International advocacy organization Global Citizen has announced that Connie Britton, Nina Dobrev, Becky G, Dakota Johnson, Becky Lynch, Aasif Mandvi, Bridget Moynahan, Kal Penn, Erin Richards, Seth Rollins, Savannah Sellers, David Gray, and NCT 127 will join the 2019 Global Citizen Festival, a free-ticketed event on Saturday, September 28th in Central Park in New York City, presented by Citi and Cisco.
Connie Britton, Nina Dobrev, Becky G, Dakota Johnson, Becky Lynch, Aasif Mandvi, Bridget Moynahan, Kal Penn, Erin Richards, Seth Rollins and Savannah Sellers will serve as co-hosts of the Festival, joining the previously announced co-hosts Matt Bomer, Rachel Brosnahan, Elvis Duran, Taraji P. Henson, Rami Malek, Bill Nye, Joy Reid, and Forest Whitaker. Deborra-lee Furness and Hugh Jackman will return as hosts.
David Gray and NCT127 will perform at the Festival alongside headliners Queen + Adam Lambert, Pharrell Williams, Alicia Keys, OneRepublic, H.E.R., and Carole King, along with special guests French Montana, Ben Platt, and Jon Batiste & Stay Human.
Today’s announcement also kicks off the third opportunity for fans and activists to take action and earn tickets to the event, by calling on world leaders and corporations to help achieve gender equality. Global Citizens will take action to:
- END CHILD MARRIAGE: Urge Pennsylvania and Massachusetts to pass legislation and set the minimum age for marriage at 18 with no loopholes. Each year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18. Child marriage is still legally permitted in 48 of 50 U.S. states, and some U.S. states’ marriage-age laws are in line with those in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Child marriage has devastating effects on a girls’ health, education and economic opportunities, and Pennsylvania and Massachusetts can help lead the way to end this harmful practice.
- SUPPORT FAMILY PLANNING: Call on donor countries, including Denmark and the Netherlands, to renew and increase funding to support UNFPA Supplies — the world’s largest provider of family planning services, which distributes vital contraceptives and maternal health medicines to women in fragile and conflict settings, and in countries facing the highest maternal mortality rates and a growing unmet need for family planning. Without USD $350 million in additional funds by 2020, UNFPA Supplies’ life-saving work — and the safety and future of over 20 million girls and women — will be at risk.
- ENSURE WORKPLACE SAFETY: Petition the governments of Namibia, Costa Rica and Peru to become the first countries to ratify and implement the International Labour Organization’s Convention on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work. The Convention will require governments to develop national laws prohibiting workplace violence and provide protection measures and services to victims. More than 1 in 3 countries currently lack protections on sexual harassment and violence in the workplace, and an estimated 424 million working-age women remain unprotected.
- PROMOTE WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Urge multinational corporations to procure USD $100M of their products and services from women-owned businesses over the next 3 years, with at least half to be spent with women in developing countries, and call on the World Bank to double its procurement from women-owned enterprises around the world. Right now, women-owned businesses earn less than a 1% share of the USD $11 trillion spent on procurement each year by large corporations, governments and institutions.
Leticia Pfeffer, Director of Global Policy and Government Affairs at Global Citizen, said, "We’re thrilled to have these incredible artists joining us for the 2019 Global Citizen Festival and engaging their fans in the fight to end extreme poverty by 2030. We encourage all Global Citizens to take action and power the movement for gender equality. When we empower and invest in girls and women, we can grow economies and achieve a world where #SheIsEqual.
Live Nation returns for the fourth consecutive year as production partner.
For the sixth consecutive year, MSNBC & Comcast NBCUniversal will air a live simulcast of the Festival on MSNBC, MSNBC.com and NBC News NOW. Beginning at 4:00pm ET, MSNBC’s Joy Reid and Ari Melber will host MSNBC’s exclusive broadcast of the Festival with MSNBC correspondents Jacob Soboroff and Savannah Sellers serving as on-the-ground co-hosts. The Festival broadcast will be produced by Emmy Award-winning producer Ken Ehrlich (Grammy Awards). In 2019, iHeartMedia joins MSNBC and Comcast NBCUniversal as a presenting media partner and will again provide significant media support encouraging listeners to become Global Citizens as well as broadcast the Festival live from Central Park on more than 150 radio stations across the U.S. and on the iHeartRadio App.
The Festival will also be livestreamed on YouTube and Twitter, presented by Johnson & Johnson.
Proud partners of the 2019 Global Citizen Festival include Johnson & Johnson, P&G, and Verizon.
Since the first Global Citizen Festival in New York in 2012, Global Citizen has grown into one of the largest, most visible platforms for people around the world calling on world leaders to honor their responsibilities in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and ending extreme poverty by 2030. Global Citizens have generated commitments and policy announcements from leaders valued at over $37.9 billion that are set to affect the lives of more than 2.25 billion people.
