You may have heard that phrase growing up, a call to nurture our intellect, creativity, and potential. Coined in 1972 by the United Negro College Fund, the slogan became a national reminder of the power of education. On Monday evening, that message took on new life as the Woodruff Arts Center launched Georgia's NeuroArts Coalition, an initiative exploring how art and neuroscience intersect to improve health, learning, and community connection.
Held at Atlanta Symphony Hall, the event drew more than 500 artists, scientists, educators, and civic leaders for the debut of The Arts + Health Laboratory, Georgia's branch of the national NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative. The Blueprint, a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University's International Arts + Mind Lab and the Aspen Institute, leads the Global Community NeuroArts Coalitions Network, a framework uniting cities worldwide to use arts-based approaches for health and well-being.
"This is a cultural shift," said Susan Magsamen, co-founder and co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative and author of "Your Brain on Art.
"We're standing on the verge of a new era where the arts can deliver potent, accessible, and proven health and well-being solutions to billions of people."
Magsamen explained that the NeuroArts Coalition model helps communities identify measurable outcomes and strengthen collaboration between science and the arts, an approach endorsed by the National Endowment for the Arts, which has emphasized that artists and researchers learn best by working together. "When we experience art together, our neurons literally start to fire together," she said. "We become more open and empathetic to each other. That's what music can do for us."
Each Community NeuroArts Coalition (CNC) is designed to reflect the diversity of its community while linking researchers, artists, educators, and public health leaders to co-create evidence-based programs. Using local asset mapping and community-based participatory research, CNCs develop interventions tailored to regional needs, from improving maternal health to reducing social isolation through the arts.
Georgia's Arts + Health Laboratory will connect the Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, High Museum of Art, and academic partners such as Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the Morehouse School of Medicine.
"The arts are not an accessory; they're essential to how we live, learn, and heal," Magsamen said.
The evening featured a piano performance by Dr. Adrian Tyndall, Dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine, followed by remarks from Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera and two panel discussions exploring how the arts can both nurture developing brains and repair degenerating ones.
During the planned programming, Tinashe Kajese-Bolden, artistic director of the Alliance Theatre, introduced a performance from Milo Imagines the World, a new musical about empathy and imagination.
"When young people see someone close to their age on stage creating something brave and true, it expands how they see themselves," she said. "Imagination is our birthright; it's how we find resilience, identity, and belonging."
In an interview with The Atlanta Voice after the program, Kajese-Bolden reflected on the Alliance Theatre's "Babies Can Read" program, which integrates theater with early literacy for children ages zero to five. "It's not about creating more actors or musicians," she said. "It's about creating a generation with more curiosity, more hope, and the ability to imagine a world where they're not just surviving, but thriving."