Here are my remarks from a PJI (Peace & Justice Institute) event at the Edyth Bush Foundation on 02/24/2026. I was asked to discuss the book Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross in regards to the importance of Arts & Culture funding as a necessity and not just an “extra”

Good evening.

It’s really good to be here with people who care not casually, but deeply about peace, justice, and the kind of community we’re shaping.

As the Chair of the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and as someone who’s learned so much through the Peace and Justice Institute, I’ve been thinking a lot about where science, spirit, and public responsibility intersect.

Many of you have read Your Brain on Art, so I’m not going to summarize it. Instead, I want to talk about what it means for us.

What struck me most is this: art isn’t a luxury. It isn’t something we fund when everything else is handled. It’s foundational. It’s how human beings regulate themselves. It’s how we process pain. It’s how we stay connected to each other when the world feels overwhelming.

Neuroscience is now confirming something that spiritual traditions have always understood — we are shaped by what we repeatedly experience.

When we experience beauty, rhythm, story, shared attention our nervous systems settle. We become more open. More capable of empathy. And for those of us engaged in justice work, that matters. Because fear and exhaustion narrow us. Art widens us again.

That widening, that restoration of empathy is not a side effect of peace work.

It is the groundwork.

If peace is more than the absence of conflict if it’s about right relationship then we have to care about the internal conditions that make relationship possible. Policy alone won’t do it. Dialogue alone won’t do it. But art, thoughtfully integrated into civic life, absolutely helps.

And we see this right here in Central Florida.

Think about the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Yes, it’s a performance venue. But it’s also a civic space. People from every background sit together, share an experience, laugh at the same moment, hold their breath at the same moment. That shared attention changes something.

Or the murals in Parramore and Eatonville. Those aren’t just public art projects. They’re statements of dignity. They say: your story matters. You belong here.

Or the quiet spaces at the Rollins Museum of Art. In a culture that rewards speed and certainty, those rooms invite reflection. Slowness. Complexity. And we desperately need those qualities in our public life.

What this research helps us see is that these experiences aren’t “extra.” They support mental health. They strengthen education. They build the neurological capacity for dialogue and resilience.

So when we advocate for arts funding, we are not asking for decoration. We are advocating for community resilience. When we protect creative spaces, we are protecting the conditions that allow empathy and nonviolence to grow. When we embed art into schools, healthcare, and civic life, we are investing in long-term stability.

And from a spiritual standpoint, that’s a moral question.

What kind of people are we forming?
What kind of communities are we building?
What practices are we encouraging that help people feel grounded enough whole enough to care for each other?

An aesthetic mindset one rooted in curiosity, awareness, and openness can be cultivated. And that mindset is not separate from justice work. It strengthens it.

The Peace and Justice Institute understands that transformation begins within. Art simply gives us another pathway there.

So my invitation is simple.

Let’s continue to advocate for the arts boldly, not as a luxury, but as infrastructure for peace.
Let’s design policy that recognizes beauty as a public good.
And let’s remember that when we create space for art, we create space for people to reconnect with their own humanity and with one another.

In a fractured time, that may be one of the most important forms of justice work we can do.

Thank you.