Central Park Concert Brings Anti-Poverty Activists, Plenty of Music Fans

About 60,000 people bustled through Central Park’s Great Lawn last Saturday for the Global Citizen Festival to combat poverty worldwide.

The five-hour event, a collaboration between the non-profit Global Poverty Project and concert promotion firm Goldenvoice, featured live musical performances by Neil Young, Foo Fighters, The Black Keys, Band of Horses, and K’naan. John Legend took the stage to sing John Lennon’s “Imagine” while accompanying himself on piano. Actress Olivia Wilde, musician Selena Gomez, and TV journalist Katie Couric spoke to the audience and ask them to help the Global Citizen Project in its effort to eradicate poverty and its reverberating effect on communities around the world.

The organizers also showed videos of men, women, and children living in third world countries.

To gain free entry into the concert, audience members had to watch videos, read posts on hunger, polio, and women’s rights, and sign petitions on globalcitizen.org. Other fans paid up to $2,000 for VIP tickets for a spot closer to the stage and, in some cases, a backstage pass. All proceeds went to the Global Citizen charity.

“We wanted Global Festival to be about action, not money,” said Global Poverty Project founder, Hugh Evans, to Rolling Stone in August. “By thinking differently about how we distribute tickets, we’re building a movement.”

But not everybody believed in the cause.

“I have a doubt if any of this actually does anything,” said Jonathan Marx, 33. “It gives a false impression that such vital changes are easy. All of these people now think ‘Yeah, now I’m an activist.’ Meanwhile all they have done is come listen to music and smoke a joint at Central Park.”

Participants could also donate money to the project, buy T-shirts at merchandise stands, or $3 water bottles at nearby concession booths.

Behind a donation register, concessions manager Mike Amuro tried to explain how the Global Citizen Project used the proceeds from the festival. Like many other event staffers, he was unsure about the specifics.

“Honestly, I don’t have a heads-up about what this festival is about,” Amuro said. “But I know that all proceeds are going to children in third world countries.”