FOUNDER and DIRECTOR'S BIO

An award-winning vocalist, songwriter, recording artist, and producer, Judith-Kate Friedman has toured internationally as a performing songwriter since 1986. She has released two solo recordings and three with Jewish/World A cappella ensemble Vocolot in addition to the Jewish Home elder’s CD “Island On A Hill” and several compilations. Her offstage credits include eight artist-in-residence grants from the California Arts Council, five years as a public radio disc jockey, and numerous presentations at conferences and festivals. Her articles on songwriting with elders have appeared in Aging Today (US), Signpost to Older People and Mental Health Matters (UK), and Acoustic Guitar magazine. Educated in folklore, ethnomusicology, creative writing, consensus process, and concert production at Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music (B.A. 1983), Ms. Friedman brings a life-long commitment to diversity and disability awareness to her work.

 

As founder and director of Songwriting Works™
Ms. Friedman has worked extensively with elders and their communities, facilitating composition of more than 300 collaborative original songs, and producing the award-winning Jewish Home CD "Island on a Hill", and the intergenerational “Imagining Peace” concerts and CD recording. Her work in the field of creativity and aging includes producing two Art of Aging Festivals, an intergenerational international concert for Tsunami relief, and the celebratory Opening Session of the 2004 American Society on Aging/National Council on the Aging Joint Conference which featured more than forty performing artists and speakers from across the United States. As a consultant, she serves on the faculty of the MetLife Foundation/American Society on Aging's MindAlert Speaker's Bureau and as a master trainer with the National Center for Creative Aging. She has also served as faculty for the UWM Center on Age and Community’s Symposium and Think Tank on Creativity and Dementia, the Society for the Arts & Healthcare Conference and the Sacred Aging Project of the Union for Reform Judaism. Ms. Friedman teaches internationally assisting health and arts professionals and participants of all ages to access their deepest creativity and musicality and find life-giving ways to share these gifts for the benefit of all. She and her husband live in Port Townsend, WA.

For more about Judith-Kate Friedman's music and recordings visit: www.judithkate.com

VIDEOS

Judith-Kate Friedman and Freyda Epstein sing "The Things We Keep." Video coming soon.

Judith-Kate and company sing at ASA/NCOA Joint Conference Opening Session