English 
French As part of the podcast series, “ArtsAbly in Conversation,” Diane Kolin interviewed Julia LaGrand, a classical violinist from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
This post presents the resources that she mentioned during the conversation.
NPR’s From the Top
From the Top is a non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating the stories, talents, and character of young classically-trained musicians. From the Top’s Learning and Media Lab Fellowship provides young musicians a space to explore life as an artist, content creation, and the power of community engagement. Fellows also have the unique opportunity to share their performances and perspectives with a large national radio and digital audience.
Listen to the episode co-produced by Julia LaGrand, Celebrating Musicians with Disabilities
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli-American violinist. He has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that have included a state dinner for Elizabeth II at the White House in 2007, and at the 2009 inauguration of Barack Obama. He has conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Westchester Philharmonic. In 2015, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Perlman has won 16 Grammy Awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and four Emmy Awards.
Visit Itzhak Perlman’s website
RAMPD
RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities) is a professional platform equipping the music and live entertainment industry with disability inclusive tools, programming and strategy. RAMPD also connects the industry to a global directory of peer-vetted music/sound creators and industry professionals with disabilities, neurodivergence and other chronic or mental health conditions, to find source and hire—bringing competitive opportunities, visibility and community to our Professional Members while offering disability inclusion to Industry/Venue partners. RAMPD’s Mission is to amplify Disability Culture, promote equitable inclusion, and advocate for inclusive and accessible spaces in the music and live entertainment industries. Founded in May of 2021 (and established January 2022) by award-winning recording artist and cultural activist Lachi, RAMPD came about after a public talk between the Recording Academy and several disabled artists revealed the serious lack of visibility, access, and representation for music professionals with disabilities.
Adrian Anantawan
Adrian Anantawan holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, Yale University and Harvard Graduate School of Education. As a violinist, he has studied with Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, and Anne-Sophie Mutter; his academic work in education was supervised by Howard Gardner. From 2012-2016, he was the co-Director of Music at the Conservatory Lab Charter School, serving students from the Boston area, kindergarten through grade eight. He is the current Chair of Music at Milton Academy, the Artistic Director of Shelter Music Boston and is an Associate Professor of Music at Berklee College. Throughout the year, Adrian continues to perform, speak and teach around the world as an advocate for disability and the arts.
Visit Adrian Anantawan’s website
Dancing Dots
Dancing Dots offers technology, educational resources and training to assist blind people to read, write, and record their music. Their products and services foster inclusion, literacy and independence for visually impaired musicians and audio producers engaged in educational, leisure, and professional pursuits. With Lime Lighter, low vision performers can read magnified print music up to a zoom level of 10x hands-free. Sighted people who may or may not know braille but who can read print music can automatically convert scores to the equivalent Braille notation with our GOODFEEL® Braille Music Translator. Blind musicians can independently create print and Braille scores, with GOODFEEL®, Lime and Lime Aloud. We offer remote and on-site training for accessible music technology to both sighted and blind users on the PC and on the Mac. They can teach you or your student to read Braille music. Consult their reference guide that describes a situation and suggests specific products and resources to find the solutions that will work best for you.
MuseScore
MuseScore Studio is a free and open-source music notation program under the Muse Group, which owns the associated online score-sharing platform MuseScore.com and a freemium mobile score viewer and playback app. The MuseScore company uses income from their commercial sheet music-sharing service to support the free notation software’s development.
National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS)
The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled is a free library program of braille and audio materials such as books and magazines circulated to eligible borrowers in the United States and American citizens living abroad by postage-free mail and online download.
National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts Division
The National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts Division, a strong and proud division of the National Federation of the Blind, works to provide equality and opportunity to blind performers. If you would like to pursue a career in the performing arts, blindness should not hold you back. They seek to connect blind performers of any genre and experience level so that we may share tips and strategies and learn from one another. It is their goal to educate the public on the capabilities of the blind who choose to work in the performing arts or perform for recreation. They invite you to stand alongside them as they remove barriers and encourage each other to take the stage and live out our dreams.