FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Peter Gabriel and WITNESS Celebrate 20 Years of Collaborative Activism at Annual

Focus For Change Benefit at

Roseland Ballroom, NYC

Hosted by Alan Cumming
With Special Performances by DJ Cassidy, Feist, Peter Gabriel and Emmanuel Jal

The 8th Annual Focus for Change benefit dinner and concert for WITNESS, the international human rights organization, will be held on Thursday, October 11th at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC.

The evening, hosted by Tony Award winning and Emmy nominated actor Alan Cumming, will feature performances by special guests including:

• DJ Cassidy – one of the world’s most sought after deejays.
• Feist – Canadian singer-songwriter and multiple Grammy nominee, with over 2 million records sold.
• Peter Gabriel – WITNESS co-founder.
• Emmanuel Jal – South Sudanese musician, actor, author, advocate and former child soldier.

Highlighting twenty years of collaborative activism, the evening will be a very special celebration of WITNESS’ 20th birthday, featuring activists, artists, musicians and organizations that have partnered with WITNESS along the way.

The WITNESS story begins in 1991 when a bystander captured the brutal beating of Rodney King, Jr. on film. This footage conveyed the horror of King’s beating as no words or photographs could ever hope to accomplish. The world became a witness – and the following year WITNESS was born.  

Since then our mission has been to use the power of video to open the eyes of the world to human rights abuses. Twenty years later, we have collaborated with more than 300 human rights groups in over 80 countries to produce campaign videos that have reached over 260 million people worldwide. Films produced by WITNESS and our partners have helped put warlords behind bars, reinstated rights of indigenous peoples to return to their lands and catalyzed laws against modern-day slavery.  

Today video is everywhere. Technology is exploding. And WITNESS is stepping up to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing landscape.  

WITNESS remains at the forefront of video for change – exposing the truth, one video at a time. And for one night, we’ll come together to celebrate our past, our present and our future. Please join us!  

WHEN: Thursday, October 11, 2012 @ 6:30 PM. Press must check-in by 6 PM.

WHERE: Roseland Ballroom, 239 West 52nd Street (Between Broadway and 8th Ave.), New York City
 

PRESS: Must RSVP in advance to cover event. Contact: Erica Gerard at PMK, +1 (212) 582-1111 or
Erica.Gerard@pmkbnc.com. Interview requests in advance of event may also be directed to
Ms. Gerard.

For more information about the event, visit www.witness.org/gala.