Can Art Save Us? — Creativity, Resilience, and the Human Spirit
John Studzinski, Rebecca Salter, and Will Todd explore how art and creativity help us process trauma and build resilience in times of crisis.
Why we picked this
Includes a preview screening of a new opera — this is the RSA at its most ambitious, bridging art and science around human resilience.
The question sounds grandiose, but the panel takes it seriously and specifically: what does the evidence say about creativity as a mechanism for processing trauma? John Studzinski CBE brings the philanthropy perspective, former Royal Academy president Rebecca Salter brings the practitioner’s view, and composer Will Todd brings a preview of a new opera that explores these themes directly.
This isn’t abstract art-world navel-gazing. It’s a conversation grounded in neuroscience and clinical evidence about why making things — music, paintings, stories — appears to help people recover from experiences that words alone can’t reach.
Free at RSA House.