U.S. Musician,
Composer Tim Janis Receives National Humanitarian Award
PBS-Favorite Janis
Among Honorees at CWS/NCC Annual General Assembly
ST. LOUIS
– Wed Nov 10 – Popular
classical-new age composer, pianist and conductor Tim Janis received
national recognition this afternoon for his significant musical and
charitable commitments to humanitarian and public service causes in the U.S.
and abroad.
 New
England-based Janis, whose concerts are frequently aired on public
television stations nationwide, received the Excellence in Hope Award in St.
Louis today from global humanitarian agency Church World Service (CWS) and
the National Council of Churches USA (NCC).
The accolade
was presented during the annual national General Assembly of the two
organizations and official delegates of 36 member Protestant, Christian
Orthodox, Episcopal, African-American and Living Peace denominations.
Janis
accepted the award during a luncheon that also honored civil rights pioneer
Dorothy Height, Eden Theological Seminary Professor Michael Kinnamon, and
Baldemar Velasquez of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and William Bryan
of Mt. Olive Pickle Co., two key parties to the landmark labor contract that
recently ended a five and a half year consumer boycott.
Presenting the
award to Janis, Church World Service Board of Directors Chairperson Betty
Voskuil cited Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who said ‘Music expresses the pain of
HIV/AIDS sufferers, but it also sings of hope.’
 “Tim
Janis has helped that song of hope soar into our lives,” she said.
Voskuil
acknowledged Janis “for his passionate generosity for people living with
AIDS; for his tireless creativity exercised in the service of all God's
people; for his dedicated commitment to the ministry of Church World
Service; for his unflagging efforts to bring the faces and voices of people
living with AIDS in Africa to the attention of the American people through
his collaboration with the Sinikithemba Choir; for his soaring music that
heals, inspires and lifts the spirits of millions of people; for being a
beacon of hope in a wounded world.”
Tim Janis
approached Church World Service in 2002 and asked if he could help raise
funds to assist AIDS projects in Africa. He traveled to South Africa CWS in
May 2002, to perform, raise money and help fight the stigma against
HIV/AIDS.
Inspired by
his visit, Janis helped CWS bring South Africa’s HIV+ Sinikithemba Choir to
the U.S. for the courageous group’s first World AIDS Day performance in New
York and an East Coast concert tour. Janis and his musical group performed
and traveled with the choir during its 2002 holiday tour and recorded a
special AIDS-in-Africa fundraising CD. The benefit album also features the
Sinikithemba choir and the internationally known
Imilonji KaNtu Choral Society of Soweto.
Following his trip
South Africa, Janis said, "Giving enlarges the purpose of our lives. When I
first planned the trip to Africa with CWS, I never imagined I would feel so
hopeful at the end of it.
“The music and
courage of the South African people I worked with inspired me. It is
amazing to see such hope among people struggling with HIV/AIDS and to see
such dedication among the people working with them."
A tireless
supporter of public television, Janis’ “Beautiful America Concert” raised
over $1 million this year for PBS. Narrated by George Clooney, the concert
aired more than a thousand times on more than 300 PBS stations nationwide –
one of the most widely broadcast programs on PBS in 2004.
Janis came to the
St. Louis NCC-CWS awards event having just completed
a 50-city, 70-day concert and
fundraising tour for PBS.
With eight
Billboard charting CDs and more than one million albums sold,
Janis is currently working with leading U.S. educators on a new national
education initiative, The American Music Inspiration Project, to create
partnerships between public television and public schools that foster music
and artistic development within American schools.
Recipients
of the NCC-CWS Excellence in Hope Award must, among other qualities, “act as
a catalyst for positive change in church and community; delineate a
relationship between divine action and human
response; develop models for churches for living more closely with one
another; and create trustful expectation, particularly with reference to the
fulfillment of God’s promises.”
Church World
Service is a global humanitarian aid agency and ministry of 36 Protestant,
Orthodox and Anglican denominations, working in partnership with local
organizations to support sustainable self-help and development, meet
emergency needs, aid refugees, and address the root causes of poverty and
powerlessness. The National Council of Churches USA
is the largest ecumenical association in the
United States, whose 36 Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and African-American
member churches in turn encompass 45 million adherents in more than 100,000
local congregations in all 50 states.
-end-
Photos by Kathleen Cameron. Top: Janis, Voskuil.
Bottom: CWS Executive Director the Rev. John L. McCullough; Voskuil; Janis;
General Assembly President Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr.
Media
Contacts:
Ann Walle, Church World Service, 212-870-2654,
awalle@churchworldservice.org
Carol Fouke, National Council of Churches, 646-258-8896;
cfouke@ncccusa.org |
