GLOBAL CITIZEN 2026
A lineup where music meets action
Global Citizen Festival will return to Central Park’s Great Lawn on Saturday, September 26, with a lineup that brings together hip-hop, rock, R&B, country and K-pop for one of New York’s most ambitious live music events of the year.
NEW YORK CITY | TMN editorial
Ms. Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean will lead the program with a celebration of the 30th anniversary of The Score, the Fugees’ landmark 1996 album. They will be joined by Lenny Kravitz, John Legend, Lainey Wilson, Shaboozey and TOMORROW X TOGETHER.
Hugh Jackman will host the festival, with appearances by Rachel Brosnahan and Gayle King. Global Citizen has also confirmed that more artists and special guests will be announced in the coming weeks.
K-pop stars TOMORROW X TOGETHER will headline Global Citizen Festival 2026 in Central Park.
TMN at Global Citizen Festival
TMN covered Global Citizen Festival in 2025 with creator Micah Bierman and TMN founder Pablo Herrera. Micah photographed the event from Central Park, working across the festival’s large-scale production, performances and audience activity. The assignment gave him the experience of producing images in a fast-moving live environment and delivering work for publication as part of a professional media team.
Alongside the photography, TMN produced video coverage and spoke with people in the crowd about the artists, the festival and the issues that brought them to the Great Lawn. The 2025 coverage connected a global music event with the voices of the public taking part in it.
The Score at 30
The return of Hill and Jean places The Score at the center of the announcement. Released three decades ago, the album remains a defining work in hip-hop, bringing together sharp social commentary, Caribbean influences, soul and rap at a moment when the Fugees became a global force.
Their Global Citizen performance follows a series of appearances this year marking the album’s anniversary, including Global Citizen Live: Rio de Janeiro in June. At the Central Park festival, the pair will share a bill with artists whose work reaches very different audiences: Kravitz’s rock and soul, Legend’s R&B and pop, Wilson and Shaboozey’s country-rooted sounds, and the worldwide K-pop audience of TOMORROW X TOGETHER.
Music and public action
Global Citizen Festival is not a conventional ticketed concert. The annual event uses music to bring public attention to campaigns addressing extreme poverty, with audiences encouraged to take action through the Global Citizen app in order to access free tickets.
This year’s campaign has three stated goals: supporting access to education, strengthening food security and expanding reliable clean energy.
Global Citizen is calling on governments, businesses and philanthropists to help provide education, school meals, healthcare and sports opportunities to 2 million children. The campaign also aims to mobilize $100 million to support 1.5 million smallholder farmers across Africa and the Brazilian Amazon through IFAD and Amazônia+21’s Rural+Green Fund.
A third goal focuses on electricity access. Working with leaders from Fiji, Palau and Tuvalu, Global Citizen is calling on Australia to help mobilize $1.5 billion for clean energy and microgrids in vulnerable small island nations and Indigenous communities across the Indo-Pacific. The stated aim is to bring reliable electricity to 2.5 million homes.
Fans of Cardi B at Global Citizen Festival 2025 share why events like this are important. Video reporting by TMN.
A new ticket option
Festival tickets will continue to be available free through the Global Citizen app. Users complete advocacy actions, earn points and enter a ticket lottery.
For 2026, Global Citizen has introduced an additional option. After completing the required actions and earning enough points, users can make a $25 charitable donation to secure a ticket instantly while supplies last. According to the organization, the funds will support City Parks Foundation’s free programming and community initiatives across the five boroughs, as well as organizations working with New Yorkers experiencing homelessness.
The announcement comes after Global Citizen produced the first FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show, which the organization says helped raise $60 million for the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund.
Global Citizen Festival takes place Saturday, September 26, 2026, at the Great Lawn in Central Park. More information and ticket-action details are available through Global Citizen Festival.
