ABLE Assembly 2027
The Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education (BIAAE) is delighted to announce the 2027 ABLE Assembly: Arts Better the Lives of Everyone conference, which will take place April 10–11, 2027. 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;
- 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 2027 through April 2028; 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 2027 through April 2028; and
- the opportunity to earn 18 professional development points.
Schedule
Full schedules and session information will be posted in February. You can access the 2027 schedule with the drop-down menu.
Accessibility
Synchronous sessions will be live-captioned and American Sign Language-interpreted. Asynchronous sessions will be captioned.
We are committed to making this event accessible and inclusive for everyone. If you require any accommodations to participate fully, please contact Dr. Rhoda Bernard at rbernard@berklee.edu by April 1 so we can best support your needs.
Registration will open in October 2026.
Saturday Keynote Speaker: Emily Ladau
Session Title: Expecting More of Disabled People in the Arts: Moving Beyond the Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations
Ask what the arts offer disabled people and you’ll likely hear about self-expression and healing. Ask how far disabled people can go in the arts and the answers too often become less clear. It’s true (and important!) that the arts can be therapeutic and enriching, but when those are the only outcomes we imagine for disabled people, we risk closing off opportunities to develop craft and pursue careers. In this keynote, Emily Ladau, disability rights advocate and author of Demystifying Disability, will share practical ways to move beyond the "soft bigotry of low expectations," replacing them instead with high expectations paired with meaningful support.
About Emily
Emily Ladau is a passionate disability rights activist, writer, and communications and cultural access consultant. Her career began at the age of 10, when she appeared on multiple episodes of Sesame Street to educate about her life with a physical disability. Emily’s writing has been published in outlets including the New York Times, CNN, Vice, and HuffPost. Her book, Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally (newly revised in 2026), was published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. She has spoken before numerous audiences, from the US Department of Education to the United Nations. Central to all of Emily’s work is her belief that by sharing our stories and making the disability experience accessible to the world, we’ll reach a world that’s more accessible and inclusive for everyone.
Sunday Keynote Speaker: Jillian Raquet
Session Title: The Power of Being Given the Right Tools
When Jillian Raquet started losing her eyesight as a young teen, she thought getting her diagnosis would finally help her understand how to move forward. Instead, she found a lot of the pressure fell on her to not only find the right tools, but to prove that she needed them. As an awkward adolescent, this can be a lot to take on. Uncomfortable with the attention her disability brought, she often struggled to advocate for herself. As a result, she spent much of high school and early college without proper accommodations, preventing her from reaching her full potential as a student and an artist. That is, until Jillian was introduced to an environment where having the proper tools was the standard and not the exception. Experiencing what accessible education could look like empowered her to advocate for herself more confidently and unapologetically, even when confronted with the same barriers she had faced before.
Creating an accessible environment for your students to learn means giving them equal access—not special treatment, and it's too often treated that way. Jillian will share her journey and explore how educators can create environments that empower students with disabilities to advocate for themselves, develop independence, and realize their full potential from day one.
About Jillian
Jillian Raquet is a New York City–based nonprofit arts administrator, educator, and vocalist with more than a decade of experience in the nonprofit arts and cultural sector. As an artist with low vision, Jillian is deeply committed to creating more inclusive pathways in the arts. Her work is closely connected to the Filomen M. D'Agostino Greenberg Music School, a community music school for the blind and visually impaired, where she began as a student in 2012 while studying musical theater at Marymount Manhattan College. Through her work there, she collaborates with fellow artists with vision loss and is dedicated to expanding meaningful opportunities for artists of all ages and abilities. Jillian’s professional background includes positions at leading arts organizations such as TADA! Youth Theatre, Theater Development Fund, and Philadelphia Theater Company, where she developed expertise in arts education, outreach, and program development. As a singer, Jillian has been featured both as a soloist and as part of various vocal ensembles at NYC venues such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Don’t Tell Mama, Bargemusic, and Carnegie Hall. Most recently, Jillian was the guest host of the Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education’s ABLE Voices Podcast for a five-episode run.
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.