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Community Impact Artist in Residence

Artist in Residence

2024-25 Artist in Residence

Acclaimed singer, songwriter and banjo player Kaia Kater will serve as Savannah Music Festival’s 2024-2025 Artist in Residence. The year-long residency will include in-depth work with local musicians and in-person visits with and performances for Savannah-area students. Kater will select a small group of local songwriters and musicians, offering free personal mentoring and coaching to the group. She will workshop original songs with local musicians throughout the year and will perform new works with local songwriters in September 2025.

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Kaia Kater

Born in Montreal, Canada, Kaia Kater is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and composer known for her haunting and inventive Americana and Appalachian folk scores and songs with a modern twist. Her work is heavily influenced by her ties to the Canadian folk music scene, her college years in West Virginia surrounded by Appalachian music and her father’s upbringing in Grenada. Her jazz-fueled voice and deft songcraft have garnered acclaim from NPR’s Tiny Desk, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, CBC and BBC Music. She previously performed at the Savannah Music Festival in 2024, contributed the Musical Explorers program in 2019 and participated in the Savannah Music Festival’s Acoustic Music Seminar in 2016.

Referred to as “a star in the making” by online music service and respected leader for folk, roots, and Americana content Folk Alley, Kater released her first EP Old Soul shortly after high school graduation. By college graduation, this talented performer was named to Rolling Stone’s list of the “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know.” She has released several albums, including Sorrow Bound, Nine Pin and Grenades, which earned acclaim in Canada with a JUNO Award nomination and a coveted place on the Polaris Music Prize long list.

Kater is currently promoting her latest album Strange Medicine with performances throughout the United States and Canada. Throughout her career, she has toured internationally and performed at top concert halls and festivals, including Carnegie Hall and the Newport Folk Festival.