Over the weekend, the biggest charity music festival in the world took place at the Black Star Square – The Global Citizen Festival. Ghanaians experienced pure joy from watching top-notch performances from Stonebwoy, Gyakie and Sarkodie, interspaced with the euphoria of witnessing Usher, Stormzy, SZA and Tems perform live. This has since sparked conversations on the line-up and how the organizers were able to pull this off.
The main aim of having people sign up for the festival was to get them involved in the fight against extreme poverty. In a statement on the Global Citizen Festival website on how to make an impact, it stated “When you take action, you’re fighting for a world free from extreme poverty. Global citizens' voices influence world leaders and decision-makers, and contribute to shaping our world.”
In our #BigConversation segment on Culture Daily with the Culture Squad this morning, CEO of EMY Africa, Kojo Soboh, made a revelation.
Speaking on the efforts of Ghanaian event organizers in comparison to the Global Citizen Festival organizers and the thought process of getting the artists to perform he said, “The artists have to appreciate that we are trying – we are not there yet but the effort is there! They have to appreciate it. For this event, they didn’t pay the artists because it's charity. They didn’t pay them but they provided all the logistics that the artists need.”
“All their logistics were paid for. So imagine if you are travelling from here, your team and everything they will pay for it”, he added.
The Global Citizen Festival brought together artists and world leaders to pursue the #EndPovertyNow agenda centered on empowering girls and women, defending the environment and effecting change.
Author: Lerny Lomotey
