Join us for a life-altering journey through the new science of neuroaesthetics, and discover how your brain and body transform when you participate in the arts.

Did you know that fifty-five minutes of art can reduce the stress hormone cortisol, or that just one art experience per month can extend your life by ten years?

Many of us think of the arts as entertainment — a luxury of some kind. But science can now show us how activities from painting to dancing to expressive writing are essential for our lives, and profoundly beneficial for our health.

Drawing upon conversations with artists and scientists including David Byrne and E. O. Wilson, and upon their revelatory scientific research, Susan Magsmen and Ivy Ross join us to reveal how a new understanding of art and aesthetics can help transform medicine, build healthier communities and mend an aching planet.

They will expand our understanding of how playing music builds cognitive skills and enhances learning; the vibrations of a tuning fork create sound waves to counteract stress; virtual reality can provide cutting-edge therapeutic benefit; and interactive exhibits dissolve the boundaries between art and viewers, engaging all of our senses and strengthening memory.

Weaving together breakthrough insights from multidisciplinary pioneers with compelling stories from people who use the arts to enhance their lives, this is conversation that no-one interested in either art nor science can afford to miss.

Praise for Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross’s Your Brain on Art:

‘Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross, through extensive interviews and research, have created something beautiful and affirming with their book Your Brain on Art. Its pages provide proof for what so many of us have always known, that art, especially art in community, is transformative beyond measure’ – David Byrne

‘This book blew my mind! An authoritative yet practical guide to the neuroarts — a term that, if you haven’t heard it before, is even more reason to join these brilliant co-authors on a romp through the latest science on how art transforms the brain and the body’ – Angela Duckworth

‘This book brilliantly puts a new science to the experience of viewing and making art, and shows us how to use art to transform our daily lives. Your Brain on Art will change how you think about the creative world – both around you and within you’ – Charles Duhigg

‘A groundbreaking book on the science behind humanity, joy and creativity. Art is the word we use for the magic that makes us better’ – Seth Godin