The Gambrell Foundation’s Author Series, in partnership with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, harnesses the power of books to turn ideas into action. We gather readers and creative thinkers to explore books that shape how we think and how we live. Together, we move ideas off the page and into action, strengthening relationships and moving society ahead through reading, learning, and acting.
Our first event features Susan Magsamen, co-author of Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, in conversation with Charlotte Is Creative co-founder Matt Olin. Magsamen’s research demonstrates how the arts deliver measurable outcomes: reducing stress hormones in 45 minutes, building cognitive skills, and addressing public health concerns from loneliness to dementia. Her work represents a paradigm shift—positioning the arts not as entertainment, but as essential infrastructure for healthier communities.
This inaugural event, supported by Queens University of Charlotte and Ally Financial, connects academic research, creative practitioners, and community leaders around a shared question: How can we leverage the arts to build well-being and transform our region? How can the arts help us build great lives?
Susan Magsamen is the founder and executive director of the International Arts + Mind Lab (IAM Lab), Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her work explores how the arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the brain, body, and behavior, and how these insights can inform health, wellbeing, and learning programs in medicine, public health, and education.
A successful entrepreneur, she founded award-winning arts education companies—Curiosity Kits and Curiosityville—which have earned over 600 innovation and impact awards. She is also the author of seven books on the arts for children, families, and educators.
Magsamen developed Impact Thinking, a translational research model that applies scientific methods to arts and aesthetics to scale, disseminate, and evaluate real-world applications. She co-directs the NeuroArts Blueprint project, a joint initiative with the Aspen Institute to establish neuroarts as a field integrating arts and aesthetics into medicine and public health.
She is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us.
Co-founder of Charlotte Is Creative, a non-profit that develops and runs initiatives such as Queen City Quiz Show (winner of a 2016 Knight Cities Challenge Grant), the HUG (“Helpful Unfettered Gift”) creative microgrant program, and The Biscuit, a media channel covering the immense creativity and inspiring creators of Charlotte.
He also hosts CreativeMornings/Charlotte, a popular monthly breakfast lecture series celebrating the creative spirit of Charlotte and its citizens.
Matt spent the first 20 years of his career creating and producing theater in Charlotte and New York – productions garnering such honors as 14 Tony Awards, 50 Tony nominations, Obie Awards, Drama Desk Awards, and more. His wife, Sarah, and daughter, Mirabelle, also love calling Charlotte “home.”
