It was actually about more than Beyoncé for once (but I mean, still all hail Queen B). On September 26th, the 2015 Global Citizen Festival took place on the Great Lawn of Central Park in New York City. The headliners included Pearl Jam, Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay. It was an opportunity for fans to gather for free and listen to some of their favorite artists perform and even collaborate with each other. Beyoncé and Ed Sheeran stole the show when they performed an acoustic version of her hit song “Drunk in Love”. Another less talked about duet was between Coldplay and Ariana Grande, when they performed the song “Yellow”. A Kodak moment occurred when Beyoncé and First Lady Michelle Obama met each other in a warm embrace on stage. Michelle Obama was present to promote her campaign #62MillionGirls, which went along with one of Global Citizen’s goals of protecting our women and girls. Pearl Jam returning to Central Park was also a highlight. They covered John Lennon’s “Imagine” and also brought Beyoncé up onto stage again to perform a cover of “Redemption Song”.
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However, the festival was about much more than polarizing performances. The Global Citizen program was developed in 2012 by the Global Poverty Project, with the goal of working towards developing a world in which all children could thrive and survive. The Global Citizen platform wants to spare women and girls from violence, give all children the chance to gain an education and to provide medicine to people in need. Global Citizen is made up of a community of people that wish to see change in the world and are willing to work hard to ensure that they see those changes. Fighting extreme world poverty and inequality are also top priorities. Basically, they are working towards a utopia that most everyone wants to see the Earth become.
In order to gain attention for such a great cause, the Global Citizen organization teamed up with powerhouse musicians and the beautiful city of New York to put on a great show while bringing awareness to their mission. This year they chose 6 top priorities to focus on throughout the festival: girls and women, food and hunger, education, global health, water sanitation and hygiene and financing.
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All of this goes back to the Global Poverty Project, which is where Global Citizen originated. So, what is this amazing organization all about? The Global Poverty project is a registered international nonprofit organization that has made it its mission to end extreme poverty by the year 2030. So far they are well on their way to achieving their goal. Over the past four years alone, Global Citizen has taken 2.3 million actions in the fight against extreme poverty. Those actions have resulted in 87 commitments and policy announcements, including cash commitments valued at 18.3 billion US dollars. Ending extreme poverty is no easy feat. However, if enough individuals come together as global citizens, we can surely beat these burdens.