News and initiatives
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Roy Thomson Hall: the choir loft becomes accessible 44 years after the opening
This is a huge victory for accessibility in the performing world! Roy Thomson Hall (own by The Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall) is the home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and a major venue for large semi-professional or professional ensembles, orchestras and choirs. It opened in 1982. Renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman served as a special advisor to the architects during the design phase to ensure that the venue was fully accessible to disabled performers and patrons at all levels. However, the choir loft, located on a balcony above the orchestra, was left aside. Choristers access the choir…
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Music and Collective Access Symposium 2026 – Final Report
On February 27 and 28, 2026, we completed our inaugural Music and Collective Access Symposium at St. John’s College, UBC, in Vancouver, and online. It was a successful event. This final report will go back to the origins of the event, give some insights into its different steps, and highlight the content of the symposium. The program is still available on the symposium’s website: https://www.musiccollectiveaccess.com/. Origins of the project and budget The idea of the symposium was born from a conversation between Dr. Anabel Maler, Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the University of British Columbia School of Music, and…
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Music and Collective Access Symposium 2026 – Website and program
The new website of the Music and Collective Access Symposium 2026, co-organized by UBC and ArtsAbly, has been launched. The program of the symposium, which will be held on February 27 and 28 in Vancouver, is now published. The event is free but registration is mandatory. Please visit https://www.musiccollectiveaccess.com/ for more information. Registration is now open. This event will present a mix of lectures, lecture-recitals and workshops. Our keynote speaker is Pamela Witcher. We invite you all to join and share the information with your networks. Contact us if you have questions.
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Interview – Resources provided by Eric Whitmer
As part of the podcast series, “ArtsAbly in Conversation,” Diane Kolin interviewed Eric Whitmer, a third-year Ph.D. student in Musicology at the University of Michigan. Listen to Eric Whitmer’s interview This post presents the resources that Eric Whitmer mentioned during the conversation. Eric Whitmer Eric Whitmer is a third-year Ph.D. student in musicology at the University of Michigan. Their research draws from the fields of disability studies and digital studies, and seeks to understand how and why people utilize music to make the world “better” (big scare quotes intended). Their dissertation tracks the deployment of legal, economic, and digital technologies…
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Interview – Resources provided by Robyn Rennie
As part of the podcast series, “ArtsAbly in Conversation,” Diane Kolin interviewed Robyn Rennie, a visual artist living in New Brunswick in Canada. Listen to Robyn Rennie’s interview This post presents the resources that Robyn Rennie mentioned during the conversation. Robyn Rennie A life-changing vision loss in 2005 has changed how Rennie experience the world. She often continues to choose landscape subject matter, but visual impairment has freed her from her former style of highly-detailed expression, and created a shift toward abstraction and the visceral. While she uses the same medium and grounds, she now employs them to subvert popular…
