Fasten your seatbelts and get ready to make change and get groovin’, because you’re in for one heck of a ride.
You heard it here first, we’ve just announced the 2022 Global Citizen Festival, a worldwide campaign calling on world leaders to End Extreme Poverty NOW with twin events in New York City’s Central Park, presented by Citi and Cisco, and Black Star Square in Accra, Ghana, presented by Harith General Partners.
With two stages in these international cultural capitals, Global Citizen Festival will take place on Saturday, Sept. 24, with global broadcasts and livestreams airing worldwide on YouTube, Twitter, Amazon Music, the Amazon Music channel on Twitch, Apple Music, and the Apple TV app, as well as ABC, ABC News Live, HeartRadio, Hulu, FX, Veeps, Albavision, Canal+, Bis, Nine Network (9Now), TimesLive, and more. Save that date and stay tuned for more information about how you can tune in and get involved from wherever you are!
Hosted by actor, producer, author, and Global Citizen Ambassador Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Global Citizen Festival: NYC will see performances from Metallica, Charlie Puth, Jonas Brothers, MÅNESKIN, Mariah Carey, Mickey Guyton, Rosalía, Angélique Kidjo, and Billy Porter.
Amber Ruffin, Antoni Porowski, Bill Nye, Chris Redd, Conne Britton, Jay Shetty, Katie Couric, Katie Holmes, Misty Copeland, Rachel Brosnahan, Scott Evans, Tamron Hall, and Van Jones will be joining as presenters.
In Ghana, to mark the 65th anniversary of Ghana’s independence and the 20th anniversary of the African Union, Accra’s iconic Black Star Square will see live performances from Usher, SZA, Stormzy, Gyakie, Sarkodie, Stonebwoy, TEMS, and Uncle Waffles.
Global Citizen Festival: Accra will be hosted by award-winning actor, playwright, and activist Danai Gurira, with Berla Mundi, Joselyn Dumas, Michaela Coel, Nomzamo Mbatha, and Sabrina Dhowre Elba joining as presenters. Find out more about Global Citizen Festival: Accra and how you can get involved here.
From heavy-metal heroes and R&B trailblazers to change-making activists and world leaders, this year’s Global Citizen Festival campaign is part of Global Citizen’s overarching “End Extreme Poverty NOW”, our campaign on a mission to do exactly what it says on the tin. Learn more about the priority objectives for the campaign here.
We know that’s a tall order, so how do we plan on making it a reality? By calling on world leaders, major corporations, and philanthropic foundations to take to our festival stages and announce new commitments to End Extreme Poverty NOW, including: to deploy financing; take climate action; empower women and girls through critical investments in education, sexual and reproductive health, and economic empowerment; and mitigate a global food system meltdown.
Ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in September, and the G20 Summit and COP27 in November, we’re calling on world leaders to step up and invest $600 million into the future of women and girls, close the annual $10 billion climate financing shortfall, deliver $500 million to help farmers in Africa respond to the global food crisis, and provide urgent relief from crushing debts — all to End Extreme Poverty NOW.
Throughout the campaign, we’re urging governments to actively defend activists and advocates, whose work is essential to creating healthy civic spaces. Without local and global advocacy and activism to uplift people’s voices from all around the world, the achievement of these campaign goals, which are imperative for humanity and our planet, will continue to be deprioritized by those in power.
The whole campaign is powered by people like you; Global Citizens around the world taking action and raising our voices together to enact change, because our future cannot wait. Tickets to Global Citizen Festival: NYC and Global Citizen Festival: Accra are completely free, and you can earn them by becoming a Global Citizen and joining us in taking action to end poverty and demand change. For every action you take with us, you’ll earn points that you can use to earn your spot in the crowd. Find out more about how you can earn your ticket here.
Globally, the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed nearly 100 million more people into extreme poverty and is reversing recent progress the world had made towards shrinking inequality and reducing poverty.
Meanwhile, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has aggravated the situation further, with as many as 323 million people now facing acute hunger, and 1.2 billion people now living in nations experiencing a perfect storm of food, energy, and financial crises. If we don’t take urgent action NOW, things will only get worse and as many as 200 million more people could be plunged into extreme poverty by November.
“Decades of systemic and political failures have led humanity into the midst of converging and rapidly deteriorating crises — climate, hunger, health, war and conflict. The most marginalized populations are paying the price of the stagnant inaction of our leaders, and now millions of lives, and the future of our planet, are at stake,” said Hugh Evans, Co-Founder and CEO of Global Citizen.
“We refuse to just stand by and watch,” he continued. “We refuse to accept the starvation of multitudes when solutions are readily at hand. We demand a secure future for girls everywhere. We demand governments keep their promises on climate funding. We demand relief from debts unjustly crushing economies. And we demand action NOW, while there’s still time to change our collective trajectory.”
The Global Citizen Festival campaign is supported by governments and world leaders, including: Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission; Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana; Hakainde Hichilema, President of Zambia; Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda; Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados; Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister of Croatia; Frank Bainimara, Prime Minister of Fiji; Ingrida Šimonytė, Prime Minister of Lithuania; Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain; Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives; Chuck Schumer, US Senate Majority Leader; Meryame Kitir, Minister of Development Cooperation and Urban Policy, Belgium; Anne Tvinnereim, Minister for International Development, Norway; Stanley Kakubo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zambia; Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico; Kingdom of the Netherlands; Government of Liberia; Government of Luxembourg; Government of Malta; Government of Peru; Government of Rwanda; Government of Sierra Leone; Government of Zimbabwe; Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations; Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of UNFPA; Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization; Ban Ki-moon, Former UN Secretary General; Elizabeth Cousens, President and CEO of the UN Foundation; Peter Sands, Executive Director of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director, Education Cannot Wait; Erna Solberg, Former Prime Minister of Norway; Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Ambassador to the UN; Ertharin Cousin, Founder, Managing Director and CEO, Food Systems for the Future; Alok Sharma, COP26 President.
”While communities face injustices, crises, and inequalities in the world, we simply cannot give up the fight and solidarity to end poverty,” said Amina Mohammed, the United Nations Deputy Secretary General. “We need all voices in calling for a better future for everyone, everywhere. Now is the time for ambitious action. Together, with Global Citizen, we can keep the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals.”
As Patron of Global Citizen’s work in Africa, Tshepo Mahloele, Founder & Executive, of Harith General Partners, supports Global Citizen’s growth across Africa to reach more audiences and help achieve equity in places with high rates of extreme poverty. Global Citizen Festival: NYC is also honored to have the support of Mayor Adams, 110th Mayor of New York City.
Since it began lighting up Central Park’s Great Lawn in 2012, the Global Citizen Festival has become the world’s longest-running global campaign calling for an end to extreme poverty that unites millions of voices, amplified by the world’s biggest artists, demanding world leaders take action.
Join that global cry by taking action and becoming part of a movement powered by citizens around the world to make change. You can start taking action right now by downloading the Global Citizen app or signing up as a Global Citizen on our website.
To get the latest updates and information about Global Citizen Festival, check out our FAQs page and follow @GlblCtzn on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook @GlblCtznAfrica.
Global Citizen Festival is calling on world leaders, corporations, and philanthropists to do more than they’ve ever done before to End Extreme Poverty NOW. Through our global campaign and with stages in two iconic locations — NYC’s Central Park and Accra’s Black Star Square — we will unite leaders, artists, activists, and Global Citizens around the world on Sept. 24 to achieve an ambitious policy agenda focused on empowering girls and women, taking climate action, breaking systemic barriers, and lifting up activists and advocates. Wherever you are in the world, you can join the campaign and take action right now by downloading the Global Citizen app.
