Vocalist Bobby McFerrin, Cornell President David Skorton and Cornell faculty members in music, medicine and psychiatry will consider the role of the arts in mental health June 2-3 at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

"The Arts and Mental Health" will address the importance and impact of participatory and presentational art in the lives of the general population and particularly members of the academic community.

The event is free and open to the public. Schedule of events:

June 2, 6 p.m.: "Making Art," performances by Cornell faculty and guest artists; poetry of Sylvia Plath and Joan Mackowski, Cornell assistant professor of creative writing; Ned Rorem's "Ariel," based on Plath's suicide poems, performed by clarinetist Frank Daykin, pianist Armand Ambrosini and soprano Judith Kellock, Cornell associate professor of music; and a performance of "Musical Genius and Psychiatric Illness" by psychiatrist and pianist Dr. Richard Kogan, who directs the Music and Medicine Initiative at Weill Cornell Medical College.

June 3, 2:30 p.m.: interactive performance by McFerrin, a 10-time Grammy Award winner; 3:30 p.m., a panel discussion moderated by Skorton, an amateur musician, with Kogan; Misheaila Neil, director of performing arts programming, Elmira College; Dr. Carlyle Miller, associate dean of student affairs and equal opportunity programs at Weill Cornell Medical College, and a published poet; and Dr. David Shapiro, Weill Cornell clinical professor of psychiatry and chair of the Music and Medicine Initiative and an amateur musician.