World Food Program USA Joins 2013 Global Citizen Festival
STEVIE WONDER, KINGS OF LEON, ALICIA KEYS, AND JOHN MAYER ON THE GREAT LAWN IN CENTRAL PARK
Free Ticketed Concert on September 28, 2013 To Celebrate Achievements That Have Halved Global Extreme Poverty Since 1990; To Call for Continued Progress Towards Ending Extreme Poverty by 2030.
NEW YORK, NY, July 11, 2013 – The Global Poverty Project, in proud partnership with the Cotton On Foundation, today announced the 2013 Global Citizen Festival – a free ticketed concert on the Great Lawn of New York’s iconic Central Park – will take place on September 28, 2013 with Stevie Wonder, Kings of Leon, Alicia Keys, and John Mayer.
Starting today, free tickets to the 2013 Festival can be earned at www.globalfestival.com where fans can take online “action” to earn their admission. By watching videos, signing petitions, sending emails to world leaders, etc. participants become active and learn about the four main themes behind this year’s Festival: education, women’s equality, global health, and global partnerships. Fans will be notified throughout the summer when they have been selected to receive tickets via Ticketmaster.com.
The Global Citizen Festival is once again timed to put pressure on world leaders as they gather at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. This year, the Global Citizen Festival will celebrate the achievements made toward ending extreme poverty, and provide world leaders with a clear and compelling mandate to accelerate progress on the issues of education, women’s equality, global health, and global partnerships to help end extreme poverty by 2030.
“Since 1990, the proportion of people living in extreme poverty has been halved. We are working to see the end of extreme poverty in our lifetime,” said Hugh Evans, CEO, The Global Poverty Project. “We must continue to push our leaders to step up and commit to action in the areas we know are fundamental to ending extreme poverty. This is not just a concert – we are building a movement of yearlong action by thousands of citizens. World leaders respond when citizens call for change. The Global Citizen Festival is that call.”
Kings of Leon expressed their commitment to the 2013 Global Citizen Festival, “We’re happy to take part in an amazing organization’s show that brings awareness to such an important global issue.”
“I’m so proud to join these incredible artists as we come together through our music in support of The Global Poverty Project,” said Alicia Keys. “The number of people around the world living in extreme poverty is staggering. They are humanity’s most vulnerable, and as global citizens, we must work to be their voice so that they can live with the same human rights we are privileged to have.”
“What the Global Poverty Project and its Global Citizen movement have accomplished in just five years is really inspiring. Their mission to end extreme poverty is one that we can all agree on, all support. I’m excited to be part of this year’s program, alongside musicians I admire and working to end extreme poverty within a generation,” said John Mayer.
Building on the success of the 2012 Global Citizen Festival, the Global Poverty Project aims to achieve a combined total of one million actions by this September. To do so, one of the first “actions” fans can complete is the signing of A World at School Initiative’s Stand with Malala Petition, which demands emergency action to help the 57 million children without access to primary education. Malala Yousafzai, the teenage education activist from Pakistan who has inspired a worldwide movement to keep girls in school, will hand the petition over to the leadership of the United Nations on July 12, 2013.
The 2013 Global Citizen Festival is working in proud partnership with the Cotton On Foundation.
“At the Cotton On Foundation, we believe we all have a part to play in ending global poverty,” said Tim Diamond, General Manager of Cotton On Foundation. “Our core philosophical belief is that to make a difference, we need focus on the people outcome. It’s not about cutting checks, it’s about raising awareness, empowering people with truth so they can engender positive change that’s tangible. It’s as simple as that.”
The Global Citizen Festival is generously supported by global technology partner HP, as well as Kidnected World, The Pratt Foundation, FedEx, Coca-Cola, Citibank, The Color Run, and The Riot House. The Festival is only possible because of critical funding from the Sumner M. Redstone Foundation. Media partners include Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, Forbes, ReverbNation and others.
“Our HP LIFE program for entrepreneurs is already helping to empower millions of people across the world to learn essential business and IT skills, improve their livelihoods, and thrive in the 21st century,” said Gabi Zedlmayer, Vice President, Sustainability and Social Innovation at HP. “By partnering with the Global Citizen community, HP wants to extend its impact to help lift people out of extreme poverty.”
“I am pleased and proud to continue my support for The Global Poverty Project. Having supported the 2012 Global Citizen Festival, I witnessed the incredible actions taken and commitments made,” said Sumner M. Redstone, Chairman of the Board of CBS Corporation and Viacom and founder of the Sumner M. Redstone Foundation. “But we must continue to advocate on behalf of those living in extreme poverty, and I call on my fellow philanthropists to join us in this movement.”
The Festival has also partnered with leading non-profit groups, including: the Global Partnership for Education, A World at School Initiative, The Earth Institute, the UN’s Special Advisor on the Millennium Development Goals Jeffrey Sachs, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI Alliance), Women Deliver, World Food Program USA, The World Bank Group, U.S. Fund for UNICEF, Make Roads Safe, CARE, charity: water, Malaria No More, Toilet Hackers and more.
“We are honored to work with this year’s line up, in a united effort to end extreme poverty,” said Ryan Gall, co-Founder and executive producer of the Global Citizen Festival. “The stories behind these causes deserve to share a stage with some of the most profound storytellers we know.”
People everywhere are invited to sign-up and begin taking actions to be entered in the ticket lottery. In total, 54,000 free tickets to the festival will be given out to Global Citizens. For more information about the bands, artists, schedules, and event, please visit www.globalfestival.com.
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WORLD FOOD PROGRAM USA:
World Food Program USA (WFP USA) works to solve global hunger, building a world where everyone has the food and nutrition needed to lead healthy, productive lives. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. Last year, WFP reached more than 97 million people in 80 countries with food assistance. WFP USA works together with WFP to solve hunger globally through fundraising, advocacy and education in the United States.
THE GLOBAL POVERTY PROJECT:
Best known for the 2012 Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, NYC on September 29, and the Live Below the Line campaign, The Global Poverty Project is an international education and advocacy organization working to catalyze the movement to end extreme poverty. An Australian-grown project, The Global Poverty Project creates campaigns with the purpose of increasing the number and effectiveness of people taking action to end extreme poverty, with the vision of a world without extreme poverty, within a generation. For more information, visit our website at www.globalpovertyproject.com
THE GLOBAL CITIZEN PLATFORM:
Launched successfully with the Global Citizen Festival on September 29, 2012, in New York City’s Central Park, Global Citizen is an innovative online platform and mobile application that tracks and rewards activist action through a point-scoring system. Accumulated points are used as a currency to bid on live entertainment experiences like tickets to great concerts and a host of other entertainment events. Join the conversation: “Like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @GLBLCTZN.
THE GLOBAL CITIZEN FESTIVAL:
The first Global Citizen Festival, co-founded by The Riot House, took place on September 29, 2012 in New York City’s Central Park, where 60,000 people joined musicians including Neil Young, Foo Fighters and The Black Keys, along with celebrities, leading NGO partners, dignitaries and philanthropists to lend their voice in the fight to end extreme poverty. This festival was the first live entertainment event that could be accessed solely through points earned by activist work on behalf of Global Citizen partner charities and made history as the largest syndicated music charity webcast and broadcast. During the Festival, supporting non-profit partners announced a total of $1,314,700,000 in commitments that will support crucial anti-poverty initiatives. The second annual Global Citizen Festival will take place Sept. 28, 2013 on Central Park’s Great Lawn with Stevie Wonder, Kings of Leon, Alicia Keys, and John Mayer.
CONTACT:
For further information from World Food Program USA:
Meighan Stone mstone@wfpusa.org
