Global Citizen NOW Sets First International Edition In Melbourne

Lars Brandle
·3 min read
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Global Citizen NOW will make its international debut in Melbourne, Australia next month, for a two-day program capped with a special performance by Crowded House.

Set for March 4-6 at Centrepiece, Melbourne Park, the summit will drive action on the climate crisis, gender inequity, innovations in health systems and fighting food insecurity and extreme poverty in the region and around the world, as Australia hosts ASEAN leaders in the Victorian capital.

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Speakers include Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York; Xanana Gusmão, Prime Minister of Timor-Leste. Global Citizen ambassadors Hugh Jackman and Charlie Puth; Julia Gillard, former prime minister of Australia; and Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank, will join virtually.

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Ferguson is co-chair of the event. “I’m coming to Global Citizen NOW: Melbourne to participate in vital intergenerational conversations with young leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region, who are doing frontline, grassroots work to address the climate crisis, the hunger crisis, girls’ education,” she explains in a statement, “and issues perpetuating cycles of extreme poverty. I look forward to listening to them, learning from them, and contributing whatever voice I have to speak up for the future of our planet.”

The inaugural Global Citizen NOW: Melbourne event wraps March 6 with Global Citizen Nights, an “intimate evening of music and storytelling” at the Palais Theatre, headlined by Crowded House.

“We are delighted to be providing a closing performance for Global Citizen, who are bringing together talented and passionate young advocates and innovators to help solve the most urgent problems facing all of us…equity and climate,” comments Crowded House frontman Neil Finn. “Who knows from what distant corners brilliant ideas might come from. Young people’s amazing potential is sometimes hidden from view. We want to be there to help bring it into the light.”

The ARIA Hall of Fame-inducted band is gearing up for the release of Gravity Stairs, their first through a new arrangement with BMG. Due out May 31, it’s the eighth studio album from the beloved folk-rock act which has sold over 15 million records worldwide, won 13 ARIA Awards, eight APRA Awards, a BRIT Award, an MTV VMA and landed No. 1 albums in the U.K. and Australia.

Free tickets to the performance and can be earned by taking action on the Global Citizen app and at globalcitizen.org/nights.

Global Citizen, the leading advocacy organization, has a strong Australian connection. It’s the brainchild of Australia humanitarian Hugh Evans. “It’s all I’ve ever cared about, since I was literally 12 years old, was the eradication of extreme poverty. It’s the simplest truth about me and our co-founders,” Evans told this reporter in 2022, on a trip to his homeland.

Global Citizen NOW: Melbourne is presented by the State Government of Victoria, with a range of partners including Cisco, Citi and P&G.

Additional performers will be announced in the coming days.

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