LONDON, UK (ANS) -- Almost 700 free performances by international musicians, dancers and visual artists will take place across London and beyond during the Olympics. This is thanks to More Than Gold, the agency helping churches make the most of the Games.

The official London 2012 game features 49 events across 13 sports

According a news release, included in more than 30 venues for this explosion of creativity are Southwark Cathedral, Westminster Abbey Green, Methodist Westminster Central Hall and All Souls Church at Oxford Circus.

“The 40 teams of artists coming to London involve about 440 individuals from over 30 nations. Among the talent on display with be an Indian musician playing a multi-stringed guitar with built in bongo drums, an international folk-rock band, a Hawaiian-based dance troupe and a children’s ballet company,” said a spokesperson for More Than Gold.

Julie Spence has pulled all this talent together for More Than Gold’s Creative and Performing Arts Team. She says, “The array of original talent from both performing and visual artists is quite staggering. Visitors are in for an absolute treat.”

Julie adds, “This is about more than great performances and outstanding art. All involved use their talents to provoke questions about life and faith and point to Jesus as being key to having them answered.”

Among those involved in More Than Gold’s contribution to welcoming visitors are:

Benny Prasad performing

* Benny Prasad - an extraordinary musician who has created his own instrument, the Bentar, which includes a traditional six string guitar plus a 22 string harp, 20 sitar strings, a bongo and a tabla. Benny has taken his music to over 60 countries, playing to large audiences including kings, parliaments, dignitaries and celebrities.

* Heartbridge - a performing arts company based on the Hawaiian island of Kona. Heartbridge is a contemporary dance and performance company of over 25 young adults from more than ten different nations. Their latest production, Coming Home, has been performed in over a dozen countries including Japan, China, Israel and Jordan.

* Liz and the Lions - a six piece acoustic folk band with members from England, Germany and the US. They blend their individual musical backgrounds to create a distinctive sound that has been welcomed in acoustic cafés, classical halls and Céilidh festivals.

* Arise Children's Ballet from Ontario, Canada - they work to professional standards, creating programs to perform in and around their community.

The London Olympics 2012 will start on July 27 and end on August 12, 2012.

About More Than Gold:

Logo

Since the 1996 Atlanta Games the Christian community’s involvement with the world’s major sporting events has been under the banner “More Than Gold.” This provides a flag for united faith-based outreach, hospitality and service, and also an interface between the event’s organizing committee and the churches.

To get ready for the 2012 Games, More Than Gold was established as a charitable trust in 2008 under the chairmanship of Lord Brian Mawhinney. It has the support of all main denominations and over sixty Christian organisations and mission agencies.

The banner “More Than Gold” has been used for the Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games, All-Africa Games, Indian Ocean Games and Summer and Winter Olympic Games and Paralympics.

For more information contact:
Alice Hayward, Communications Officer
alice.hayward@morethangold.org.uk
Or Peter Meadows, Director of Communications for More Than Gold
peter.meadows@morethangold.org.uk
Or Cathy Le Feuvre, Media Consultant
cathy.lefeuvre@morethangold.org.uk 

Dan Wooding, 71, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on the KWVE Radio Network in Southern California and which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. Dan has recently received two top media awards -- the "Passion for the Persecuted" award from Open Doors US, and one of the top "Newsmakers of 2011" from Plain Truth magazine. He is the author of some 44 books, the latest of which is "Caped Crusader: Rick Wakeman in the 1970s." To order a copy, go to: http://www.amazon.com/CAPED-CRUSADER-Rick-Wakeman-1970s/dp/1908728302/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335474883&sr=1-1 . Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.