From Resistance to Engagement: A Neuroscience-Informed ARTFUL Framework for Process-Based Arts Interventions

Peer-reviewed article in the journal Arts (MDPI), September 2026, DOI 10.3390/arts15090214.

Arts interventions built around active, embodied making tend to change people more than those built around looking at finished work. They also meet resistance: asked to take part in creative practice, non-artists — especially in higher education — often respond with discomfort and self-doubt.

The article presents ARTFUL, a six-stage framework designed to lower that barrier. It draws on neuroscience research on readiness for learning, cognitive scaffolding and embodied cognition, and pairs cognitive understanding with embodied experience at each stage. The framework was developed iteratively in an exploratory qualitative case study with 24 management students at Inholland University of Applied Sciences, using pre-programme surveys, post-programme interviews, creative diaries and reflective portfolios.

The method is set out in full, for teachers, in the book Connected Creativity.