Fifth Annual Global Citizen Festival on September 24th to be Headlined by Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, Selena Gomez, Major Lazer, and Metallica

NEW YORK, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, Selena Gomez, Major Lazer, and Metallica will headline the 2016 Global Citizen Festival, the annual free-ticketed event on the Great Lawn in Central Park in New York City on Saturday, September 24, 2016. The Festival will harness actions from millions of Global Citizens around the world to hold world leaders accountable to the progress made toward achieving the Global Goals set out by the United Nations last year.

Special guest performances will be given by Usher, Chris Martin, Eddie Vedder, Ellie Goulding, Yandel, and Yusuf/Cat Stevens.

Hosts for this year's Festival will include Chelsea Handler, Deborra-lee & Hugh Jackman, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra, Salma Hayek Pinault, and Seth Meyers.

Over the past five years, the Festival has served as a convening moment where tens of thousands of Global Citizens have come together to celebrate the commitments their campaigning efforts have helped achieve. Since 2012, more than six million actions from Global Citizens have led world leaders to enact policy changes and commit significant resources to issues of girls and women's equality, education, health, water and sanitation, environment, finance and innovation, and food and hunger. These financial and policy commitments and announcements are set to affect the lives of up to 656 million people.

"Over the last five years, Global Citizens around the world have taken more than 6 million actions in the fight against extreme poverty - actions that are set to affect the lives of over 650 million of the world's most marginalized people. This year's Festival - and this incredible lineup - is an annual touch point to hold our world leaders to account on their commitments to solve the world's biggest problems," said Hugh Evans, CEO of Global Citizen.

Marco Bizzarri, President and CEO of Gucci said, "Gucci and CHIME FOR CHANGE are proud to again be presenting partners at the Global Citizen Festival, as it celebrates its fifth anniversary.  Through our long term partnership with Global Citizen we maintain our ongoing commitment to take action on behalf of girls' and women's empowerment, through one of today's fastest growing and most progressive movements." Bizzarri continued, "Achieving gender equality is not an option but a necessity, if the world is to successfully overcome the epidemic of extreme poverty."

Selena Gomez said, "I couldn't be more honored to participate in the Global Citizen Festival as it continues to help solve important issues around the world. I am particularly proud to be involved this year as the focus is on education. As an artist with many young fans, I believe everyone has the right to an education."

"We're honored to be a part of this year's Global Citizen Festival and the initiative to end global poverty. We're humbled to join such an impressive lineup and to be working with a Festival so dedicated to education and raising awareness," said Major Lazer.

Ellie Goulding said, "I'm thrilled to be a part of the Global Citizen movement. I hope to shine a spotlight on the importance of protecting our environment and ensuring access to safe water in the fight against global poverty. Together we can use our voices to urge our leaders to take action and support the health and development of citizens everywhere and preserving the world for future generations."

Yandel said, "I'm truly grateful to be part of the Global Citizen Festival this year and to have the opportunity to lend my voice and bring awareness to the many issues affecting children, women, and our society as a whole. I want to encourage my fans all over the world to join us and help us make a difference in the world."

Yusuf/Cat Stevens said, "While much of the world's great cities are becoming no-go areas and ruins besieged by fear and divisive conflicts, it's great to see a global counter-movement for peace through rebalancing of wealth beyond politics and towards human equality."

"I am proud and excited to be a part of such an important movement with Global Citizen," said Chelsea Handler. "The Festival helps bring serious issues into the broader conversation and encourages people to take action. This year's focus is women and girls, which is such a prevalent topic in our society, I hope lending my voice and my action to this can help to positively impact those."

Deborra-lee & Hugh Jackman said, "We are so happy to be returning as hosts for another amazing Global Citizen Festival. The impact this organization continues to deliver for the world's poor is tremendous and we can't wait to see the tens of thousands of activists who took action and showed up for extreme poverty celebrating their achievements on the lawn of Central Park!"

"The spirit of the Global Citizen Festival is something very dear to me. With the opportunities to travel I've been given through my work, I see the world as an interconnected force - and this Festival is an incredible example of the power of looking across our borders, and working together for the greater good. I'm very much looking forward to co-hosting this year, with such an amazing group of talent," said Priyanka Chopra.

"I am honored to return as co-host of the Global Citizen Festival," said Salma Hayek Pinault. "As co-founder of CHIME FOR CHANGE, I've been deeply inspired by the girls and women I have met around the world who are determined to get an education and build a better future. They are truly the agents of change who can help to bring an end to extreme poverty," Hayek Pinault added. "I am proud to join thousands of Global Citizens at the Festival to help achieve real and meaningful change."

MSNBC & Comcast NBCUniversal will serve as the premier media partner of the Global Citizen Festival for the third consecutive year. The network will air a live simulcast of the full concert on MSNBC and MSNBC.com. The Festival will be produced by Emmy Award-winning producer, Ken Ehrlich (Grammy Awards).

Gucci and CHIME FOR CHANGE return as presenting partner.

YouTube is once again a worldwide digital streaming partner for the Festival and will feature a special livestream of the full concert at YouTube.com/GlobalCitizen, presented by Google's Made with Code movement.

iHeartMedia and the Global Citizen Festival will once again partner to help channel the power of music to fight inequality, protect our planet and end extreme poverty by 2030. For the fifth consecutive year, iHeartMedia is the official radio partner of the Festival. This year the two iconic events take place on the same weekend allowing for unique in-show collaborations and a special cross-over performance by Usher who will perform on both stages in one night.

Global Citizens can earn their admission to the free-ticketed Festival by joining the social action platform at globalcitizenfestival.com. Ticket draws will occur throughout the summer and fans will be notified via Global Citizen when they have been selected. A limited number of VIP tickets will also be available for purchase through Ticketmaster starting on Thursday, July 28th.

The Festival's premier media partner MSNBC & Comcast NBCUniversal, join major partners Caterpillar, Citi, Clear Channel Outdoor, iHeart, Johnson & Johnson, Google's Made with Code, YouTube, Live Nation, and NYC Parks. 

This year's announcement coincides with the Festival's Education Campaign, which provides an opportunity for existing and new fans and activists to earn tickets to the Festival by completing actions to help promote and ensure that equitable and quality education is available to all, particularly refugee children and access for girls & women. One in 10 children worldwide still goes through life without a basic primary education.

The Festival has also partnered with leading non-profit groups: UNICEF, World Vision, Care, ONE, Save the Children, UN Foundation, OXFAM, GAVI, The Global Fund, Global Partnership for Education, US for UNICEF, Water Aid, WSSCC, Malala Fund, Speak Up Africa, Equality Now, Hopeland, and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. 

People everywhere are invited to sign-up, take actions, and enter the prize draws for free tickets. In total, almost 50,000 free tickets to the Festival will be given out to Global Citizens. For more information about the artists, schedules, and event, please visitwww.globalcitizenfestival.com and follow @GlblCtzn on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using #GlobalCitizen.

About Global Citizen:
Global Citizen is a social action platform for the global generation who are passionate about learning and taking action on the world's biggest issues. Global Citizen works in partnership with and supports some of the most effective organizations working to achieve the Global Goals and end extreme poverty. Committed to providing the most interesting stories, effective actions and powerful campaigns, Global Citizen aims to reach and recruit the largest possible number of people who care about global issues.

About CHIME FOR CHANGE:
CHIME FOR CHANGE, founded by Gucci in 2013, is a global campaign to convene, unite and strengthen the voices speaking out for girls and women around the world.  In 2015, CHIME announced a long-term partnership with Global Citizen to join forces to promote gender equality.  CHIME FOR CHANGE Co-Founders Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Salma Hayek Pinault continue to lead the campaign with its coalition of partner organizations. Founding Partners include the Kering Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Facebook, Hearst Magazines and Catapult.  CHIME is powered by crowdfunding partners GlobalGiving and CrowdRise. Through the power of crowdfunding, CHIME FOR CHANGE has funded more than 420 projects in 88 countries through 153 non-profit partners reaching hundreds of thousands of girls and women around the world.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Global Citizen Inquiries:
Andrew Kirk, [email protected]

Media Inquiries:
Sunshine Sachs, [email protected] 
212-691-2800

SOURCE Global Citizen