The Weeknd and Shakira will headline Global Citizen Festival supporting energy access and the Amazon
The Weeknd and Shakira — two of the world's biggest touring artists — will headline this fall's Global Citizen Festival in New York's Central Park, supporting campaigns to improve energy access across Africa and defend the Amazon against deforestation.
Global Citizen announced Tuesday that the pop stars behind such hits as 'Blinding Lights' and 'Hips Don't Lie" will be joined by Tyla, Ayra Starr and Mariah the Scientist at the concert on Sept. 27. Hosted by actor Hugh Jackman, the annual event highlights the anti-poverty nonprofit's selected humanitarian priorities and urges attendees to collectively tackle those issues through direct support.
'The fact that these artists have immediate proximity to communities that have either recently emerged out of extreme poverty, or are emerging out of extreme poverty, gives them amazing perspective,' Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans told The Associated Press. 'And they bring that perspective into Central Park at this moment where I think the world needs a moment of unity now more than ever.'
The festival's goals involve securing commitments to bring clean, reliable energy to 1 million people in Africa; mobilizing $200 million for indigenous and local entrepreneurs to protect an Italy-sized chunk of the Amazon rainforest; and raising at least $30 million to help community-based education programs improve children's literacy.
Tickets to the festival are free, but fans must earn them by taking actions through the Global Citizen app. Opportunities include uploading videos calling on German and French leaders to back the Amazon protection plan and volunteering to mentor young people worldwide in career development.
This year's calls to action reflect the changing nature of online advocacy campaigns. Organizers find that social media posts and email-driven appeals don't carry the same weight as they did when Global Citizen first started rallying concertgoers. Evans said user-generated content such as a self-recorded clip creates "quality engagement" and makes it almost impossible to game the system.
In The Weeknd and Shakira, Global Citizen is reuniting with previous artistic supporters at a time when they are packing stadiums. The Weeknd, who this month wrapped a four-night run of sold-out performances at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium, is donating $1 from every ticket sale to the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund. Shakira, who recently completed seven consecutive sold-out shows in Mexico City, joined Coldplay onstage during a 2017 edition of the festival in Germany.
"Music has always been my way of connecting with people and leaving a mark on the world," Shakira said in a statement. 'I can't wait to perform, unite, and inspire action.'
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Japan Today
13 hours ago
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The Weeknd and Shakira will headline Global Citizen Festival supporting energy access and the Amazon
By JAMES POLLARD The Weeknd and Shakira — two of the world's biggest touring artists — will headline this fall's Global Citizen Festival in New York's Central Park, supporting campaigns to improve energy access across Africa and defend the Amazon against deforestation. Global Citizen announced Tuesday that the pop stars behind such hits as 'Blinding Lights' and 'Hips Don't Lie" will be joined by Tyla, Ayra Starr and Mariah the Scientist at the concert on Sept. 27. Hosted by actor Hugh Jackman, the annual event highlights the anti-poverty nonprofit's selected humanitarian priorities and urges attendees to collectively tackle those issues through direct support. 'The fact that these artists have immediate proximity to communities that have either recently emerged out of extreme poverty, or are emerging out of extreme poverty, gives them amazing perspective,' Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans told The Associated Press. 'And they bring that perspective into Central Park at this moment where I think the world needs a moment of unity now more than ever.' The festival's goals involve securing commitments to bring clean, reliable energy to 1 million people in Africa; mobilizing $200 million for indigenous and local entrepreneurs to protect an Italy-sized chunk of the Amazon rainforest; and raising at least $30 million to help community-based education programs improve children's literacy. Tickets to the festival are free, but fans must earn them by taking actions through the Global Citizen app. Opportunities include uploading videos calling on German and French leaders to back the Amazon protection plan and volunteering to mentor young people worldwide in career development. This year's calls to action reflect the changing nature of online advocacy campaigns. Organizers find that social media posts and email-driven appeals don't carry the same weight as they did when Global Citizen first started rallying concertgoers. Evans said user-generated content such as a self-recorded clip creates "quality engagement" and makes it almost impossible to game the system. In The Weeknd and Shakira, Global Citizen is reuniting with previous artistic supporters at a time when they are packing stadiums. The Weeknd, who this month wrapped a four-night run of sold-out performances at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium, is donating $1 from every ticket sale to the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund. Shakira, who recently completed seven consecutive sold-out shows in Mexico City, joined Coldplay onstage during a 2017 edition of the festival in Germany. "Music has always been my way of connecting with people and leaving a mark on the world," Shakira said in a statement. 'I can't wait to perform, unite, and inspire action.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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When people engage in dialogue as their true selves and connect laterally, society has the potential to change," said Shimura. Each 90-minute session of the seasonal program "Peace in the Dark," which recently opened in Tokyo and will also be held in Hiroshima next month, invites participants to immerse themselves in everyday sounds and objects as they pay a "visit" to a home in a time before the atomic bombing on Aug. 6, 1945. Participants rely on white canes and each other to navigate the pitch-black darkness to arrive at various settings before engaging in dialogue on peace. Kento Kogure, 35, a participant of a preview session in Tokyo, said the program made him reframe peace as something more personal. "I felt both the flow of time and the sense of time stopping. That made me think about how, as an individual, I can stop the clock of war and extend this time of peace as long as possible," he said. Miki Kawabata, 46, a visually impaired guide from Hiroshima who has worked with Dialogue in the Dark for around 20 years, said a feeling of trust that is often created in the darkness helps the subsequent dialogue become more meaningful. "The first time participants enter the dark space, they say things like 'I can't see a thing!' and 'It's scary!'" "But as they begin to call out to others, hold hands, or walk with a hand on someone's shoulder, they start to realize that being able to rely on someone brings such a deep sense of security," she said in a recent phone interview with Kyodo News. Dialogue in the Dark, which has now been presented in around 50 countries by thousands of visually impaired individuals, was originally founded by German journalist Andreas Heinecke in 1988 following his life-changing encounter with a blind colleague, who taught him the potential of the visually impaired. Deciding to devote himself to improving inclusion of people with disabilities, Heinecke came up with an idea to create "reverse conditions" -- turning off the lights, darkening a room, and inviting blind and sighted people to meet, according to the German-based enterprise he later founded. The program was first launched in Japan in 1999 by Shimura, who spent years laying the groundwork after being inspired by a 1993 newspaper article about the experience in Europe. Over 300,000 people have now taken part in programs designed by Shimura's wife Kiyoe, ranging from seasonal editions, emergency-response simulations, and corporate training. For the first-ever public program in Hiroshima from Aug. 2 to Aug. 11, the former Hiroshima branch of the Bank of Japan, located around 380 meters from the hypocenter, was chosen as the venue for its so-called "miracle story of trust." 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The uranium bomb dropped by the United States on Hiroshima killed an estimated 140,000 people by the end of 1945, with many others suffering from the effects of burns and radiation-related illnesses long after the attack. Many of Kawabata's relatives were exposed to the bomb, and she hopes people from all generations, even those that did not experience the war directly, will participate in the program. "Peace exists at every level, and it has no single answer. Every person's vision of peace is valuable and correct in its own way," she said. By Donican Lam
