Be.(art)sy: Where Art Ensures Learning and Drives ROI
Edition 31: Arts, Aesthetics and Adult Learning at the Workplace
My mission with this newsletter is simple yet ambitious: to help 100,000 professionals shift from being People Pleasers to becoming true Culture Builders.
For the past 32 weeks, I’ve shared insights through the People Please Newsletter - covering learning, development, OD, training, and everything in between that shapes workplace culture.
But Edition 31 is especially relevant for every Human Resource professional who plays a direct or indirect role in building people’s capacity at work - the very capacity that drives business results.
If you’ve read any of my earlier editions, and once you read this one, I’d love your thoughts. Suggestions, feedback, or ideas - drop me a note anytime at shikha@be-artsy.com.
The ART in Be.(art)sy isn’t decorative, it’s deeply deliberate
Be.artsy was born from a deeply personal moment. My first career was as a professional dancer and stage theatre artist, a path I could not pursue in early 2000s India, when art had yet to be commercialised into a viable profession.
At the time, India’s creative economy contributed barely 1% to GDP, compared to 4–5% in countries like the U.S. and U.K. Pursuing the arts meant passion, not livelihood.
But the stage left a lasting impact on me: the discipline of performance, the vulnerability of expression, and the power of stories to move people.
Years later, while flipping through an architecture book, my eyes fell on a bold “BE.” Something in me stirred - an echo of those unfinished artistic dreams and my restless energy to do impact-driven work for my country (and now beyond).
Almost instinctively, I said out loud: “Be.artsy.”
The name grew from that spark, partly from my lived experiences, partly from intuition. For a long time, I wondered if experiential knowledge was “enough.” That changed when my close friend, who studied Master’s in Education at Harvard and has been running alternative-method Prakriti School in India, reminded me:
“Every course, every discipline, began with people who lived it first. Researchers then joined in, tested, and formalised it into education.”
That freed me.
Why Be.(art)sy Matters
I leaned into art-based learning without hesitation, first experimenting in 2010 through my start-up Be.cause. Though I had to shut it down within 10 months, I refused to abandon the vision.
Just a month later, I launched Be.artsy – Awareness Experts, determined to make it succeed. Nearly 15 years in November 2025, here I am, writing this newsletter.
Recently, I discovered that scientists in the United States have been tracing, for over 35 years, the very approaches I’ve been applying in India for the last 15 years to design adult learning solutions at the workplace.
The academic field of neuroaesthetics, founded by Semir Zeki in 1999, studies how the brain perceives, processes, and creates art. Research shows that engaging with art activates the brain’s reward system, strengthens memory, and sharpens focus - core outcomes every workplace training aspires to.
Building on this, researchers like Susan Magsamen at Johns Hopkins University helped formalise neuro-arts, a sub-discipline that integrates neuroscience and the arts to improve learning, health, and wellbeing. In 2024, Johns Hopkins even launched its first undergraduate course on neuroaesthetics - “How the Arts and Aesthetic Experiences Advance Health, Wellbeing, and Learning.”
For me, this marks a milestone: what was once lived intuition at Be.artsy is now recognised as global evidence-based practice.
What is Neuro-arts?
Neuroarts is about using the arts as science-backed tools to rewire the brain for better learning and wellbeing. Neuroarts also confirms that the brain can form new connections at any age, and art fuels this by engaging the senses, activating the reward system, boosting memory, and sparking imagination. It mirrors how we naturally learn - emotionally, socially, and experientially.
Activates the brain’s reward system (you feel good, motivated).
Strengthens memory and focus (you remember better when learning is multi-sensory).
Builds resilience (art helps you process stress and bounce back).
Improves wellbeing (lowers stress, boosts mood, increases belonging).
Neuro-arts transforms organisational training by turning dry lecture based sessions into powerful learning journeys that shift both knowledge and mindset.
Why the Arts Outperform Lectures in Adult Learning
Most corporate learning still depends on only two senses, seeing slides and hearing lectures. The result? Passive listening, weak engagement, and quick forgetting.
But neuroscience tells us a different story: when several senses work together, we form deeper, longer-lasting memories and real behaviour change.
This is where the arts make a difference. They don’t just “add creativity” or “entertainment” they wake up the brain and body, boosting learning, health, and well-being.
And to understand why, we need to move beyond the old idea of just “five senses.”
The Myth of the Five Senses
For centuries, we were told that humans experience life through just five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. While not wrong, that view is far too simple.
Modern neuroscience shows we actually have many more: balance, temperature, pain, body awareness, even our sense of time. Depending on how you count, scientists recognise 9–12 senses, and some now argue for 20 or more.
Infact neuroscientist Dr. Tara Swart, even suggest there could be 34 senses. These include senses of internal states, emotion, and even intuition, all playing a role in how we learn, create, and connect.
How Our Senses Shape Learning at Work
Senses quietly shapes how we understand and respond to the world. And the more senses we activate, the deeper, richer, and more lasting our learning becomes.
The Usual Way – Lectures & Presentations
Mostly use just two senses: looking at slides (vision) and listening (hearing).
Sometimes your “sense of time” kicks in, usually because the session feels never-ending.
Result? Low engagement, shallow learning, and quick forgetting.
The Neuroarts Way – Learning Through the Arts
Arts light up many senses at once.
Theatre role-play → you see, hear, move, feel emotions, and read body language.
Music & rhythm → you listen, feel time and rhythm, move your body, and connect emotionally.
Painting & visual arts → you see, touch, create, and focus mindfully.
Dance / movement → you use balance, body awareness, rhythm, and social connection.
Result? Richer brain activity, deeper engagement, and lessons that actually stick.
Why Organisations Should Use Neuro-Arts for Learning
Better ROI – Arts-based learning improves retention by 30–40% (Arts Council UK), cutting repeat training costs.
Mindset Shifts – Builds empathy, adaptability, and resilience, skills traditional training can’t teach.
Inclusive Learning – Multi-sensory methods engage all learners: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.
Wellbeing – 76% of employees say stress hurts productivity (Gallup). Art reduces stress which boosts morale, and builds belonging.
The Future of Learning Is Multi-Sensory
The future of adult learning will belong to those willing to move beyond the lecture hall and into the multi-sensory, arts-driven spaces where transformation truly happens.
“The arts are not a luxury. They are science-based tools that change the brain, body, and behaviour.” - Susan Magsamen (Johns Hopkins)
In 2017, Google set out to understand the future of leadership development and launched a new leadership centre of excellence: The Google School for Leaders.
Another example is The Nomadic School of Wonder, now collaborating with brands like Google, Airbnb, and Meow Wolf, is redefining experiential learning. The future of learning, leadership, and adult capacity building is inherently experiential and multidimensional.
Neuroarts-based learning goes beyond retaining information- it helps develop new capacities and new ways of thinking, cultivating both skill sets and mindsets.
The ‘Art’ in Be.artsy isn’t just a name, it’s a philosophy, a science-backed practice, and a lived belief that art transforms workplaces not through abstraction, but by rewiring how we learn, connect, and grow.
Best | Shikha Mittal | Founder, Be.artsy
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People Please is a thoughtfully crafted newsletter for professionals seeking a fresh, honest perspective on learning and development, both personal and professional.
Over the past 15 years, I’ve collaborated with 450+ organisations across 48 industries, designing and delivering culture & learning and developing programs impacting over 500,000 professionals through my enterprise, Be.artsy. which I founded in 2010 in Delhi, India.
Be.artsy’s work has been widely featured in national and international media outlets including Forbes India, BBC, DW Media.
For culture building, learning and development programs and other business inquiries, please reach out to Be.artsy’s Growth Manager.