H
UGH EVANS KNEW HE WANTED
to spend his life fighting poverty
after spending just one night in a
Philippines slum on a humanitarian
trip he took as a teenager. “What
more motivation do you need, knowing there are
people starving on the planet?” he says.
On Sept. 26, Evans will unveil Global Goal
Live: The Possible Dream, a 12-month campaign
to kick-start fundraising — in part by targeting
Fortune 500 companies — that will culminate in a
10-hour global media event across five continents
on Sept. 26, 2020.
The goal: ending extreme poverty — which the
World Bank defines as living on less than $1.90 per
day — by reaching $3.5 trillion in financial pledges
by 2030. That’s the amount of money it will take to
reach the estimated 736 million afflicted people.
The brain trust behind the mission dates back
to 2006, when Evans was helping organize a
music festival in his native Australia for the mul-
tinational Make Poverty History Coalition and he
met Universal Music Group executive vp Michele
Anthony at the event. “I immediately offered to
help recruit artists, managers and agents,” says
Anthony. “It’s activism for a new generation.”
After receiving various grants in 2008, Evans
co-founded the Global Poverty Project, later
renamed Global Citizen, a nonprofit organization
that aims to eradicate global poverty through live
events. The idea is to leverage fan engagement
— and artist star power — to pressure govern-
ments and corporations to take action from the
top down. A decade on, Global Citizen concerts
have pulled in close to $40 billion in charitable
commitments from around the world.
The first Global Citizen Festival in 2012 came
together at the last minute, says Evans, thanks to
two people: media mogul Sumner Redstone, who
wrote him a check “on the spot” for $1 million,
and Neil Young, who agreed to headline with just
a month’s notice — for free. The organization has
expanded from its flagship event in New York’s
Central Park with additional festivals in cities
like Montréal and Hamburg, Germany. Acts from
Beyoncé to Coldplay to Cardi B have headlined,
all using the stage as a fundraising platform for
causes that directly or indirectly reduce poverty.
Last year, for example, Janet Jackson de-
nounced gender inequality during her set, and
later, Comcast/NBCUniversal pledged $5 million
for a gender-equality campaign. Shawn Mendes
called for greater access to education, and then
the Dutch government pledged $116.8 million
to the Global Partnership for Education. When
John Legend addressed New York Gov. Andrew
Cuomo, asking him to take legislative action
against racial injustice, Cuomo announced plans
to reform the state’s cash bail system.
Along with Anthony, the New York-based
organization’s board of directors now includes
Roc Nation co-founder/CEO Jay Brown, Live Na-
tion Entertainment COO for U.S. concerts Mark
Campana and Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis.
Atlantic Records released the first-ever Global
Citizen EP in November 2018, and Coldplay
frontman Chris Martin will produce and curate
its international events.
Global Citizen also premiered Activate, a six-
part National Geographic docuseries about hu-
manitarian projects by such entertainers as Usher
and Common who are working to end New York’s
cash bail system. “It’s important that artists use
their power to help those in need,” says Usher.
Fans also play a major role. For tickets, people
must participate in the initiative by tweeting at
lawmakers to tackle climate change or signing
a petition to support the Global Fund to fight
AIDS. According to Global Citizen, 60,000 peo-
ple are expected to attend its festival in Central
Park on Sept. 28, which will be headlined by
Queen with Adam Lambert, Pharrell Williams
and Alicia Keys.
“It’s not like there’s a lack of money; it’s that
there isn’t a sense of urgency to give,” says Evans.
“Just raising awareness is a waste of time.”
Usher at Global Citizen
2015 Earth Day in
Washington, D.C.
OLIVIERDOULIERY/WIREIMAGEGOOD WORKS
Global Citizen’s Trillion-Dollar Ticket
The music-friendly organization unveils its plan to end extreme poverty by 2030
BY TATIANA CIRISANO
72 BILLBOARD • SEPTEMBER 21, 2019
● JESSE McCARTNEY and singer KATIE PETERSON got engaged. ● Country singer-songwriter BRANTLEY GILBERT and his wife, AMBER COCHRAN, had their second child.
HELP WANTED
ENERGY
DIRECTOR
88rising is a “new face of music” from an
Asian perspective, says CEO Sean Mi-
yashiro, who founded the label, manage-
ment firm and creative agency in 2015. Its
Head in the Clouds festival in L.A., dubbed
“Asian Coachella,” returned for its second
year in August to a crowd of 22,000, with
sets by Japan’s Joji, China’s Higher Broth-
ers and Indonesia’s Rich Brian and Niki.
Miya shiro’s next priority is tapping an ener-
gy director — a hybrid of creative director
and marketing manager — to work with
his acts. “We don’t want any derivatives,”
he says, but a manager for the company’s
creative output who can just “geek out.”
REQUIREMENTS
The job entails a focus on artist collabora-
tions and partnerships; effectively, shaping
an artist’s brand. A fluency in Asian music
culture and the ability to parse data and
trends in that market is key. “We’re not
even thinking about the Asianness of the
music, but understanding our place as
Asians in music and how can we embrace
that to break through,” explains Miyashiro.
THE HARD PART
Being a niche startup brings challenges,
one being that each new endeavor is an
uphill battle, says Miyashiro. “The why,
how and who’s involved — the taste level
— has to be tremendously high,” he says.
“I liken it to the way Kanye [West] used to
think about everything when he would roll
shit out, from a visual perspective to how it
makes people feel.”
THE BOSS
Managing 88rising’s energy requires both
a strategic creative vision and a fiscal
shrewdness. “Everybody knows I’m harsh-
est on creatives,” says Miyashiro. “There
isn’t one person at 88rising that doesn’t
feel inspired. That’s what drives me: when
you make something and you see people
react. It’s priceless.” —NICK WILLIAMS