Kate Schutt

Activist, Artist, Athlete, Brainstormer, Change Agent, Connector, Explorer, Idea generator, Musician, Performer, Producer, Student

Kate Schutt (pronounced “shut”) is an award-winning singer/songwriter, guitarist, and producer whose voice NPR calls “glassily clear and glossily sweet.” She spent four years as her mom’s primary caregiver, writing songs about the dark and the light of her mother’s journey from diagnosis to death of ovarian cancer. Kate wants us all to know how to show up for our grieving friends so they don’t feel alone with their loss. Kate studied the influence of jazz on poetry at Harvard, and studied jazz guitar at Berklee College of Music. She writes and sings “jazzy melodious pop.” Her songs have won top honors from the John Lennon Songwriting Contest and ASCAP. Working with legendary producer/arranger Rob Mounsey, Kate just finished her newest album, Bright Nowhere. Known for her heartfelt, literate songwriting, Kate’s fans rave about her potent and surprising live shows and her authenticity and vulnerability on and off the stage. After nearly a decade living and making music in Canada, she calls New York City home.

Songs. Songwriting. The power of music to unlock our hearts and minds. Performing and the shared space of a live show. I am passionate about silence and stillness and the spiritual pursuit of writing an undeniably great song.

We can do other people's loss better. There ARE simple things you can do to show up for your grieving friend. Even if you're uncomfortable around death and don't know what to say or do. In my TEDx talk I share three things you can say and do that will help make your friend feel loved and supported.

Arranging, Change, Change coaching, Creating, Gigging, Guitar, Life coaching, Making albums, Performing, Singing, Songwriting, Touring, Visioning

I got invited by TEDx West Chester to give a talk. It couldn't have come at a better time. I'd created a mission to change the conversation -- or lack thereof -- around death. I'd been my mom's primary caregiver for four years as she "lived dyingly" (to use Christopher Hitchens's potent phrase) with ovarian cancer. The way people didn't show up around my mom and I during this prolonged dark moment of our lives was, in a word, astounding. Baffling. Good friends went MIA. People didn't know how to act around the loss of my mom's future ... and eventually around the loss of her life. I wanted to put together a little handbook or a guide to what to do when your friend is going through a terrible loss. The TEDx stage gave me the perfect opportunity to gather my thoughts.

Writing letters. It's what I do to surprise and delight the people I care about. And it's what I do to find out what I think and to hone my powers of observation -- inner and outer.