2013 Global Citizen Festival Announced; Stevie Wonder, Kings of Leon, Alicia Keys, And John Mayer On The Great Lawn In Central Park

NEW YORK, July 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Poverty Project, in proud partnership with the Cotton On Foundation, 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.

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 to focus on the people outcome. It's not about cutting cheques, it's about raising awareness, empowering people with truth so they can engender positive change that's tangible. It's a 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.  

SOURCE Global Poverty Project