NYU Steinhardt Hosts Sept. 18 Symposium Exploring How the Arts Lessen Loneliness and Isolation

Parade, an immersive festival co-led by Maria Hodermarska from Drama Therapy and Dr. Nan Smither from Educational Theatre, brought together students, faculty and community partners in Washington Square Park in 2023. Photo by Cory Berezow and Billie Michael.

Why does a mother's lullaby soothe her agitated child? How does storytelling help reduce the effects of loneliness? Can making art heal fractured communities by promoting engagement, creativity, and connection?

These and other timely questions are at the heart of "The Art and Science of Social Connection," a day-long symposium on September 18 from NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at the Eisner & Lubin Auditorium in the Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South.

Part of the United Nations General Assembly Healing Arts Week, which is produced by the Jameel Arts & Health Lab in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the event explores the power of art to foster social connection and offers ways to promote a more connected culture.

Participants include Renee Fleming, renowned opera singer and WHO Arts & Health Ambassador, Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, Christopher Bailey, the Arts & Health Lead for the WHO, and a host of NYU Steinhardt experts in dance, theater, music and other creative arts therapies.

Dr. Jeremy Nobel, author of Project UnLonely: Healing our Crisis of Disconnection and a faculty member of NYU Langone's Department of Psychiatry, will deliver the keynote address.

According to the WHO, social isolation and loneliness affect physical and mental health, quality of life, and longevity, and their effects on mortality are comparable to risk factors such as smoking, obesity, and lack of physical activity. In addition, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy last year declared loneliness and social isolation an epidemic.

"There is increasing evidence indicating the benefits of the arts and creative arts therapies in improving health at any age," says Nisha Sajnani, director of the Steinhardt Drama Therapy program and co-director of the James Arts & Health Lab. "This symposium will illuminate how artistic expression can motivate individuals and communities to participate more fully in their own health and wellbeing and support social cohesion, which offers powerful protection against stress and its effects."

Jack Knott, Gale and Ira Druckier Dean of NYU Steinhardt, will open the symposium. He will be followed by Fleming and Nobel, who will highlight his work using creative expression to address chronic loneliness. Jackson, Bailey, Sajnani, Jill Sonke, director of the University of Florida's Center for Arts in Medicine, and Larissa Trinder, Assistant Vice President of NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine program, will describe local, national, and international arts initiatives working on this issue.

Journalist Julia Hotz moderates a panel on programs that nurture social connections through dance, theater, and art. Panelists include Steinhardt professors Marygrace Berberian (art), Joe Salvatore, (drama), Deborah Damast (dance), Nicole Fleetwood, author of Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, and J. Lawrence Aber, former director of Global TIES for Children, a center that promotes children's learning and development.

During lunch, Constantina Theofanopoulou, a professor at Rockefeller University and a visiting scholar at NYU's Center for Ballet and the Arts, will demonstrate her neuroscience research into the neural circuits of complex sensory motor behaviors, including dance and speech, as they relate to social connection. Understanding the neurological links could lead to breakthroughs in therapies for speech and motor disorders.

The final panel - with Ian Koebner, strategic advisor for health and wellness research at Carnegie Hall, Kenneth Aigen, director of the Steinhardt Music Therapy program, Ana Flavia Zuim, director of the Vocal Performance program, Adriana Diaz-Donoso, director of music education, and Morwaread Farbood, professor of music technology - will explain the science of using music to promote social wellbeing and how it bridges social divides in the aftermath of conflict. Carlos Chirinos-Espin, director of the NYU Music and Social Change Lab, will moderate.

The symposium begins with refreshments at 8:30 a.m. in the Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South. Registration is free and can be done by visiting this website.

About NYU Steinhardt
Located in the heart of New York City's Greenwich Village, NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development prepares students for careers in the arts, education, health, media and psychology. Since its founding in 1890, the Steinhardt School's mission has been to expand human capacity through public service, global collaboration, research, scholarship, and practice. To learn more about NYU Steinhardt, visit steinhardt.nyu.edu.

Peggy McGlone

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