A picture of Tara Allen, Neurodiversity Program Manager. She is a white woman in her mid to late 20s, with shoulder length hair. The picture is of her torso up. She is holding her Bass Clarinet on the right, and smiling at the camera. Tara has green in her hair, and has two full tattoo sleeves.

Tara Allen

Neurodiversity Program Manager

Tara Allen (she/her) joined Accessibility Resources for Students in August 2024. She holds a BM in Instrumental Music Education from the Crane School of Music (2021), and an MA in Psychology of Music from the University of Sheffield (2022). Her master’s thesis, “The Bees Are Too Loud!: ADHD’ers Sound Preferences as an Aid Daily Task Completion" focused on how ADHD’ers used sound and/or music to help cope with completion of mundane tasks, and the combined social hardships. 

Allen identifies as a queer, neurodivergent, and disabled musician. She has been advocating for neurodivergent and disabled musicians since 2020 through a variety of platforms. She has a podcast, Breaking the Third Wall in Music, that invites disabled and/or neurodivergent musicians to discuss disability topics in the music scene. Allen has also spoken on podcasts such as The Brave New Sound(Opens in a new window) and Marching Arts Education(Opens in a new window). Currently, she is founding an organization, Disabled Musicians Association, that aims to help create and promote community plus access for all disabled folks across the music scene. Lastly, she is a bass clarinetist and active performer in a variety of contemporary, classical, and popular music ensembles. 

In Allen's free time, she enjoys Yu-Gi-Oh!, thrifting, making contemporary/modern music for solo bass clarinet and track, and moshing at metal concerts. She can be found regularly on the weekend at a metal concert, or at a local thrift store. 

Allen can help neurodivergent students find community and social support at Berklee. You can schedule a meeting with Allen through her Calendly(Opens in a new window) or by emailing her at tallen5@berklee.edu(Opens in a new window).