PODIUM 2024 - May 16-19, 2024, in Montreal
2024-05-16 00:00 - 2024-05-19 23:59 (America/Toronto) | Delta Hotels Montreal, 475 President-Kennedy Avenue, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1J7, Canada
PODIUM 2024, Canada’s national bilingual choral Conference and Festival, is the top meeting place for Canada’s choral and group singing arts sector and community. Presented by Choral Canada and Alliance chorale du Québec, in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, on the unceded traditional territory of the Kanien’keha:ka, as well as online through our conference app. PODIUM 2024 will bring together hundreds of delegates and thousands of singers and audience members from across the country and beyond who are passionate about group singing.
ArtsAbly will be present onsite for the four days and will animate one of the virtual conferences/talks about accessibility and disability in choirs.
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Abstract:
What does it mean to have an accessible choir? During our life, we all experience a situation during wich we face a certain level of limitation, that might be caused by an accident or an illness. Getting older or having a disability also comes impairment. In that situation, it is frequent that people stop some of their activities. In the case of choirs, weekly rehearsals and concerts might be tiring or difficult to achieve for someone who experience a limitation. However, as stated by Choral Canada and the European Choral Association’s shared Benefits Of Singing public awareness campaign, singing improves physical, psychological, social and educational aspects of choir members. How to reconcile disability and accessibility in our choirs? Whether you want to share your own concerns as a singer or you want to improve the accessibility of your choir, join this session for a conversation about disability and accessibility in choral singing with Diane Kolin, founder and director of ArtsAbly.
More info on https://www.podium2024.ca/

MHRI Conference: Music, Health, and the Community, in Ottawa
2024-05-21 00:00 - 2024-05-24 23:59 | Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, 1145 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, ON, K1Z 7K4, Canada
ArtsAbly participates in a roundtable on May 21, 2024.
2024 Conference announcement
Link to the program

PRIVATE EVENT – Concert-workshop with Xenia Concerts: Michael Bridge & Diane Kolin at Safehaven, in Toronto
2024-07-10 15:00 - 17:00
Xenia Concerts makes a private appearance at Safehaven with a family-friendly concert that embraces neurodiversity and disability! This collaboration between Xenia Concerts and Safehaven provides an inspiring musical experience to the organization’s attendees!
This concert has been designed to be enjoyable and accessible for neurodivergent listeners, those with disabilities, and their families and caregivers.
More information on Xenia Concerts’ website

Summer break 2024
2024-09-01 00:00 - 2024-09-30 23:59
All activities of ArtsAbly, including the podcast, will be on summer break from September 1st to September 30, 2024.

4th Annual Humanities Podcasting Network Symposium: Best Practices
2024-11-08 10:30 - 11:45 | Online
For this fourth iteration of the HPN Symposium, on November 8 and 9, 2024, we find ourselves interrogating, engaging with, and pushing the boundaries of the concept of “best practices” and how it relates to humanities podcasting. Our initial inquiry was born out of a discussion about the need to counteract worker invisibility and exploitation on university campus podcast teams. But this raised a larger, thornier debate: Are there other agreed-upon principles of podcast-making and audio creation? If so, have they emanated from particular forebears and models, or sprung up out of habitual creation like unwritten, but widely understood, common laws? Are there contexts peculiar to podcasting that deserve their own careful ethical treatment or understanding?
Diane Kolin, founder and director of ArtsAbly, will be part of the discussion panel in Session 2: Best Practices for Podcasting as Artistry and Craft, on November 8 at 10:30 AM EST. You can find below the full program of the symposium and the registration link below. The recording of the session will be shared later.
Full program of the 4th HPN annual symposium
Registration link on Eventbrite

Celebrate the 50th episode of ArtsAbly in Conversation - June 13 at 6 pm EST
2025-06-13 18:00 - 19:30 | Online
Welcome to ArtsAbly in Conversation with artists! ArtsAbly’s aim is to promote artists with disabilities through the podcast “ArtsAbly in Conversation” available on all streaming platforms and on YouTube. This special podcast episode will be the 50th since ArtsAbly was launched in 2024. It will be a live online discussion with artists who have been guests of the podcast in the past. Let’s discuss the power of artists with disabilities in the arts industry: visual arts, theatre, music, dance, etc. We will share tips, good practices, and examples of accessible venues.
We organize this event so that you can be part of the journey. We believe that all artists interviewed by ArtsAbly should be paid (we usually give a honorarium), but we need your help to reach our goal and continue fund our episodes and promote more artists. Tickets for the event are free but we encourage donations. There are no small amounts. Any support will be appreciated.
Join us online for an engaging session where talented artists share their insights, inspirations, and creative processes. This event is a unique opportunity to connect with artists from various backgrounds and learn about their artistic journey. Get ready to be inspired and gain a deeper understanding of the artistic world. Don’t miss out on this exciting event!
Get your free ticket: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/artsably-in-conversation-50-special-episode-live-online-discussion-tickets-1367090367089?aff=oddtdtcreator
Guests include:

Alex Bulmer, Playwright and theatre artist.
Emily Schooley, Actor and filmmaker.
Kemal Gorey, Media Composer, RAMPD Secretary.
Malicious Sheep, Multidisciplinary artist.
A. Laura Brody, Curator, Founder of Opulent Mobility.
Rory McLeod, Artistic Director of Xenia Concerts.
Traci Foster, Artistic Director of Listen to Dis’.
Stefan Sunandan Honisch, Musician, Sessional Lecturer, Theatre Studies.
Andrew Dell’Antonio, Musicologist, Professor.
Elizabeth McLain, Musicologist, Assistant Professor.
Robin Hahn, Soprano, opera singer.
Deshaymond, Singer, songwriter, producer.
Heather Feather, Children’s performer.

The episode is hosted by Diane Kolin, director and founder of ArtsAbly.

Music in the Village - The Village at Black Creek 2025
2025-08-09 11:30 - 2025-08-10 15:30 | The Village at Black Creek, 1000 Murray Ross Pkwy, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 2P3, Canada
The past comes to life in the Village at Black Creek on August 9th and 10th, 2025. The upcoming shows will illuminate the historic village with live performances all weekend long! Travel through time and catch all of the acts by a range of all-star artists!
ArtsAbly is the accessibility advisor for this event. We will be present onsite for the entire festival.
It’s Fab, it’s fun, and it’s FREE!
More info on FabCollab’s website

CCMP Accessibility and Theatre Workshop – Private event
2025-10-04 00:00 - 23:59
Private event: Community Theatre and Accessibility workshop organized by ArtsAbly for City Centre Musical Productions (CCMP) in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

2025 Joint American Musicological Society and Society for Music Conference – Musicking in Disabled Community: Access Intimacy and Cultural Activism
2025-11-08 13:30 - 15:00 | Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, 1300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN, 55403, United States
Organized by the AMS Music and Disability Study Group. Saturday, November 8, 2025. 12:30pm – 2:00pm CDT / 1:30pm – 3:00pm EST
The Music and Disability Study Group of the AMS hosts three presentations and a conversation on the theme “Musicking in Disabled Community: Access Intimacy and Cultural Activism.”
We have chosen three presentations that:

Are driven by the interests and priorities of disabled people;
Involve people collaborating across disability identities, prestige categories, and professional affiliations;
Engage with co-creating disability culture (see Brown, “What is Disability Culture,” ​Disability Studies Quarterly 22:2 (2022) and/or access intimacy (See Mingus, “Access Intimacy: The Missing Link”, 2011; https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/access-intimacy-the-missing-link/ ) as a form of resistance to structural ableism.

The presentations will be followed by general conversation on the themes above. All are welcome!
Presentations:

Access Culture at the Cedar – Elizabeth McLain
ArtsAbly and Disability Culture – Diane Kolin
Crip Sonorities – Molly Joyce

Full details: https://www.conftool.pro/minneapolis2025-ams-smt/index.php?page=browseSessions&form_session=258

Lecture at OCAD University: Accessibility assessments of public art installations
2025-11-12 11:30 - 14:30 | OCAD University, 100 McCaul St, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 1G1, Canada
My colleague Roman Romanov, Sessional Lecturer at OCAD University and fellow Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC) Professional, invites Diane Kolin to present the public art accessibility assessments work frequently done by ArtsAbly to his class about accessibility and design.
This presentation is not public.

ArtsAbly and UBC: Music and Collective Access Symposium
2026-02-27 00:00 - 2026-02-28 23:59 | St. John’s College, 2111 Lower Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
We are delighted to announce the Call for Papers for the Music and Collective Access Symposium, which will occur in February 2026 in Vancouver.

Music and Collective Access Symposium 2026
Link to the event website: https://www.musiccollectiveaccess.com/
The event is free but registration is mandatory.

Organizers:
Anabel Maler (UBC), Stefan Sunandan Honisch (UBC), Diane Kolin (ArtsAbly)
Keynote speaker:
Pamela Witcher
When:
February 27 & 28, 2026
Where:
In-Person: St. John’s College, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Online (Zoom)
Registration:
https://www.musiccollectiveaccess.com/registration/

We are pleased to invite you to the upcoming Music and Collective Access Symposium, which will take place from Friday, February 27 to Saturday, February 28, 2026, in Vancouver BC, Canada, hosted by St. John’s College at the University of British Columbia.
This hybrid (in-person and online, synchronous) conference is a collaborative undertaking between ArtsAbly, a not-for-profit organization working with performers and schools to make the arts more accessible to all, faculty members at UBC, and Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture, a Vancouver not-for-profit organization.
The symposium will offer performances, workshops and lectures, led by specialists, scholars and performers from across Canada, and will provide a forum for claiming access as a collective responsibility, while thinking through the theoretical, practical, aesthetic, and educational questions that individual access needs present in performance and learning environments. Four workshops will be featured: Braille notation, American Sign Language (ASL), accessible technology and instrument design, and performance and improvisation.
We gratefully acknowledge that the symposium has been made possible by the support of our host, St. John’s College, UBC, a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Development Grant, a SSHRC Race, Gender, and Diversity Initiative Grant, and UBC Strategic Equity and Anti-Racism (sTEAR) funding. The UBC Vancouver campus is situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the Musqueam Nation. Elder Larry Grant is a Faculty Fellow of the College.

The sympsosium will offer:

Papers (20 minutes, with 10 minutes for discussion)
Lecture Recitals (30 minutes, with discussion)
Workshops (1 hour)

Access Supports for the Symposium:
The symposium organizers will provide maximum access support to the best of our ability.
The symposium is in a hybrid format, welcoming both online and in-person synchronous presentations. All symposium sessions will include Sign Language interpretation, and Communication Access Real Time (CART) captioning. In addition, hired students will be available to provide help moving around the University of British Columbia for both days of the symposium. All symposium materials will be available in large print format (24 point, Sans Serif). For participants attending in person, there will be a designated quiet room, and we will provide a scent-free environment. For participants attending online (Zoom), participating in discussion both by speaking and by typing will be available. Symposium organizers will read typed comments and questions aloud for everyone. For online sessions, we will ask participants to avoid using emojis, and to refrain from typing comments during sessions, to avoid access barriers for people using assistive technology.
If you wish to discuss specific access needs with us at any point, please feel welcome to write to the symposium organizers using the dedicated email address provided below.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email musiccollectiveaccess@gmail.com.

Empower Arts 2.0 Summit - Beyond Access: Reimagining the Stage Through Disability Leadership
2026-06-01 12:00 - 17:30
The National Arts Centre (NAC) in collaboration with Blurring The Boundaries Arts (BTBA), the Research Centre for Music, Sound, and Society in Canada at Carleton University, the Canadian Accessible Musical Instruments Network, and the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation invites you to Empower Arts 2.0, a public disability arts summit taking place during National Accessibility Week.
Free event with registration: https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/41432
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What to expect and Schedule

11:30 – 12:00: Welcome and Registration (Location: Peter A. Herrndorf Place)
12:00 – 12:15: Pick-up lunches (Location: Peter A. Herrndorf Place)
12:15 – 13:00: Music and Access – a workshop led by Diane Kolin (Artistic Director ArtsAbly), focused on disability led approaches to music creation, performance, and access (Location: Peter A. Herrndorf Place)
13:00 – 13:15: Break and move to the Fourth Stage
13:15 – 14:15: Arts Leaders: Accessibility Initiatives in Ottawa – a leadership panel with leaders from the festival and entertainment industry, which include: Petr Cancura (Artistic and Interim Executive Director Ottawa Jazz Festival), Rachel Weldon (Director Debaser, Founder Pique Festival), Amelia Rose Griffin (Artistic Director Propeller Dance), and Julian Armour (Artistic and Executive Director Music And Beyond). These panel discussions explore how disability leadership and accessibility are shaping the future of live performance and cultural events. (Location: Fourth Stage)
14:15 – 14:45: Performance (Location: Fourth Stage)
14:45 – 15:45: Artists’ Perspectives: An artist panel featuring individuals who bring lived experience of disability, sharing creative practice and perspectives on the barriers they encounter in the performing arts. Panel members consist of: Bruce Petherick (Piano Composer, Artistic Director White Rock City Orchestra), Diane Kolin (Singer, music instructor, Executive Director ArtsAbly), Xi Li (pianist, DMA candidate – Western University, workshop facilitator), and Lucas Haneman (guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, band leader of The Maple Blues Band). (Location: Fourth Stage)
15:45 – 16:15: Networking break with light refreshments (Location: Peter A. Herrndorf Place)
16:15 – 16:45: Performances (Location: Fourth Stage)
16:45 – 17:15: The Way Forward: a closing town hall discussion, inviting participants, artists, and leaders to reflect together, share insights, and imagine next steps for accessibility and disability leadership in the arts. (Location: Fourth Stage)
17:15 – 17:30: Closing Remarks (Location: Fourth Stage)

Bach Children's Chorus - Workshop - Accessibility in the performing arts
2026-06-19 00:00 - 23:59
Private event: Accessibility in the Performing Arts Workshop organized by ArtsAbly for Bach Children’s Chorus in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Keynote - ISME Commission on Special Music Education and Music Therapy pre-conference
2026-07-22 11:15 - 12:15 | Music and Health Research Institute, University of Ottawa, 50 University Private Perez Hall, Room 204, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada
Dr. Diane Kolin, the founder and director of ArtsAbly, will deliver the keynote of the International Society for Music Education (ISME) Commission on Special Music Education and Music Therapy pre-conference on July 22, 2026, at 11:15 am.
The full schedule of the pre-conference (July 21-24) can be found at the following link: see full schedule.
Registration can be made on the ISME pre-conference website: register for the pre-conference.

Panel - 37th International Society for Music Education (ISME) World Conference
2026-07-27 13:50 - 15:20 | Palais des congrès de Montréal (Montréal convention centre), 1001 Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle, Montréal, QC, H2Z 2A7, Canada
For its 37th edition, the ISME World Conference will meet in Montreal, at the Convention Centre, around the theme ‘Unity in Music Education: Building Bridges for All.’
The panel entitled ÉTeaching Disability Studies in Music Education: Experiences from the Field” brings together six people who teach disability studies concepts in the areas of K-12 music education, community music education, undergraduate music education (including music teacher education), and graduate music education to share their perspectives and experiences on the current state and future of disability studies in music education. We bring a range of perspectives to this work given our respective contexts.
Presenters: Lorenzo Sánchez-Gatt, Kimberly Gardner, Diane Kolin, Mike Carter, Warren Churchill, Juliet Hess
Schedule: Monday, July 22, 2026 at 1:50 pm.
Information about the conference and registration can be found on the conference website: visit the ISME World Conference website.
