Whether you are a broke college student or not, hearing the words “free concert” is bound to make anyone pause at what they are doing. However, oftentimes when the word “free” is tied to the beginning of anything people proceed cautiously and ponder “what’s the catch?” We live in a society where we are taught that nothing in life is truly free. Yet, what if the “catch” to this “free concert” was not of monetary value, but of something much more valued? The catch of simply raising your voice in awareness of present ongoing global issues. Would you partake?
Every September for the past five years, since 2012, the organization “Global Poverty Project” has sponsored a nationwide concert in New York City to unify people through the power of music. The organization works to educate people on global issues in hopes of promoting people to advocate and take action to see an end to extreme poverty worldwide.
The Project was co-founded in 2008 by Hugh Evans and Simon Moss. Their vision is to build a global movement of change—on changing the systems that keep people impoverished—by two ways: (1) campaigning for both consumer, business and government action, and (2) engaging and educating people to take simple yet effective measures to big change. Since the launch in 2008, the Project has developed a global tour, “1.4 Billion reasons” (named after the 1.4 billion people who live on $1.25 or less a day in the world), that identifies key policy issues that contribute to extreme poverty, founded the international advocacy and fundraising campaign “Live Below the Line” (raising over $5 million for anti-poverty groups), raised more than $118 million for “End of Polio” campaign, and created the virtual Global Citizen platform.
The Global Citizen platform has since made it easier than ever for people to let their voices be heard on global issues. Accessible by the web or as a free mobile application, people have the availability of gaining insight on current issues and ability to support organizations right at their fingertips—ranging from issues of sexism to malnutrition. Since the platform’s launch, people have greatly become more interested and engaged in political disputes. The Program provides informational articles on various topics, some of which are well-known and others that are shocking. By creating a Global Citizen account, you have the options to tweet, email, or call representatives around the globe to make changes. Staying in the loop of current issues has never been easier, let alone the being able to voice ourselves.
As an incentive to reach out to representatives and complete actions the Program provides a quantity of points per action. While these points accumulate they can be traded in for a raffle ticket towards either free concerts, shows, festivals, and other events nationwide. The date of drawings and the number of winners vary per event. However, this is a great opportunity to see your favorite celebrity who you have been dying to see. The largest kick off of the year for Global Citizen is their annual concert. In the following years they have featured The Killers, Chainsmokers, The Lumineers, and Rihanna. This year, on September 29th, the lineup includes The Weekend, Janet Jackson, Shawn Mendes, Cardi B, and Janelle Monae, hosted by Hugh Jackman and Deborra-lee Furness. An expected 60,000 music fans, activists, and Global Citizens will stand together with these musical artists to call on world leaders to make changes to terminate extreme poverty by 2030.