Compassionart

Compassionart hosted an unprecedented gathering of award winning songwriters. Pictured (l-r) in Scotland, UK are: Matt Redman, Paul Baloche, Tim Hughes, Graham Kendrick, Steven Curtis Chapman, Israel Houghton, Michael W. Smith, Darlene Zschech, Andy Park, and Martin Smith and Stu Garrard (Delirious?).

Last week I had the privilege of participating in a songwriting event unlike anything I’ve ever done before.  It all started about 18 months ago when Martin Smith, front man for Delirious, had a vision to start a charity that would be a vehicle for artistic works to be donated to the world’s poor.

About a year ago, twelve songwriters enthusiastically agreed to be part of songwriting and recording project that would be 100% given away.  The list of writers:  Paul Baloche, Steven Curtis Chapman, Stu Garrard (Delirious?), Israel Houghton, Tim Hughes, Graham Kendrick, Matt Redman, Martin Smith (Delirious?), Michael W. Smith, Darlene Zschech and me.  Chris Tomlin was intending to come, but had to cancel because of illness.  From the start, the chance to participate in this event felt like a gift.  

It happened last week at a retreat center called the House of Cantle in Perthshire, Scotland.  The setting was very inspiring – a grand old house in the Scottish highlands.  (Check it out at www.cantle.net).

For the six weeks prior to the event, I worked on a bunch of my half-finished songs.  I brought some of those to the table last week and it was really fun to see how things evolved.  We ended the week with 20 songs that we quickly recorded as demos on site.

Establishing friendships with the other writers was a huge highlight of our time. The common goal of writing songs – with no monetary personal gain on the line – created an environment of community and unselfishness that was precious.  The worship times we shared and the teaching we heard from Bishop Graham Cray enhanced the fellowship even more.  I can envision the relationships that were begun last week continuing for many years ahead.

Next month, about a dozen of these songs will be recorded at Peter Gabriel’s studio called “Real World” in England.  Release of this project will be approximately September 2008.

In addition to the songwriters waiving their rights to these songs, the publishers, managers, copyright institutes and agents involved are all donating their efforts on this project to Compassionart, a charity based in Littlehampton, England that is dedicated to seeing works of art generate income for the poorest of the poor.  One half of the monies received over the songs’ lifetimes will go to the songwriters’ charity of choice, and the other 50% will go to a charitable project agreed upon by all the songwriters involved, which is still being discussed.

Check out this cool Compassionart eCard!