2026 Overview
Request for Proposals
The Renée Fleming Foundation, in partnership with the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative, is offering the third year of the Renée Fleming Neuroarts Investigator Awards. The Awards support innovative and collaborative research by early career researchers, designed to expand the evidence base of the emerging field of neuroarts and further the mission of the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative. The mission of the NeuroArts Blueprint is to ensure the arts — and their use in all their many forms — become part of mainstream medicine and public health. Each Award is to be jointly presented to (1) an early-career researcher who is affiliated with an academic institution and engaged in a field of basic science related to neuroarts; and (2) an arts practitioner working in an arts-based neuroarts discipline.
Neuroarts is the study of how the arts measurably change the brain and body and how this knowledge is translated into practices that advance health and wellbeing. This work can help people prevent, manage, and recover from physical and mental challenges across the lifespan. Fields of basic science related to neuroarts include neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, public health, medical sciences (neurology, complementary and integrative medicine, pediatrics, gerontology, psychiatry), rehabilitation science, and others. Arts-based neuroarts disciplines include visual arts, dance, music, expressive writing, performing arts, digital arts, design, and others. Qualitative and quantitative studies, and studies with human subjects are eligible for an Award.
Applicants may submit one proposal for an Award of up to $25,000 for a grant period between 12-18 months. In addition to receiving financial support, each grantee team will also be paired with a mentor who has significant expertise in the field. The mentorship will include several virtual meetings across the course of the grant period. Applications will be reviewed by an external committee of experts in the field of neuroarts, including a researcher and an artist or arts practitioner.
Watch a short message from Renée Fleming on the awards here.
The deadline for submitting proposals is February 3, 2026. Final Award decisions will be made by the NeuroArts Blueprint leadership team in consultation with an independent Applications Review Committee. Awards will be announced on April 15, 2026.
Additional information is provided below. A technical assistance webinar will be held on December 18, 2025 from 1-2pm Eastern. You may register for the webinar here.
Use this form to submit your application.
Please direct all questions about the application process to the general inquiry email address for the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative: [email protected]
Criteria for Awarding Funds and Application Guidelines
Guided by the following criteria, the program’s external review committee of experts, including neuroarts researchers and art practitioners, will evaluate proposals for their scientific and artistic merit and potential for expanding the evidence base to build the foundation of the field of neuroarts:
- Leadership: Are the principal co–researchers well qualified in terms of expertise and experience to carry out the project effectively and efficiently?
- Early Career Opportunity: Does the project involve principal researchers whose work has not yet received R01 or equivalent funding?
- Evidence of Interdisciplinary or Multidisciplinary Approach Involving the Arts and the Sciences: Does the project either integrate knowledge and research methods across disciplines or include experts from different disciplines?
- Advancing the Field: Are the results of the project likely to help advance the field of neuroarts, including the possibility of securing additional research support to build on the results?
- Innovation: Does the project make a novel contribution to the field of neuroarts through innovative concepts, approaches, or methods that will help advance research in the field?
- Timeliness: Can the project be completed within the one-year timeframe allotted under the terms of the Award?
- Diversity: Is the research team diverse in terms of experience, background, and discipline?
- Equity: What are the meaningful benefits for the communities who are directly served—or could be served by this research in the future?
Application Guidelines
- Applicants must be US citizens or permanent US residents.
- An early career researcher is an individual who has completed their terminal research degree or medical residency — whichever date is later — within the past 10 years.
- Proposals must include at least two co-principal investigators. A co-PI may be:
- Co-PI 1: An early career researcher with an appointment at an academic or research institution and engaged in a field of basic science related to neuroarts. Such researchers may apply as an individual neuroarts-based researcher or as the leader of a team of researchers
- Co-PI 2: An individual engaged in an arts-based, performance, or other neuroarts-related discipline. Such individuals may apply as an individual practicing within a discipline of arts-based neuroarts and/or as an individual affiliated with an organization engaged in an arts-based neuroarts discipline.
- One of the Co-PIs must certify that they have the authority to administer the award at their institution.
- If the principal researchers are affiliated with two different institutions, only one institution will be designated the fiduciary agent of the award.
- Members of the Application Review Committee or individuals affiliated with the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative who are in a decision-making capacity regarding the Awards, as well as staff of the Renée Fleming Foundation, may neither apply for an Award nor participate in the development of an application for an Award or the execution of any Award.
- Awards are for a period of one year, beginning on the date that notification of the Award has been received.
- For projects involving human subjects, approval from the Institutional Review Board (or an equivalent such committee) of the academic or research institution with which an applicant is affiliated must be secured. Please be aware that recruitment for your study cannot commence until you have provided us with the IRB approval notice.
- The proposed project must be designed to expand the science behind neuroarts, i.e., the scientific evidence that demonstrates the power of the arts to measurably change the brain and body in advancing the health and wellbeing of individuals.
- Supported Activities: Funding may be requested to support staff, research supplies, conference-related travel, and other items and activities related to carrying out the project.
Reports: A brief interim progress report is required at the midpoint of the grant period. A written final report, required at the completion of the grant period, should summarize the results of the project as well as the prospects for securing additional funding based upon the work produced through the project. Photographic and/or video documentation of the work, adhering to best practices for privacy protection, may be included.