Compassionart is a
charityA charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . The term is relatively general and can technically refer to a public charity or a private foundation. It differs from other types of NPOs in that its focus is centered around goals of a general philanthropic nature A charitable...
based in
LittlehamptonLittlehampton is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England, located on the east bank at the mouth of the River Arun. It lies south southwest of London, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester....
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
created by songwriter
Martin SmithMartin James Smith is an English vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter. He is the front man of the Christian rock and worship band Delirious? He co-wrote three songs on Michael W. Smith's album Healing Rain and is going to be collaborating with Michael W. Smith on his upcoming album...
and his wife, Anna with the aim of generating income from works of art to assist in the relief of suffering around the
planetA planet , is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
.
The songwriters at the recent retreat set out to write 10-12 songs and, by the end of the retreat, had completed 22 new songs. In addition to those on the GMA Dove Awards, Compassionart songwriters include Stu Garrard (
Delirious?Delirious? were a Grammy nominated and multi-Dove Award winning English Christian rock and worship band, featuring Martin Smith on vocals and guitar, Stuart Garrard on guitar and backing vocals, Jon Thatcher on bass guitar, Tim Jupp on keys and piano, and Paul Evans on drums and percussion.They...
),
Tim HughesTim Hughes is a Christian worship leader and songwriter with Survivor Records, who is currently Director of Worship at Holy Trinity Brompton, an Anglican church in central London and heads up Worship Central, a new worship training resource...
,
Graham KendrickGraham Kendrick is a prolific British Christian singer-songwriter and worship leader. He was the son of a Baptist pastor. He now lives in Croydon and is a former member of Ichthus Christian Fellowship...
,
Andy ParkAndy Park is an American comic book artist, illustrator, and concept artist. He has illustrated several comic book series including Tomb Raider , published by Top Cow Productions, Alias: Agent Bristow based on the Emmy award winning television series, and Uncanny X-Men...
,
Darlene ZschechDarlene Joyce Zschech is an Australian Charismatic/Pentecostal worship leader/pastor and singer-songwriter who primarily writes praise and worship songs...
,
Israel HoughtonIsrael Houghton is a two time Grammy Award winning, Christian worship leader and singer, mostly known for his cross-cultural style of Christian music that fuses elements from gospel, jazz and rock music. Houghton is usually credited as Israel & New Breed and currently signed to Integrity Music...
,
Paul BalochePaul Baloche is an American Christian music artist, worship leader, and singer-songwriter. A native of Maple Shade, New Jersey, Baloche is currently the worship pastor at Community Christian Fellowship in Lindale, Texas. Baloche composes on piano and acoustic guitar, favoring guitar when leading...
,
Steven Curtis ChapmanSteven Curtis Chapman is a Contemporary Christian musician.After starting his career in the late 80s as a songwriter, Chapman has turned into one of the most prolific singers in the genre, releasing more than 20 albums to this date...
,
Chris TomlinChristopher Dwayne Tomlin is a Dove Award winning Christian worship leader and songwriter from Grand Saline, Texas, United States. He is a former staff member at Austin Stone Community Church and is signed to EMI's sixstepsrecords. Tomlin also leads worship at many Passion events...
and
Matt RedmanMatt Redman is an English Christian worship leader, songwriter and author based in Atlanta. He was one of the main worship leaders associated with the Soul Survivor youth organisation....
.
Compassionart is a
charityA charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . The term is relatively general and can technically refer to a public charity or a private foundation. It differs from other types of NPOs in that its focus is centered around goals of a general philanthropic nature A charitable...
based in
LittlehamptonLittlehampton is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England, located on the east bank at the mouth of the River Arun. It lies south southwest of London, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester....
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
created by songwriter
Martin SmithMartin James Smith is an English vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter. He is the front man of the Christian rock and worship band Delirious? He co-wrote three songs on Michael W. Smith's album Healing Rain and is going to be collaborating with Michael W. Smith on his upcoming album...
and his wife, Anna with the aim of generating income from works of art to assist in the relief of suffering around the
planetA planet , is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
.
Retreat in Scotland
The songwriters at the recent retreat set out to write 10-12 songs and, by the end of the retreat, had completed 22 new songs. In addition to those on the GMA Dove Awards, Compassionart songwriters include Stu Garrard (
Delirious?Delirious? were a Grammy nominated and multi-Dove Award winning English Christian rock and worship band, featuring Martin Smith on vocals and guitar, Stuart Garrard on guitar and backing vocals, Jon Thatcher on bass guitar, Tim Jupp on keys and piano, and Paul Evans on drums and percussion.They...
),
Tim HughesTim Hughes is a Christian worship leader and songwriter with Survivor Records, who is currently Director of Worship at Holy Trinity Brompton, an Anglican church in central London and heads up Worship Central, a new worship training resource...
,
Graham KendrickGraham Kendrick is a prolific British Christian singer-songwriter and worship leader. He was the son of a Baptist pastor. He now lives in Croydon and is a former member of Ichthus Christian Fellowship...
,
Andy ParkAndy Park is an American comic book artist, illustrator, and concept artist. He has illustrated several comic book series including Tomb Raider , published by Top Cow Productions, Alias: Agent Bristow based on the Emmy award winning television series, and Uncanny X-Men...
,
Darlene ZschechDarlene Joyce Zschech is an Australian Charismatic/Pentecostal worship leader/pastor and singer-songwriter who primarily writes praise and worship songs...
,
Israel HoughtonIsrael Houghton is a two time Grammy Award winning, Christian worship leader and singer, mostly known for his cross-cultural style of Christian music that fuses elements from gospel, jazz and rock music. Houghton is usually credited as Israel & New Breed and currently signed to Integrity Music...
,
Paul BalochePaul Baloche is an American Christian music artist, worship leader, and singer-songwriter. A native of Maple Shade, New Jersey, Baloche is currently the worship pastor at Community Christian Fellowship in Lindale, Texas. Baloche composes on piano and acoustic guitar, favoring guitar when leading...
,
Steven Curtis ChapmanSteven Curtis Chapman is a Contemporary Christian musician.After starting his career in the late 80s as a songwriter, Chapman has turned into one of the most prolific singers in the genre, releasing more than 20 albums to this date...
,
Chris TomlinChristopher Dwayne Tomlin is a Dove Award winning Christian worship leader and songwriter from Grand Saline, Texas, United States. He is a former staff member at Austin Stone Community Church and is signed to EMI's sixstepsrecords. Tomlin also leads worship at many Passion events...
and
Matt RedmanMatt Redman is an English Christian worship leader, songwriter and author based in Atlanta. He was one of the main worship leaders associated with the Soul Survivor youth organisation....
. Together the songwriters account for at least 42 million albums sold, 82 No. 1 songs, 10 GRAMMY Awards, 118 Dove Awards, two Stellar Awards, two American Music Awards, and 98 current CCLI Top 500 songs .
Board of Trustees
- Mark Zschech - Charity expert/project genius
- Matt Redman - Worship Leader and Author
- Richard Hubbard - CEO of Links International Charity and one of the Arun Community Church leaders
- Bill Hearn - CEO of EMI/CMG
- Brett Farrell - Law and Order
- Dave Meyer - CEO of world missions for Joyce Meyer
Pauline Joyce Hutchison Meyer, more commonly known as Joyce Meyer is a Charismatic Christian author and speaker. Her television and radio programs air in 25 languages in 200 countries, and she has written over 70 books on Christianity. Joyce and her husband Dave have been married since January 7,...
ministries .
The Recording
Following the retreat, Compassionart songwriters began recording the songs in February at the famous
Abbey Road StudiosAbbey Road Studios, established in November of 1931 by EMI in London, England, is an iconic recording studio located at Abbey Road, in St John's Wood in the City of Westminster...
in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
. Joining the songwriters were musicians Dan Needham,
Tommy SimsTommy Sims is a renowned bassist, songwriter, producer and bandleader. He was the bassist on the Bruce Springsteen and the "Other Band" Tour during 1992-1993...
and Akil Thompson, and engineering were Josiah Bell, Danny Duncan and Sam Gibson. The songwriters continued to record songs in March at Pentavarit Studio in
NashvilleNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is the second most populous city in the state after Memphis. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state...
, joined by guest vocalists
Amy GrantAmy Lee Grant is an American singer-songwriter, author, media personality and occasional actress, best known for her contemporary Christian music. Grant was born in Augusta, Georgia....
, tobyMac and Leeland Mooring, and with
Matt Bronleewe-Biography:Matt Bronleewe was born in Dallas, TX, but as a young boy moved to central Kansas, Lorraine, with his family so his father could take on the family farm...
and Paul Moak guiding the tracks at the production helm and AndyHunt engineering. With 14 songs now recorded, future recording sessions with the songwriters are being planned.
In addition to the songwriters, the publishers, managers, copyright institutes and agents involved have all waived their rights and are donating their efforts on this project to Compassionart. The songs are to be given through Compassionart to help to raise money for the relief of suffering around the planet. One half of the monies received over the songs' lifetimes will go to the songwriters' charities of choice, and the other 50% will go to a charitable project agreed upon by all the songwriters involved.
News about Compassionart was carried by the Associated Press,
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
Tribune,
WashingtonWashington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the...
Post,
Houston ChronicleThe Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA. As of March 2008, it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
,
MTVMTV is a cable television network based in New York City and launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs...
,
MSNMSN, formerly The Microsoft Network, is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services...
,
Canadian PressThe Canadian Press , La Presse Canadienne in French, is Canada's national news agency established in 1917 as a vehicle to permit Canadian newspapers of the day to exchange their news and information. The Toronto-based company is a private, not-for-profit cooperative, owned and operated by its...
, ChristianMusicToday.com, Worship Musician, The front page of
Amazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is an American-based multinational electronic commerce company. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, it is America's largest online retailer, with nearly three times the Internet sales revenue of the runner up, Staples, Inc....
, and other publications internationally.
CompassionArtCompassionArt is a studio album by the songwriter's charity of the same name. It features the entire CompassionArt song writing team, Paul Baloche, Chris Tomlin, Tim Hughes, Matt Redman, Darlene Zschech, Israel Houghton, Michael W. Smith, Graham Kendrick, Andy Park, Steven Curtis Chapman, Stu...
was released internationally in November 2008.
Awards
Compassionart became the recipient of the inaugural “Gospel Angel Award” presented by the Gospel Music Channel during the network's telecast of the Dove Awards. GMC created the special award to honor Christian/Gospel artists for helping those in need .
Uganda, May 2008
Martin Smith and his family went to Uganda to visit some of the Watoto villages outside the capital
KampalaKampala is the largest city and capital of Uganda. The city is divided into five boroughs that oversee local planning: Kampala Central, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division and Lubaga Division...
, looking at a holistic approach to the care of children, most are orphaned and some started life rescued from rubbish bins at the side of the road.
External links