Central Park’s Great Lawn will play host to the Global Festival on Saturday September 29th, an event put together by Global Citizen intended to increase awareness of an issue that goes beyond partisan politics, extreme poverty. It was no small feat to put together such an amazing line up for this important cause and there are numerous parties involved in putting this together. But the movement began with just one person, Hugh Evans.
One of the main organizers behind this campaign, Evans, has spent half of his life devoted to ending extreme poverty. And he is only 29. He doesn’t want to throw a single event which will be fondly remembered, he wants people to be active agents in the poverty eradication movement. In a recent New York Times article, Mr. Evans has said that people “actually have to earn their way into the concert. It’s not just a one-off event. You are building a movement from the outset”. And with artists like the Foo Fighters, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, The Black Keys and more, as part of the movement — and performing in Central Park — Evans has the already created a lot of exposure for this charity event. For free.
As Mr. James C. McKinley Jr. explains in his NY Times article, Evans “hopes to build a movement among the expected 60,000 concertgoers that will pressure world leaders to commit an additional $500 million for reducing poverty and eradicating diseases like polio and malaria”. To be part of the movement and to attend the free concert, you’ll have to earn and win your tickets, through a lottery process.
First, you must register at Global Citizen. Then, by completing several digital tasks, like donating to charities, watching videos, signing petitions or posting on Twitter, you can earn points that will then count towards entries into a lottery. Collecting three points will give you one entry and you can complete more tasks to get more points and thus entries. Its essentially a game. You’ll find you will acquire trophies, aka ‘Global Citizen Badges’ in polio eradication, for your participating in this game which will in turn increase your advocacy as you one-up your friends by earning more badges.
The first drawing of 5,000 tickets has already taken place, but there will be three more chances (August 27, September 3 and September 10) so be sure to register now and start getting those points. 54,000 tickets are being given away. You might just be one of the lucky ones to attend this momentous occasion…if you help spread the word. As the Global Citizen ‘About’ page indicates, “Global Citizen is a tool to amplify and unite a generation’s call for justice. It’s a place for you to learn, and act, to bring an end to extreme poverty”.