Help ArtsAbly make the arts more accessible

My name is Diane Kolin. I live in Toronto, in Canada. I am a singer, a voice teacher, and a PhD candidate in the music department of York University in Toronto. I am also a wheelchair user. As a performer regularly facing the lack of accessibility of performance spaces and concert halls, I started interviewing musicians with disabilities in the professional music industry to learn how others have dealt with similar issues and how they managed to become the successful musicians they are today. This is the main subject of my PhD research, and this is how the idea of creating ArtsAbly started. Based on the interviews but also discussions with music teachers, I developed a program to include more conversations about accessibility and disability in music schools. I am lucky to be a voice teacher in a community music school who let me run a series of workshops on the topic of adaptive instruments and voice, supported by my university. I have shared my experience and my research multiple times in universities and schools, and continue to do so. Recently, I also started to be trained as a professional accessibility assessor for the Rick Hansen Foundation.

All these elements became part of the growing idea of a company proposing services promoting accessibility in the arts in Canada. I now need help to start efficiently. I already have a website that will be completed little by little. I intend to run a speakers series interviewing Canadian artists with disabilities to share inspirational stories. I am collecting resources that will be published for structures who need ideas to apply to their own orchestras, choirs, companies or venues. What will come later is an online course about accessibility in the arts, that will also be delivered in various formats in person and online. I have ideas, but each one comes with cost and time. Thus, I need help, and every penny will be greatly appreciated!

I will give you updates on my progress. In the meantime, if you have any question, comment, or feedback, don't hesitate to contact me.

Here is a video I published to introduce ArtsAbly. Enjoy, and thank you for your support!