney Neuroscience Prize, and honorary doctorates from ten leading universities. The Renée Fleming Foundation is committed to helping to build the future of music and health research, as well as nurturing emerging artists, through targeted projects and support of recognized organizations doing this crucial work. The Foundation is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

About the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative

The NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative is a partnership between the Johns Hopkins International Arts + Mind Lab Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics (IAM Lab) and the Aspen Institute’s Health, Medicine and Society (HMS) Program. Co-directed by Susan Magsamen, MAS, executive director of IAM Lab, and Ruth J. Katz, JD, MPH, executive director of the HMS Program, the Initiative bridges the gap between the arts and sciences to advance health and well-being by promoting innovative research, developing evidence-based practices, and raising public awareness of the arts’ potential to enhance health. The Initiative also created and maintains the Neuroarts Resource Center, a first-of-its-kind online platform designed to connect, inform, and inspire the growing neuroarts global community.

About the Aspen Institute and the Health, Medicine & Society Program

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the greatest challenges of our time. The Institute is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners. The Health, Medicine & Society Program at the Aspen Institute brings together influential groups of thought leaders, decision-makers, and the informed public to consider health challenges facing the US in the 21st century and to identify practical solutions for addressing them.

Media Contacts:

Renée Fleming Foundation, Madeline Tatum, [email protected]

NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative, Catherine Law, [email protected]