Advocacy project will reward social activism with concert tickets

Bruce Springsteen, Nine Inch Nails, Gotye and The Temper Trap are among the acts championing Global Citizen Tickets (GCT), the advocacy project working to end extreme poverty.

A project of the Global Poverty Project (GPP), GCT launched in Australia today to reward social activism with concert tickets. Touring acts have pledged tickets to forthcoming Australian concerts to fans who take action in addressing key global issues, like the fact 1.2 billion people are living in extreme poverty including 57 million children who are out of school, or the fact 2.5 billion people don’t have access to adequate sanitation.

The project asks local music fans to register online at www.globalcitizen.org/tickets-au and accumulate points through social actions like sharing a video on Facebook, signing a petition to world leaders, or by contacting Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and asking her to support international initiative Global Partnership for Education (GPE) – where former PM Julia Gillard is the new Board Chair. Activists can then use their points to win two free concert tickets.

Danny Rogers, Chair of Global Citizen Tickets Australia, Managing Director of Lunatic Entertainment and co-founder of St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival and And Publishing is among the Australian industry folk behind the project.

“Music not only has the ability to stir every last emotion inside you; but also has the power to inspire, educate, and stop and make you think about certain issues,” he says. “We’re really glad that so many amazing Aussie bands are donating tickets to their shows and raising awareness with their fans about social change.”

Global Citizen Tickets (GCT) is the brain child of Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis and Global Poverty Project CEO Hugh Evans. GCT launched in New York’s Central Park in 2012 with a free-ticketed festival featuring Neil Young, Foo Fighters and The Black Keys for 60,000 people.

Last year Hugh  Evans gave a speech expressing his disappointment at the Australian Government who made a decision to cut the  foreign aid budget  by $4.5 billion over the following four years. The speech was streamed at the sister Global Citizen Festival in Melbourne to 2,000 people.

Will Watterson, acting Australian Country Director of the GPP, believes the fresh approach could end extreme poverty. “[…] by collaborating with the Australian music industry we can usher in a new generation of people who can take action to help the world’s poor.”

TMN asked Watterson, a former youth worker and educator around global issues, more about the project.

Launching the project with The Boss and Nine Inch Nails as your international champions is no mean feat; how did that come about?
We just asked them! But honestly, we’ve been totally blown away by the support of the music industry for this cause, both at an artist level and also a management and promoter level. Perhaps what we instinctively sensed when we created this project is true, that there is an undeniable connection between music and social change. Music can go straight to the core of what really matters in a way that nothing else can. I think that’s something that established and up-and-coming artists alike have realised.

What surprised you most about the Australian industry in the lead-up to the launch?
How easy it was to work with them. They grasped the vision of the project and got behind it unequivocally. I was humbled by their professionalism and heart.

The Global Citizen Festival in Melbourne happened a year after the GCT launch festival in New York, why were we late to the party?
Sometimes good things take time! At The Global Poverty Project we believe that the timing of an event is just as important as the execution of it. The Melbourne Global Citizen Festival occurred just after the federal election on 29 September 2013. We were able to use the event as a platform to discuss how the new government could best tackle extreme poverty in our region and globally.

The project aims to end extreme poverty by 2030, do you think Australia will help make this happen?
Absolutely. Australia has a crucial role to play in international affairs. We can’t underestimate the ripple effect that our actions (and inaction) have on the world, and also how our actions are perceived by the rest of the international community. The world is watching Australia. We’re a wealthy, powerful country full of life and culture and potential. We have a responsibility to use what we have to help create a better world. A better world is also a more peaceful and prosperous world; so helping end extreme poverty is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing for Australia. It’s in our interests.

GCT targets the digital generation of music fans, can you explain this a little?
Ultimately if you want to encourage people to get involved in what you’re doing, you have to first go to the places where they ’live’. Social media, and the web in general, are crucial places where people go to learn, connect, entertain themselves and so on. Any organisation or movement that refuses to have a strong presence in this online world does so at its own peril, I think. We’re simply meeting people where they ’live’ and saying ’Hey, have you thought about this issue?’.

For all the strengths of online engagement though, people still need to gather together, eat, joke, flirt, tell their stories, attach names to faces, and ultimately build deeper levels of trust. That’s why we love putting on concerts where like-minded people can gather and feel part of something truly amazing. That’s what excites us. The potential for a combination of online and offline engagement to build a movement to change the world.

Some of the artists involved are:

Nine Inch Nails
Bruce Springsteen
360
Adalita
Art vs Science
Asta
Bernard Fanning
Big Scary
Birds of Tokyo
Bluejuice
Bob Evans
Bodyjar
Children Collide
Cold Chisel
Courtney Barnett
Cub Scouts
Cut Off Your Hands
Daniel Johns
Dappled Cities
D.D Dumbo
Dream on Dreamer
Dune Rats
Dustin Tebbutt
Eskimo Joe
Expatriate
Gotye
Gypsy and the Cat
Gyroscope
Hunting Grounds
Husky
In Hearts Wake
Itch-E & Scratch-E
Jebediah
John Butler Trio
Josh Pyke
Last Dinosaurs
Lior, Loon Lake
Midnight Juggernauts
Missy Higgins
Mosman Alder
New Gods
Northeast House Party
Palms
Parkway Drive
Paul Mac
Pez
Phebe Starr
Pond
San Cisco
Seekae
Shady Lane
Tame Impala
The Grates
The Growl
The Jezabels
The Living End
The Medics
The Mess Hall
The Rubens
The Temper Trap
Tigertown
Twinsy
Vance Joy
Violent Soho
Vydamo
Yacht Club DJs
YesYou
…and many more