In today’s political climate, activism is totally cool. Global Citizen is offering a perk to those who want to raise awareness of world issues with free admission to their annual music festival.
Stevie Wonder, Green Day and the Chainsmokers will headline the socially-conscious music fest, which returns to Central Park’s Great Lawn for its sixth year on September 23. Other artists include the Lumineers, Big Sean, Pharrell Williams, Alessia Cara and the Killers.
There is, however, a catch. Although the festival is technically free, tickets can only be obtained by entering a lottery.
In order to be entered into the drawing, concertgoers have to earn a certain amount of points on Global Citizen’s app. This is done by taking real action against global challenges. Global Citizen encourages users to “tweet at world leaders to end the toilet crisis,” sign a petition to “tell corporate and world leaders why investing in girls’ learning is key,” and other actions to speak truth to power. Each action earns users a certain number of points, and when the required 17 points are earned, they are entered into the lottery where they have a chance to win two festival tickets. (They will be giving out a total of 48,000 free tickets this year).
Global Citizen defines itself as “the movement that will achieve freedom from want and economic justice for all” and hopes to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030.
“Whatever music you’re into, you can come to the Global Citizen Festival and be part of it,” CEO and founder of Global Citizen, Hugh Evans, told Variety, “because ultimately our hope is that the message transcends the music, that we’re the generation that sees the end of poverty in our lifetime.”
If you don’t score tickets for this year’s festival, no worries. You can watch it live from home on MSNBC, msnbc.com, Twitter and YouTube.
