Over a dozen world leaders and prominent activists have announced their on-stage participation in the 2015 Global Citizen Festival.
Among the names are Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Malala Fund co-founder, Malala Yousafzai; UN Messenger of Peace with a special focus on climate change, Leonardo DiCaprio; U2 lead singer and cofounder of ONE, Bono; Sir Richard Branson; UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon; Bill and Melinda Gates; World Bank Group President, Dr Jim Yong Kim; Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg; Swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven; Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel; the Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat; U.S. Senator Chris Coons; and U.S. Representative Charlie Dent.
From the private sector, leading advocates, including: Facebook Chairman and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg; Unilever CEO, Paul Polman; CEO of Gucci, Marco Bizzarri; H&M Conscious Foundation Acting Global Manager, Maria Bystedt; Caterpillar Foundation President, Michele Sullivan; Stephen Bird, CEO of Global Consumer Banking, Citi, Ericsson Group President and CEO, Hans Vestberg; Wikipedia Founder and Wikia Co-Founder, Jimmy Wales; AOL Inc. CEO, Tim Armstrong; TED Curator, Chris Anderson; CEO of WPP plc, Sir Martin Sorrell; Safaricom CEO, Bob Collymore; Ooredoo Group CEO, Dr. Nasser Marafih; former Australian Prime Minister and Chair of the Global Partnership for Education, Julia Gillard; Executive Director of the Earth Institute, Professor Jeffrey Sachs; Telenor Group Vice President and Deputy Head of Corporate Affairs, Ragnhild Mathisen; and special guest Big Bird of Sesame Street will also take the stage, asking the world not to be bystanders but to take action to ensure the Global Goals are not just known globally, but are achieved.
The 2015 Global Citizen Festival will also feature on-stage video messages and commitments from Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi; President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos; and Vice President of Malawi, Saulos Chilima. The First Daughter of Rwanda, Ange Kagame; her father President Paul Kagame; South African WASH Minister, Nomvula Mokonyane; USAID Acting Administrator Ambassador Alfonso E. Lenhardt, and the President of Malawi, His Excellency Pro. Arthur Peter Mutharika will also appear during the Festival.
This year’s Festival will also feature the Global Citizen Festival Honorary Congressional Host Committee, comprised of leading members from the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. The committee will include: Senator Robert P. Casey Jr. (PA), Senator Thad Cochran (MS), Senator Bob Corker (TN), Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (MD) and Senator Chris Murphy (CT), Congressman Earl Blumenauer (OR-3), Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Congressman Chaka Fattah (PA-2), Congressman Richard L. Hanna (NY-22), Congressman Raul Grijalva (AZ-3), Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13), Congressman John Lewis (GA-5), Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey (NY-17), Congresswoman Betty McCollum (MN-4), Congressman James McGovern (MA-2), Congressman Ted Poe (TX-2), Congressman Adam Schiff (CA-28), Congressman Paul D. Tonko (NY-20), and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23).
They join a star-studded lineup of musicians and celebrity hosts including Stephen Colbert, Deborra-lee Furness and Hugh Jackman, Salma Hayek Pinault, Kerry Washington, and Olivia Wilde, alongside 60,000 global citizens on the Great Lawn of New York City’s Central Park on September 26, 2015. The free-ticketed concert will feature headlining performances from Pearl Jam, Beyonce, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay.
“I’m proud to go to Central Park to support this great initiative and show Sweden’s unwavering commitment to fight inequality, together with the global community. We are ready to be part of a new push for the eradication of poverty, especially through granting access to water, sanitation and hygiene around the world. It’s a huge task we have in front of us – so let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work,” stated Swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven.
“2015 is an unprecedented moment for global action. This extraordinary group of leaders, activists and advocates have the power to help realize the ambitious Global Goals, changing the lives of billions. I have never been more proud to be a part of the Global Citizen movement!”, said Hugh Evans, CEO, The Global Poverty Project.
Proud core partners of the 2015 Global Citizen Festival include: presenting partner Gucci and the CHIME FOR CHANGE campaign, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Citi, Unilever, YouTube, TIDAL, Google, iHeartRadio, Clear Channel Outdoor, msnbc, New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, H&M, and T- Mobile. Supporting partners are BBC Worldwide, Universal Music Group Distribution, Pratt Foundation, Waislitz Foundation, The Huffington Post, Milk Studios, RYOT and Riot House.
The 2015 Global Citizen Festival will air live from Central Park on MSNBC and MSNBC.com from 3-10 p.m. ET. YouTube will also livestream the Festival on youtube.com/globalcitizen, presented by T-Mobile, and an audio feed of the concert will also be simulcast live on the “Global Citizen Radio” digital station on iHeartRadio, and digitally streamed on the innovative music and entertainment platform, TIDAL. The Festival will be produced by Emmy Award-winning producer, Ken Ehrlich (Grammy Awards).
For more information about the Festival, visit: www.globalcitizenfestival.com.
