We are looking forward to sharing a special evening with you exploring the powerful intersection of art, nature, neuroscience, and well-being.
Join our gathering of artists, researchers, and program partners as we experience Caponi Art Park’s newly installed Restorative Sound Garden—an immersive outdoor concert you can walk through. Composer, designer, and NeuroArtist James “JG” Everest will share the vision and science behind this groundbreaking project.
Light refreshments will be served.
Casual Attire. Comfortable walking shoes are recommended for the unpaved, wooded trails.
Event Location
Caponi Art Park
1220 Diffley Road
Eagan, MN 55123
For questions kindly reach out to Toni Newborn, who is coordinating the evening on our behalf, at toni@naomidruevents.com.
About the Project
The Restorative Sound Garden is a collaboration between Caponi Art Park and composer and NeuroArtist JG Everest. Grounded in the emerging field of NeuroArts, the project brings together the three pillars of Caponi Art Park’s mission: art, nature, and wellbeing and explores how art and nature can support the brain, body, and overall wellbeing. A recent MinnPost feature explores the vision behind the project in more depth: Hey Minnesotans, want a wellness boost? Seek out a Sound Garden.
The long-term goal is a permanent Sound Garden at Caponi Art Park that functions as both a public artwork and a community space for reflection, connection, and discovery. With more NeuroArts research, the Sound Garden may offer a new approach to healing, recovery, and connection that uses art, nature, and brain science as an alternative to pharmaceutical and screen / tech-based treatments.
What is a Sound Garden?
JG Everest has placed 30 independent speakers throughout the wooded landscape. Each speaker plays a different element of a larger composition that he created and spatially arranged specifically for the site’s trails and terrain.
There is no single listening point. As you walk, what you hear changes based on where you are and as the composition interacts with the existing sounds of birds, wind, trees, and activity in the park. The result is a unique experience shaped by music, movement, nature, and place.
Years in the Making
JG Everest first brought his Sound Gardens to Caponi Art Park in 2019. During that installation, Caponi Art Park Executive Director Cheryl Caponi recognized the potential for a permanent Sound Garden within the park’s wooded trails.
Since then, the idea has developed through years of Sound Garden installations, research, experimentation, and collaboration, including a larger-scale installation at Caponi in 2024.
The 2026 prototype is the first phase of the Restorative Sound Garden initiative, offering visitors an opportunity to experience the concept as the team works toward realizing its full potential.
Meet the Collaborators
The project brings together perspectives from music and art, neuroscience, landscape architecture, nature, and community wellbeing.
JG Everest | Composer and NeuroArtist | Artistic Director, Wavelets Creative
Zeynep Başgöze, PhD | Neuroscience researcher and faculty at the Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing at the University of Minnesota
Cheryl Caponi | Co-Founder and Director, Caponi Art Park
Lindsay Buck | Artist & Landscape Architect, Tree & Table
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram , or sign-up for our newsletter to receive more information about events, classes, volunteer opportunities, and other park updates.