MFG Association Collective, Art and Neuroscience Conference, Sylvie Chokron

All of Milk for Good’s partner organisations came together on 11 April to hear neuropsychologist Sylvie Chokron speak about the impact of culture and artistic practice on brain development.

In an hour and a half, the speaker covered the creative brain in prehistory, the link between creation and memory, cultural preferences, education “through art” or “to art”… Her talk notably confirmed the undeniable contribution of artistic practice to child development: fine motor skills, language, curiosity, self-esteem, attention, memory, etc. Art in the broad sense acts on every aspect of a child’s development.

A month later, neuropsychologist Sylvie Chokron led a practical session with Milk for Good’s partner organisations on art and impact.

In the first part, the speaker discussed the types of actions that support child development and the different ways of measuring it through the lens of neuroscience and scientific studies. Sylvie Chokron concluded by presenting so-called “validated”questionnaires (those that have scientifically proven the consequences of a cause) that organisations could use to measure their impact.

In the second part, organisations exchanged in small groups about their respective practices and objectives, before dedicating time to each organisation to identify their specific needs.

Finally, each organisation came before the group to present its structure, how it measures impact, and its needs to strengthen this.

It is now up to the organisations to dive into the validated questionnaires and develop their impact measurement practices in ways that are most useful to them. In parallel, reflection continues on how to build, using the data that will emerge, a joint advocacy initiative.