NeuroArts at Florida Atlantic
Where art meets Brain Science
Exploring how music, dance, theatre, visual art, and storytelling can shape the brain, support well-being and resilience, and strengthen human connection.
The Idea: What is NeuroArts?
NeuroArts brings creative practice and scientific inquiry together to understand how the arts affect the brain and body. At Florida Atlantic, researchers, artists, students, clinicians, and community partners are asking what artistic engagement can tell us about cognition, well-being, and connection across the lifespan.
Read about the NeuroArts Academic Network
“The arts are not merely expressions of human experience – they are powerful tools for healing and neurobiological integration.”
- Michael Horswell, Ph.D., Dean, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
The Collaboration: NeuroArts at Florida Atlantic
Since 2025, Florida Atlantic has been part of the NeuroArts Academic Network's initial working group. The Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute and the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters work with colleagues across the university, including the Center for the Resilient Mind, to connect the arts with neuroscience, health, education, and community engagement.
Through the Program in Artistic Resilience, this work examines how participation in the arts may affect brain function and support resilience.
In practice: Featured research and projects
From community choirs to original theatre, these projects show how Florida Atlantic is studying artistic experience in real settings.
MUSIC · DEMENTIA · COMMUNITY
From Silence to Song
With support from a Renée Fleming NeuroArts Investigator Award, researchers are studying dementia-friendly choirs in rural Minnesota and Wisconsin. The project explores how group singing may support cognition, mood, identity, and social connection for participants and care partners.
THEATRE · VETERANS · RESILIENCE
RISE: From Story to Stage
This Vertically Integrated Project brings together theatre, nursing, neuroscience, and data science. Its first pilot develops performances from veterans' stories about their relationships with their dogs while exploring resilience, well-being, and connection
The people: Faculty involved
NeuroArts brings together faculty across the arts, neuroscience, medicine, health, and other fields. Please check back for the directory being developed.
Art, Brain, and Resilience
The Insights VIII exhibition at Florida Atlantic’s Ritter Art Gallery brought creative work and conversations about the bipolar brain into a shared public space.
WORK WITH US
Connect with Neuro Arts
We welcome conversations with students, faculty, artists, clinicians, educators, and community partners interested in research or collaboration.
For inquiries, contact the Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute main office at 561-799-8100.