Art has always been a reflection of and response to the world around us. It’s also a way of envisioning what is possible and what is just. We have seen art-making on the front lines of the current uprising, with people around the world using art to call out racism, end police brutality and fight […]

As we grapple with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are making and appreciating art as a way to cope, renew and restore.  People adjusting to life on lockdown have intuitively turned to the arts in every form—drawing, writing, singing, dancing, baking, crafting and more.  Research is proving that the arts are […]

Johns Hopkins Magazine recently profiled the International Arts + Mind Lab (IAM Lab) in the Fall 2019 issue, highlighting its growing body of work in the field of neuroaesthetics—at Hopkins and around the world. IAM Lab executive director Susan Magsamen spoke with Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson about the vision of the lab as a hub of […]

The International Arts + Mind Lab (IAM Lab) hosted its inaugural Dialog Series this spring, featuring singer/songwriter turned public health researcher Tasha Golden PhD. Dr. Golden’s workshop, Advancing Health Equity: Embracing the Creative Process to Evolve Health Research, demonstrated the value of using the arts as an innovative tool for communication, research and healing in […]

The military face many health risks and challenges on the battlefield, but the scars they carry are not always visible. While physical injuries are on the decline in recent years, service members are increasingly struggling with lingering psychological tolls. More than 500,000 veterans of the U.S. military live with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic […]

To witness the healing power of music, you don’t have to look any further than the spontaneous outbursts of singing by thousands of people as they watched in horror and disbelief at the flames shooting out of the Notre-Dame Cathedral on Monday. In these gentle voices, there is the sound of sorrow and grief in […]

The International Arts + Mind Lab (IAM Lab) of Johns Hopkins University recently teamed up with Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions (CNHP) on an innovative new study of the therapeutic potential of virtual reality. Led by Girija Kaimal, EdD, assistant professor in CNHP’s Creative Arts Therapies Department, and Susan Magsamen, executive director […]

Our work is taking root and blossoming this spring as the International Arts + Mind Lab heads to Italy to participate in the most important design event of the year, Milan Design Week. On April 9,  we’ll open our exhibit A Space for Being at Salone del Mobile Milano. Developed in partnership with Google, Muuto […]

IAM Lab recently launched a new section of its website dedicated to Impact Thinking, our translational research approach to enhance human potential in health, wellbeing and learning through the arts. Impact Thinking is an eight-step model designed to build open-source knowledge and a pipeline of arts + mind research focused on solving real-world problems. By […]

Author Nic Stone answers student questions about her book, “Dear Martin,” selected for the One Book Baltimore initiative.   Want students to love reading? Give them a book they can relate to. “Kids were in it from the first chapter. They didn’t want to do anything else but read,” said Tiarra Leverett, a seventh- and […]