By Gus Saltonstall
The Global Citizen Festival will return to Central Park next month for its 14th year.
The annual concert will take place on Saturday, September 26, at 4 p.m. on the Great Lawn. In 2026, the concert is aimed at raising money and spearheading campaigns in support of: access to schools for children in Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Spain, and Norway; rural farmers in Spain, Norway, Ireland, and Kenya; and access to electricity in the Indo-Pacific region.
There will also be a selection of tickets where the money spent will go to the City Parks Foundation to support free programming and community engagements in park spaces across New York City.
Here is who will be performing on the day:
- Ms. Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean
- Lenny Kravitz
- John Legend
- Lainey Wilson
- Shaboozey
- Tomorrow X Together
Hugh Jackman will host the show.
There are some changes in how you can get a ticket to the Global Citizen Festival this year.
You can “earn a pair of free tickets” by downloading the Global Citizen App and then taking actions to earn points, which you can use for a chance to get free tickets.
This year, Global Citizen has launched “Donation Tickets.” In this version, you also have to download the Global Citizen App and take actions to earn points, but then you can use your points to claim a code instantly. You then redeem that code and make a $25 charitable donation per ticket, which will go to the City Parks Foundation, and will instantly secure you a ticket for as long as the supplies last.
Lastly, you can simply buy different levels of tickets — HERE.
Connected to the Global Citizen conversation is the forecast.
In 2023, the Great Lawn was badly damaged during the concert, as Tropical Storm Ophelia blew through the city on the same day that tens of thousands of people showed up to enjoy the show. As a result, Central Park closed the Great Lawn for the winter about two months earlier than normal, and it needed more than $600,000 in repairs, which was first funded by the Central Park Conservancy and then reimbursed in full by Global Citizen.
The next year, there was rain again on the day of the concert, but the damage was not as bad. However, the Great Lawn still ended up closed to the public from the third week of September through the end of October, after it was initially projected to only be shuttered until October 2 of that year.
Upper West Side City Councilmember Gale Brewer, along with other elected officials, has voiced her opposition for years to the Global Citizen Festival taking place on the Great Lawn, and has suggested Randall’s Island as a better location for the event.
The concert continues to take place on the Great Lawn, though.
In keeping with past years, the Great Lawn will be closed to the public around a week before the September 26 concert, in order to prepare the green space for the event.
You can find out more about the Global Citizen Festival — HERE.
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