Janusz Makuch is the founder and director of the annual Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow and serves on numerous commissions and advisory boards to promote and present Jewish and Israeli cultures in Poland and abroad. In 2008 Janusz was awarded by the President of the Republic of Poland with the Polonia Restituta Order, and in the same year he received the Irena Sendlerowa Award from the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture. In 2018, Janusz became the only person from Poland ever to be awarded the honorary title Friend of Israel (Yakir Israel).