History

Compassionate Heart Productions was formed by Pamela Whitman in 1989 as a 501c3 organization. In the 1980s she took a trip to South Africa where she witnessed the horrors of apartheid. Pamela returned to the United States with the seed of an idea. She wanted to be part of the solution. She became the Principal Flutist of the South Dakota Symphony.  In South Dakota, she interacted with Native American musicians and learned traditional Lakota music. A Native American friend introduced her to traditional prophecies of the four races of people (black, red, yellow and white) coming together for peace. Whitman resigned from the orchestra and dedicated her life to promoting peace and understanding between people. She moved to New Jersey and became the Principal Flutist with the Ocean City Pops, which has a summer performance season. This gave her the opportunity to continue with her orchestral career while devoting most of the year to the projects of Compassionate Heart Productions. 

Whitman has produced and performed local, national and international programming for Compassionate Heart Productions in traditional and nontraditional venues for thirty-five years. From 1998 to 2003, Compassionate Heart Productions hosted an international cultural exchange program with the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal. The program won rave reviews and Whitman was honored in an international award ceremony in Hollywood where she won an award for her humanitarian work as an artist.

Our founding mission was to use music performance to promote world peace and understanding between people of all races. For the first 14 years our project was an inter-cultural touring band called WorldColor. In 2003 we broadened our reach to include promoting compassion for all life. We expanded our programming to include Benefit Concerts for animals and programs about inner peace. We use music and often include other art forms such as literature, photography, painting and video. We want to use our programs to inspire people. Our message of peace includes recognizing the essential equality of all. Programs have included multiple musical genres and have been offered by diverse artists and to diverse populations. Our organization is the longstanding music for peace organization in the Cape May County.