The Artist-Initiated Frontier: Structural Evolution and the ALO Framework in Neuroarts Research

Neuroarts has matured to a developmental threshold at which artist-led inquiry is both necessary and structurally underserved. While the Neuroarts Blueprint Initiative publicly commits to identifying gaps and removing obstacles that impede the field’s expansion, independent arts practitioners seeking to contribute to the field encounter a pervasive access paradox: an institutional ethos that rhetorically champions equality while operationally privileges inquiry originating from institutionally anchored laboratories and credentialed academic environments. Through a structural audit of the Neuroarts Blueprint Initiative’s flagship investigator-level funding mechanisms, this article demonstrates how artist-initiated proposals are systematically precluded prior to intellectual merit review due to eligibility asymmetries and administrative capture, revealing a contradiction between the organization’s theoretical foundations and its current funding praxis. To address these constraints, I propose the Artist-Led Origination (ALO) framework—a standards-equivalent structural enhancement that operationalizes mission-critical equity while enabling Neuroarts to advance through expansion rather than displacement.