{"id":3785,"date":"2026-06-14T10:18:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T14:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsably.com\/?p=3785"},"modified":"2026-06-14T10:20:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T14:20:34","slug":"empower-arts-summit-2026-beyond-access-reimagining-the-stage-through-disability-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsably.com\/fr\/empower-arts-summit-2026-beyond-access-reimagining-the-stage-through-disability-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Sommet Empower Arts 2026 \u2013 Au-del\u00e0 de l'acc\u00e8s : r\u00e9inventer la sc\u00e8ne gr\u00e2ce au leadership des personnes en situation de handicap"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am still reflecting on the Empower Arts Summit: Beyond Access: Reimagining the Stage Through Disability Leadership, which was held on June 1st, 2026, at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, to mark National AccessAbility Week in Canada. The event was masterfully organized by Jo\u00ebl Daz\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aim of the summit was to challenge participants to move beyond minimum standards of accessibility and toward bold, disability led ways of creating, producing, and experiencing the performing arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Centering on voices, creativity, and leadership of disabled artists, cultural workers, and advocates, the summit recognized disability not as a limitation, but as a powerful source of innovation, artistic excellence, and leadership across the arts sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our emcee for the day was Gift Tshuma, from Blurring The Boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"A
Gift Tshuma<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I had the privilege to open the day with an ArtsAbly workshop on adapted and adaptive musical instruments, featuring a few instruments using vibrotactile technologies and digital instruments which audience members could try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"A
ArtsAbly workshop with Diane Kolin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was followed by a series of panels moderated by the fantastic Anna-Karina Tabu\u00f1ar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first one was an artistic leadership panel with artistic directors of organizations in Ottawa on disability leadership and accessibility shaping the future of live performance and cultural events, today and in their visions of the future. I particularly enjoyed the visions and artistry of Rachel Weldon, Creative Director of Debaser, and Amelia Rose Griffin, Artistic Director of Propeller Dance. Petr Cancura, the Artistic Director of Ottawa Jazz Festival and Julian Armour, the Artistic Director of Music and Beyond, also shared their viewpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Six
Artistic leadership panel (ASL interpreter, Petr Cancura, Julian Armour, Rachel Weldon, Amelia Rose Griffin, Anna-Karina Tabu\u00f1ar)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was part of the second panel representing the artists\u2019 perspectives, with an incredible group of musicians: the pianist and composer Bruce Petherick, the pianist Xi Li, the guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Lucas Haneman, and the guitarist, vocalist and songwriter A.N. (Ado Nkemka). We discussed what it meant to be a disabled artist in our industry, and how to make venues and festivals more accessible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Seven
Artists\u2019 perspectives panel (Anna-Karina Tabu\u00f1ar, Bruce Petherick, Xi Li, Lucas Haneman, Ado Nkemka, Diane Kolin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We ended the panel with a surprise for the audience: an impromptu collaborative version of \u201cSummertime.\u201d It was the first time we were performing together; it was a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Six
Mini concert with the artists’ perspective panel (ASL interpreter, Anna-Karina Tabu\u00f1ar, Bruce Petherick, Xi Li, Lucas Haneman, Diane Kolin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Four
After the mini concert (Bruce Petherick, Xi Li, Lucas Haneman, Diane Kolin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before the closing conversation during which the audience members could share their options and ask questions to the panelists and artists, we were delighted by mini concerts by Lucas Haneman and Megan Laurence (The Blind And The Beautiful), A.N., and Bruce Petherick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"On
Lucas Haneman and Megan Laurence (The Blind And The Beautiful)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Also, thank you to the teams of ASL interpreters and visual describer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What an incredible day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Seven
Group picture with the members of the artists’ perspective panel (missing Bruce Petherick)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Diane Kolin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

June 3rd, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Je continue de r\u00e9fl\u00e9chir au sommet Empower Arts : \u00ab Au-del\u00e0 de l\u2019accessibilit\u00e9 : r\u00e9inventer la sc\u00e8ne gr\u00e2ce au leadership des personnes en situation de handicap \u00bb, qui s\u2019est tenu le 1er juin 2026 au Centre national des Arts \u00e0 Ottawa, \u00e0 l\u2019occasion de la Semaine nationale de l\u2019accessibilit\u00e9 au Canada. Cet \u00e9v\u00e9nement a \u00e9t\u00e9 organis\u00e9 de main de ma\u00eetre par Jo\u00ebl Daz\u00e9. L\u2019objectif du sommet \u00e9tait d\u2019inciter les participants \u00e0 aller au-del\u00e0 des normes minimales d\u2019accessibilit\u00e9 et \u00e0 s\u2019orienter vers des fa\u00e7ons audacieuses, men\u00e9es par des personnes handicap\u00e9es, de cr\u00e9er, de produire et de vivre les arts de la sc\u00e8ne.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-news-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsably.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsably.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsably.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsably.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsably.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3785"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsably.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3800,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsably.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3785\/revisions\/3800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsably.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsably.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsably.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsably.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}