This Special Presentation is a Lunch & Learn. You are viewing the program description for the LECTURE:

The Transformative Power of the Arts for Our Health

Over the past few decades, researchers and medical health professionals have discovered the transformative effect of the arts on health, finding that the arts engage the brain in ways that help us ward off dementia and, according to researcher Daisy Fancourt, “improve the functioning of every major organ system in the body.” This talk will look at some of the fascinating ways in which the arts improve our health and wellbeing. For example, music is being used in Neonatal Intensive Care Units to help the brains of premature infants develop normally. Music can help Alzheimer’s patients recover memories and help Parkinson’s patients improve mobility. Engaging in the visual arts can help reduce stress, decrease depression and reduce pain. Dancing can improve cardiovascular health, and participating in any of the arts improves cognitive function. This doesn’t mean you have to be an artist or musician – just add a dose of the arts to your daily or weekly routine.

LOIS SVARD, pianist and professor emerita of music at Bucknell University, spent the early part of her career as a performing pianist, premiering and recording several works written for her by American experimental composers. Her interest in the brain led to a study of neuroscience and music, and she became one of the first to apply current neuroscience research to music study and performance. Her book, The Musical Brain: What Students, Teachers, and Performers Need to Know (Oxford) is the winner of the 2024 ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson book award.