Peter Gabriel, Isha Sesay and WITNESS Celebrate the
2013 Focus For Change Benefit at Roseland Ballroom, NYC
Honoring Dr. Mo Ibrahim
Featuring Performances by K’naan, Red Baraat and Special Guests
WHAT: The 2013 Focus for Change Benefit dinner and concert for WITNESS, the international human rights organization, will be held on Thursday, December 5th at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC.
For more than 20 years, WITNESS has been training activists in safe filming techniques and how to create videos that can drive positive human rights change. Films produced by WITNESS and our partners in over 80 countries have helped put warlords behind bars, reinstated rights of indigenous peoples to return to their lands and catalyzed laws against modern-day slavery.
Today, an everyday citizen equipped with a smartphone can bear witness to human rights abuses. We’re supporting a new generation of human rights defenders around the world through targeted trainings, developing mobile apps, interactive toolkits, and online guides to keep people and their footage safer, more credible and more impactful. This year’s Benefit theme, “I am a WITNESS,” celebrates this potential that each of us has to create change.
WHO: The evening will be co-hosted by Isha Sesay of CNN and musician and WITNESS co-founder Peter Gabriel. Featured speaker Brazilian activist Antonieta Rodrigues, will share her personal story about fighting forced evictions in her country during the lead-up to the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics.
Performances by:
- K’naan – the Somali-Canadian singer, poet, and activist
- Red Baraat – a hard driving eight-piece bhangra-funk band from Brooklyn
- Samba New York! with the Brasileirando Dance Group
- DJs Bill Bragin and Carlos Chirinos
We will honor Dr. Mo Ibrahim with the “See it. Film it. Change it. Award”:
Dr. Ibrahim is a global expert in mobile communications with a distinguished business career. Dr. Mo Ibrahim is the Founder and Chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which he established in 2006 to support good governance and exceptional leadership on the African continent.
WHEN: Thursday, December 5, 2013 @ 6:30 PM. Press must check-in by 6 PM.
WHERE: Roseland Ballroom, 239 W. 52nd Street (between Broadway/8th Ave.), New York, NY
PRESS: Must RSVP in advance to cover event. Contact: Erica Gerard at PMK, +1 (212) 582-1111 or Erica.Gerard [at] pmkbnc.com. Interview requests in advance of event may also be directed to Ms. Gerard.
For more information about the event, visit http://focusforchange.org