01 Oct Kat Cunning
|Kat Cunning crafts songs blending pop, soul and Baroque arrangements, drawing from her study of dance as well as her time on stage.
Archive
30 Sep 25th Anniversary Benefit
| BENEFIT HIGHLIGHTS Red Carpet Speakers & Performers Guests #WITNESS25 HONOREES AND FEATURED SPEAKERS VIDEOS 25TH ANNIVERSARY BENEFIT CHAIRS Amy and Jeffrey Towers HONORING Peter Gabriel MUSICIAN AND ACTIVIST, CO-FOUNDER OF WITNESS Syrian Archive PRESERVING OPEN SOURCE DOCUMENTATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN SYRIA Opal Tometi CO-FOUNDER OF #BLACKLIVESMATTER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE BLACK ALLIANCE FOR JUST IMMIGRATION Joshua Mailman and Monica Winsor LEADERS IN SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ENGAGED PHILANTHROPY FEATURING Yvette Alberdingk-Thijm EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WITNESS Regan Ralph PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE FUND FOR GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS Linda Sarsour RACIAL JUSTICE AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST, NATIONAL CO-CHAIR, WOMEN’S MARCH ON WASHINGTON Raja Althaibani MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA SENIOR PROGRAM COORDINATOR, WITNESS PERFORMANCES BY David Byrne Joan As Police Woman Bounce Castle BENEFIT COMMITTEE Adam and Martha Agensky The Brook Foundation Donal Daly and Cleona Duggan Mika El-Baz Helen and Mike Enright Peter Gabriel Steven Goldberg and Carolyn Lese John Hass and Mary Frances Budig Dr. Sam Herschkowitz and Jillian Gordon Michael Hirschhorn and Jimena Martinez Brown Johnson Joshua Pickard Amy Rao Jim Salzano Lekha Singh Jeffrey Tarrant Arjun Thimmaya Liz and Todd Warnock Nicole Wong FRIENDS OF WITNESS Christiane Amanpour Alan Cumming Feist Anna Gabriel Hassan Hakmoun and Chikako
13 Sep Bassem Youssef
| Bassem Youssef, Comedian Bassem Youssef is an Egyptian comedian, writer, producer, surgeon, physician, media critic, and television host. His groundbreaking political satire YouTube show, AlBernameg, eventually became the first online series to make its way to national television in the Middle East becoming the most watched program in the region with nearly 30 million viewers tuning in each week. Dubbed the “Jon Stewart of the Arab world,” an arrest warrant was issued for Youssef in 2013 for his outspokenness on ruling powers in the region and other content deemed controversial on his show. Regardless, he even hosted Jon Stewart himself as a guest before AlBernameg was cancelled due to political pressures. Since then, Youssef was featured as The Daily Show’s senior Middle East correspondent, has been named one of Time Magazine’s most influential people, been awarded the International Press Freedom Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists, written a book about his experience, and has gone on to serve as a resident fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s John F Kennedy School of Government and voiced characters in Disney’s reboot cartoon series “DuckTales”. Before his foray into comedy and political satire, Youssef majored in cardiothoracic surgery, passed
13 Sep Amy Robbins Towers
| Amy Robbins Towers In 2007, after 14 years in the financial sector, Miss Towers turned her full-time attention to raising four sons and her charitable foundation, The Nduna Foundation. The Foundation works with a diverse portfolio of partners in conflict and post-conflict countries on human rights and peace-building, women’s issues, nutrition, and conservation. Over the last ten years, Miss Towers has traveled and worked in Ethiopia, Gabon, Rwanda, Sudan and South Sudan, the DRC, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and others. She has been recognized for her transformative work and leadership with the Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian award from UNICEF, The Caring for Congo Award from the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, and was named Humanitarian of the Year by the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation in 2013. She serves on the boards of directors for the Rutgers University Foundation, Human Rights Watch, MANA Nutritive Aid (Chair), Women for Women International, the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation and the Advisory Board to The Elder’s, founded by Nelson Mandela and chaired by Kofi Annan.