2001
To begin the Unity Awards weekend, Mass was held on Friday night. Following the Mass a meeting was held for all members and board members. In case you were not able to make the weekend or the meeting - here is what Phillip spoke about.
I would like to welcome all of you for coming here to Washington D.C. to the second annual Unity Awards.
To have the Unity Awards this year had been a difficult decision in lieu of the events of September 11, so many times we had talked about possibly postponing Unity 2001, but each time we had made up our mind, a call was received by a member or by someone who had heard about UCMVA and the merry-go-round started again. So here we are . . . one body in Christ.
When the idea for the Unity Awards began a few years ago, it was my hope to reach the lay people, those who may not have been attending church and those who probably didn't listen to Catholic music. Most of you, after spending hard earned money to produce your albums had no where to go, no distribution chain, no radio airplay, and no stage for presentation. But I can assure you this will change and all of you here tonight are laying the groundwork for a brighter future for all those called to minister through the airwaves.
This year we were unable to completely finish all the projects we wanted to do. Unity Weekend and the Networking Guide were two of the action items that were put on hold due to financial constraints. We were very optimistic about the amount of financial support we thought we would receive since obtaining our 501(C)3 status, but one could never have imagined the dramatic economic turndown or the horrible events of September 11.
For the contributions our members have given, we are very grateful, but these alone cannot carry the cost of the Unity Awards event. We need help! I do want to point out that we have more support this year than ever and, in fact, your generous gifts of time, talent, and treasure have covered the pre-show and post-show events.
With the help of my new father-in-law we are actively seeking and applying for grants for the year 2002. And with the tremendous interest shown this year for the UCMVA, from artists and lay people, we remain extremely optimistic for the coming years, in regards to financial support. If all goes according to plan, we hope to be able to commit to the 1st Unity Weekend in 2003 and your input would be greatly appreciated for this event.
Because of the losses from last year's program we had decided to ask for support from a fundraising effort of a raffle. I understand a few members were offended by this, but the UCMVA is a 501(C)3 and is permitted to fundraise in areas were the law does not prohibit such raffles. I thought this would be beneficial to the organization in helping with the expense that is incurred for putting on the Unity Award program. Even with your support and the support of our sponsor (for example, Catholic University allows us the use of the theater free of charge, we only pay for the staff hours and supplies used. EWTN does not charge for the use of their equipment, only for staff travel, accommodation and a small stipend) the event is still not paying for itself as the expenses of recording for television and production of the program are quite extensive, but very much needed.
As I mentioned before, we are all laying the groundwork for the future. We must not get caught up in today, for all is not lost! We could have called our presentation ceremony by any name, but it was all of you and your ability to envision the future that gave the Unity Awards its true meaning. This is why we have chosen to change the word "Winner" to "Recipient" for this year. For we are all winners in God's eyes.
If we allow ourselves to get caught up in an award, we will destroy what we are trying to accomplish. The work we do today will pave the way for those in the future. So the Unity Awards is merely a way of helping to open the eyes of a world that wears blinders. So we must use the tools of press and media to reach our goal. Hence the Unity Awards came to life.
Among us tonight is a perfect example of this. I had the opportunity of giving a presentation on "Life on the Rock" a few months ago, and I spoke of the UCMVA. At that time, a man and his family were watching the program in New York. He was interested and after the program, looked up the UCMVA as his young daughter has the ambition to be a Christian singer. He then proceeded to join as a patron member and is here with us this weekend. He is the answer to what the UCMVA is about - lifting the awareness and creating support of the Catholic artist - and we thank him for this. Please welcome Dr. & Mrs. Thorne and their daughter - Angel.
I mentioned the Networking Guide earlier and I know many of you have inquired about it. We will attempt to finish it this year, but it has been put aside again for something we feel is more important at this time.
The UCMVA must continue to expand its networking abilities, and most importantly we have to continue to drive an awareness into the marketplace. We are proud to announce this year that we will be starting a "Top of the Charts" Catholic play list. We will be working with our record companies to sample a selection of stores who will participate in a quarterly census on their top selling Catholic artists. The UCMVA will also be printing posters this year with highlights of the receiver of a Unity Award and the category they received it in.
I have asked for support from OCP, GIA, and Heartbeat Records in getting at least one poster to each of the stores they distribute to. We also ask them to encourage retailers to display the poster prominently.
The last goal is to provide a compilation CD that would contain each Unity Award recipient's song for each category. Obviously, these are issues that will need to be addressed with the various record companies but I am hoping there is something that can be done. (Phillip invited OCP Representative - Dave Island to speak and Heartbeat Records - Susan Stein. Unfortunately, GIA could not be there, but they sent their regards and support and look forward to being there next year).