ABLE Assembly 2023

The Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education (BIAAE) is delighted to announce the 2023 ABLE Assembly: Arts Better the Lives of Everyone conference, which will take place online April 21–23, 2023. In-person and online attendance options are available. 

Registration is open now through April 20, 2023.

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 21
  • Lunch on April 22 and April 23
  • 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 2023 through April 2024; and 
  • The opportunity to earn 18 professional development points (opens in a new window).

 

If You Attend Online:

  • Livestream access to keynotes and some workshop sessions
  • Access to curated pre-recorded sessions and supporting materials
  • 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 2023 through April 2024; and 
  • The opportunity to earn 18 professional development points (opens in a new window).

Accessibility

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

Please register by April 20, 2023.

 

Schedule

Access to the full conference schedule can be found here: ABLE Assembly 2023 Schedule

 

Register


Featured Saturday Keynote Speaker: Liz Byron

Empower Your Students and Innovate Your Instruction—Implement Universal Design for Learning Now!

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The typical arts educator sees anywhere from 100 to 600 learners each week,  and every student presents their own unique needs and interests. As educators, we must transform our instruction to empower all learners and meet their individual needs… but how?

Universal design for learning (UDL) is a powerful framework that offers a roadmap to reduce learning barriers and achieve expert learning regardless of your teaching circumstances. This keynote will deepen your understanding of UDL, make connections to culturally sustaining pedagogy, and provide practical examples of how to apply UDL to your arts curricula; you will expand your instructional toolkit and transform your pedagogy while providing all your students with options to be more motivated, resourceful, and goal-directed.

Liz Byron strives to be a compassionate and culturally responsive art educator. She is a dynamic presenter, author, and the K1-8th grade visual art, special education, and ESL teacher at a Boston public school where her students describe her as kind and strict. She has presented on universal design for learning (UDL) at numerous conferences, professional development workshops, and taught graduate-level courses on UDL, most recently as a teaching fellow for the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Byron shares some of her experiences in her book, Art for All: Planning for Variability in the Visual Art Classroom. She has six professional teaching licenses and education degrees from Boston College, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Lesley University.


Featured Sunday Keynote Speaker: Ming Yuan Low, Ph.D., MT-BC

How Do I Experience You? How Do You Experience Me? What Does It Mean for Us?: A Music Therapist's Reflexive Journey as a Researcher Clinician

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Ming Yuan Low, Ph.D., MT-BC, is a Nordoff-Robbins music therapist and assistant professor of music therapy at Berklee College Music. His clinical work and research center on community-informed music therapy practices and supports for folks who locate in marginalized identities. His scholarship focuses on critical explorations in music therapy theory and practice, as well as participatory action research with autistic and BIPOC communities.
 
"As we are exploring how current systems and processes in education and healthcare have ableist roots, I had to do my own self-reflection in the culture I was brought up in, the knowledge I have learned, the values that are embedded in me, and how I enact them in my practice as a music therapist and researcher," says Ming Yuan Low. "In this presentation I will be sharing my journey into critically examining the profession I love, and challenging dominant practices and making it more accessible for my autistic participants for my dissertation research."
 

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.