We Day will once again grace Vancouver's Rogers Arena this October, bringing along a stable of international stars to speak to and perform for over 40,000 students from around British Columbia.
The event – which is run by Free the Children and the organization's Canadian co-founders Craig and Marc Kielburger – will be held the morning of October 22, 2014 and will air on MTV on November 1 at 7:00 p.m.
This year, superstar starlet Selena Gomez will headline and host the event, along with musical acts like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Canadian Shawn Mendes, and others. Actor and humanitarian Orlando Bloom will speak at the Vancouver event, as will Sir Ken Robinson, fan favourites Spencer West and Robin Wiszowaty, and Canadian Olympian Silken Laumann.
Craig and Marc Kielburger will also be at the event.
Gomez comes to Vancouver fresh off a turn at the 2013 WE Day in California. She won't only be at the Vancouver concert – she'll be hosting it.
"Speaking at We Day California last spring was a truly life-changing experience," she said in a released statement. "Sharing that moment with thousands of my peers left me feeling incredibly inspired – I believe that together we can actually make a difference in the world. I am so happy to be back and hosting We Day Vancouver this year."
In case you're wondering what truly life-changing experience can be referring to, WE Day is a self-titled global call for action, and concerts are held across Canada (and now North America) to rally young people to take up any number of service-based causes, whether it's simply volunteering in your community or in Africa or Asia.
(Like Habitat for Humanity and other fundraising, home-building organizations, Free the Children runs programs around the world, where Canadians can volunteer for service trips in places of need, under the 'Me to We' banner. Trips abroad with Free the Children includes 'Adopt a Village' programs in Haiti, Ghana, Sierra Leone, rural China, and elsewhere.)
Although We Day plans to host over 40,000 B.C. students at Rogers Arena, none of them will have bought a ticket.
Instead, they are all invited by Free the Children.
"You can't buy a ticket to We Day – young people earn them by taking on one local and one global action," reads the event's press release.
She's certainly the hottest headliner at this year's Vancouver concert, but Gomez is not the only celebrity endorser Free the Children has picked up. Singer Demi Lovato is also a global ambassador (and a former guest at Vancouver 2012), and Canadian band Hedley will be making an appearance at this year's We Day in Toronto after multiple stops in Vancouver over the past few years.
This year is Free the Children's 'Year of Empowerment' – "this year, Free The Children is setting out to help women overseas empower themselves" through education and and resources, their website reads.
(The company is even running a program where donors can pay $50 to buy a goat for a family in a developing country, which will give that family an alternative income and possible an investment, Free the Children's website says.)
Their ideas all funnel back to We Day, and vice versa.
In years past, Free the Children's annual themes – like the 'Year of Empowerment' in 2014 and the Clean Water Initiative in 2012 – have been promoted heavily at Vancouver's We Day concerts.
"Today's young people – the Me to We generation – have the power to create and lead real systemic change through We Day, a Canadian national celebration of service," said Craig Kielburger, in the event's press release. "Over 200,000 (total) students, coast to coast from 5,000 schools, earn their tickets to We Day by committing to take action on local and global causes they care about. They are truly moving the needle on some of today's most important issues."
Click here to see the full lineup for Vancouver's We Day 2014.
Speakers and performers include... (*All photos from WeDay.com)
Selena Gomez
Orlando Bloom
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis
Shawn Mendes
Silken Laumann
Craig and Marc Kielburger
Spencer West
