The 2019 Global Citizen Festival is returning to Central Park with its trademark blend of star power and advocacy on Saturday, Sept. 28 — and Global Citizens everywhere can take action through the Global Citizen app to earn a chance to win free tickets to the event.
This year’s headliners include Queen + Adam Lambert, Pharrell Williams, Alicia Keys, OneRepublic, H.E.R., and Carole King.
Special guest performances by French Montana, Ben Platt, Jon Batiste & Stay Human, David Gray, and NCT 127 will take place throughout the evening, and Deborra-lee Furness and Hugh Jackman will return to host the event on Central Park’s Great Lawn. The festival will be co-hosted by Matt Bomer, Connie Britton, Rachel Brosnahan, Nina Dobrev, Elvis Duran, Becky G, Taraji P. Henson, Dakota Johnson, Becky Lynch, Aasif Mandvi, Rami Malek, Bridget Moynahan, Bill Nye, Kal Penn, Joy Reid, Erin Richards, Seth Rollins, Savannah Sellers, and Forest Whitaker.
Take Action: Download the Global Citizen App
“We are thrilled to be returning to the Great Lawn to host the Global Citizen Festival in September,” said Jackman and Furness. “Global Citizens have been campaigning for a better world for 10 years and this is a critical moment for the movement as we gear up for 2020, marking ten years for the world to eradicate extreme poverty.”
The festival is happening at the end of the United Nations General Assembly week in New York City and is designed to call on world leaders to make real, impactful commitments toward achieving the UN’s Global Goals for Sustainable Development.
Like Live Aid in 1985, we believe this concert will be a milestone.
Queen's Brian May
An estimated 60,000 Global Citizens in attendance — and millions more watching the broadcast and livestreams on Twitter and YouTube — will join the artist lineup to put pressure on governments, businesses, and philanthropists to uphold their responsibilities toward empowering women and girls around the world, combating plastic pollution to protect the poorest parts of the planet, improving the quality of health care and nutrition, and unlocking human potential through quality education, skills, and health.
The commitments made this year will help to set the agenda for the final 10-year push to achieve the Global Goals by 2030.
“After next year we will have only 10 short years to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” Hugh Evans, CEO of Global Citizen, said in a statement. “The policies and progress that we make this year, and into 2020, will determine whether we successfully eradicate extreme poverty by 2030, and failure is not an option for the world's poor. We are thrilled to have such an iconic lineup of artists, hosts, and partners join us at such a pivotal moment for this fight as we ask governments and world leaders to take action and end extreme poverty.”
Global Citizen is calling on world leaders to make commitments across four policy areas at this year’s festival — women’s rights, plastic pollution, health care, and human capital.
The organization is calling on governments to raise $250 million for the Education Cannot Wait fund’s 2019 replenishment, to ensure children can access education even in times of crisis; make commitments to the Global Fund’s $14 billion fundraising drive to save 16 million lives and cut mortality rates from AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria in half by 2023; and allocate $350 million to the UN Population Fund to provide family planning and critical health services to the world’s poorest women.
Read More: How to Get Tickets to the 2019 Global Citizen Festival in NYC
Global Citizen is also asking multinational companies to commit to procuring $100 million of their products and services from women-owned businesses — primarily located in developing countries — and for governments to fund the final push to eradicate polio once and for all.
Over the past eight years, Global Citizen has secured nearly $38 billion in commitments toward the UN’s Global Goals from governments, companies, and foundations, set to affect the lives of more than 2.25 billion people. This year will add to the momentum in the fight to end extreme poverty by 2030.
“I can’t wait to return to the Global Citizen Festival stage this year,” Pharrell Williams said. “From New York to South Africa, and everywhere in between, this movement is so inspiring. Everyone who attends the Festival is fighting for our future and to make the world a better place, and that is something that I am incredibly proud to be a part of.”
“So much progress has been made by Global Citizen toward ending extreme poverty since I last performed at the 2013 festival,” Alicia Keys said. “It was one of the most empowering experiences, and I cannot wait to give and feel all the amazing energy in Central Park again.”
If you want to earn tickets to the festival, all you have to do is download the Global Citizen app and begin taking actions. After each action journey — groups of actions organization the four core themes — ticket will be drawn and winners will be notified. You can learn more at globalcitizenfestival.org.
Learn More: The 2019 Global Citizen Festival in New York
The 2019 Global Citizen Festival will be presented by Citi and Cisco, and 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 and MSNBC.com. The festival broadcast will be produced by Emmy Award-winning producer Ken Ehrlich (Grammy Awards).
In 2019, iHeartMedia joins MSNBC and Comcast as a presenting media partner and will broadcast live from Central Park on over 150 radio stations across the US and streamed 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, Procter & Gamble, 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.
"Like Live Aid in 1985, we believe this concert will be a milestone," Queen's Brian May said. "It will generate practical solutions to address the world’s glaring anomalies. Global Citizen is an organization which has already moved mountains. We hope this concert will be the beginning of a new era in which all creatures on Earth will eventually benefit."
Start taking action now or visit our Ticketmaster page to buy VIP tickets. Still have questions? Head over to our FAQ to find out more.
The 2019 Global Citizen Festival in New York will be presented by Citi and Cisco and in association with our Production Partner, Live Nation. MSNBC, Comcast NBCUniversal, and iHeart will serve as Presenting Media Partners and will air a live simulcast of the Festival on MSNBC and on iHeart Radio Stations. The Festival will also be livestreamed on YouTube and Twitter, presented by Johnson & Johnson.
Proud partners of the 2019 Global Citizen Festival include Global Citizen’s global health partner and major partner Johnson & Johnson, and major partners P&G, Verizon, and NYC Parks.