ABLE Assembly: Arts Better the Lives of Everyone

ABLE Assembly 2025

The Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education (BIAAE) is delighted to announce the 2025 ABLE Assembly: Arts Better the Lives of Everyone conference, which will take place April 11–13, 2025. In-person and online attendance options are available.

Registration is now open.

The conference registration fee is $125 and includes:

If You Attend In Person:

Sessions at Berklee College of Music in Boston
An opening reception on April 11
Lunch on April 12 and April 13
Access to recorded sessions and supporting materials after the event has concluded
Admission to the Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education's (BIAAE) Digital Learning Series, 12 monthly webinars and workshops with hands-on teaching strategies that will be offered from May 2025 through April 2026; and
The opportunity to earn 18 professional development points.

If You Attend Online:

Livestream access to keynotes and some workshop sessions
Access to exclusive curated pre-recorded sessions and supporting materials by luminaries in the field
Day-ending synthesis discussions with opportunities to engage with the presenters
Admission to the Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education's (BIAAE) Digital Learning Series, 12 monthly webinars and workshops with hands-on teaching strategies that will be offered from May 2025 through April 2026; and
The opportunity to earn 18 professional development points.

Schedule

Full schedules and session information are posted. You can access it with the drop-down menu.

Accessibility

Synchronous sessions will be live-captioned and American sign language–interpreted. Asynchronous sessions will be captioned.

Registration is now open.

Featured Saturday Morning Keynote Speaker: Christopher Hanson

As a conductor, violinist, composer, pedagogue, philosopher, and musicologist, Dr. Christopher T. F. Hanson enjoys working across a number of disciplines to promote the transformative power of the arts. Dr. Hanson holds three master's degrees from Texas State University: in music history, music theory, and music composition. He also holds a PhD in school improvement from Texas State University, as well as a certificate of professional ethics from the Texas State Philosophy program.

Most recently, Dr. Hanson served as an assistant professor of music education at Seattle Pacific University. He has developed and facilitated a number of courses that explore creativity, imagination, and interdisciplinary pedagogy. His research focuses on the transformative power of the arts, student and teacher agency, and the significance of diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and belonging (DEIAB) in education. As a queer scholar, Dr. Hanson uses research platforms to challenge and “queer” professional spaces of teaching and learning, particularly within and through the arts.

Before transitioning to higher education, Dr. Hanson worked as a public school teacher in central Texas for eight years. He designed, implemented, and taught unique curricula for music appreciation, AP music theory, and string orchestra in both middle school and high school. He was recognized with the Outstanding Teacher in the Humanities award in 2015. Hanson played a crucial role in reviving the public school strings program in San Marcos CISD through intense public advocacy for the arts.

Currently, Dr. Hanson serves as the artistic director for Rainbow City Performing Arts (RCPA), and the music director of the Rainbow City Orchestra (RCO). Rainbow City is a nonprofit community music organization that serves and supports the LGBTQIA+ community in greater Seattle through the study and performance of contemporary and historically marginalized composers. More information about the RCO and RCPA can be found at www.rainbowcity.org.

Keynote Title: The Value of a Wrong Note: Shifting Perspectives and Redefining Success

Description: Often, in our professional experiences as artists, educators, and advocates, we are encouraged or even required to view our experiences and the experiences of others as binary. Subsequently, our experiences are then valued by their conformity to the "right" side of binary systems of assessment. I am forced to wonder, when confronted with such realities, what happens to the "other?" What happens to the individuals who do not fit this model, whose value lies beyond binary conceptions of good and bad? I believe the arts provide a unique opportunity to answer such questions. At a time when silence seems to be preferred over "playing the wrong note," I would like to encourage dissonance. I want to explore what happens when we shift perspectives of and through the arts, to not only embrace a diversity of sounds in the world, but to amplify them to reveal a more cacophonous beauty and complexity that are often discouraged and ignored? What happens when everyone is heard?

Featured Saturday Afternoon Keynote Speaker: John Elder Robison

John Elder Robison grew up with Asperger’s Syndrome and was undiagnosed until the age of 40. He has nevertheless lived an incredible life. In his new book Switched On, he describes how a powerful brain therapy has allowed him to sense other people’s feelings and claim a newfound emotional intelligence. A leading voice on autism, he implores audiences to find strengths where others see weaknesses.

Robison is the Neurodiversity Scholar in Residence at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and one of the founders of the Neurodiversity Program at the school—one of the first of its kind at a major American university. He teaches neurodiversity at the Williamsburg campus and at the Washington, DC, continuing education facility. He is an active participant in the ongoing discussion of ethical and legal issues relating to autism therapy, services, and intervention. He is particularly interested in improving quality of life for people living with autism today—both autistic people and their family members. He’s been a member of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee of the US Department of Health and Human Services, and he serves on other boards for the US National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and private organizations. He is also a professor of practice in the Department of Education at Bay Path University in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, and the cofounder of the TCS Auto Program, a special education high school program for teens with developmental challenges in Springfield, Massachusetts.

In his younger days, Robison worked as an engineer for KISS and Pink Floyd’s sound company and worked on original electronic games at Milton Bradley. Later, he founded J. E. Robison Service, a restorer of Land Rover, Rolls Royce, and Mercedes motorcars.

Robison’s books, Switched On: A Memoir of Brain Change and Emotional Intelligence, Look Me in the Eye, Be Different, and Raising Cubby, are the most widely read accounts of life with Asperger’s in the world. His books have been translated into more than 15 languages, and they are sold in more than 60 countries. Robison has also authored or contributed to over 100 autism-related articles.

Keynote Title: Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's

Description: In an affecting, unforgettable talk, John Elder Robison details how he overcame enormous odds to lead a remarkable life: from an anti-social child to a successful father now running a multimillion-dollar car specialty shop and his own photography business. Though his life is unique—he’s designed guitars for KISS and toys for Milton Bradley—it’s equally rich with clues to both spotting autism in children and harnessing the best from those already diagnosed. (Some autistic kids excel at math, in engineering, and with technology.) Robison has been applauded by thousands—the general public, teachers, mental health workers—for his storytelling skill, his on-stage compassion, and his insistence that anyone can lead a successful life according to gifts, not limitations. Neurodiversity is not a disease that needs curing; it’s a way of experiencing life that requires only understanding and encouragement from others. Robison reminds us that people “on the spectrum” can develop throughout their lives, and that it’s never too late to hope for or expect change.

Featured Sunday Morning Keynote Speaker: Tony Memmel

Tony Memmel is a singer-songwriter, speaker, and teacher with unique charisma and creativity. Though he was born with one hand, he taught himself to play the guitar professionally by building a special cast that he designed out of Gorilla Tape.

Memmel has spoken and performed in 47 states and 25 countries, and has worked with 16 countries virtually, sharing his music and his message of hard work, determination, and resilience.

His work ranges from visiting schools, hospitals, and churches, to writing and arranging music for children, composing symphonies, performing in historic concert venues, and helping people with hand and limb differences to develop their own adaptive methods that allow them to make music a part of their lives.

Keynote Title: Determination and Duct Tape: What Guitar Taught Me About Grit (And How It Can Help You, Too)!
Description: Born with one hand, Tony Memmel taught himself to play the guitar professionally by building a homemade adaptive cast out of Gorilla Tape. He’s toured 47 states and 25 countries, sharing his music and message. In his talk, he’ll explore how embracing perceived limitations and obstacles can lead to unique opportunities in your life. Through story and song, Tony will encourage you to remember this… that one idea that you have that is as seemingly simple and small as learning a few songs on a guitar can shape your future and the lives of all you encounter.

Featured Event: Free Concert by Berklee Music Inclusion Ensemble, featuring Gaelynn Lea

Saturday, April 12

7:00 p.m.

Berklee Performance Cener

Admission: Free

About the ABLE Assembly

The ABLE Assembly is an exceptional professional development opportunity in the field of arts education and individuals with disabilities, bringing together educators, artists, researchers, policymakers, school administrators, program administrators, and students to share best practices, explore new research, and learn from each other.