“Shining a Light: A Concert for Progress on Race in America” has sold out in under three hours, generating more than $150,000 towards the ‘Fund For Progress on Race in America’ powered by
United Way Worldwide.
The concert will be recorded at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA on Wednesday, November 18th and will air on Friday, November 20th at 8PM ET/PM across the entire A+E Networks portfolio, including A&E, HISTORY, Lifetime, H2, LMN and fyi, as well as on iHeartMedia broadcast radio stations nationwide and the iHeartRadio digital platform.
The two-hour special event will kick off A+E Networks’ campaign to confront issues of race, and promote unity and progress on racial equity, inspired by the response of the Mother Emanuel family members in Charleston and others working for reconciliation and change around the country.
The biggest names in music, including
Zac Brown Band, Eric Church,
Jamie Foxx, Rhiannon Giddens, Tori Kelly,
John Legend, Miguel,
Pink,
Jill Scott,
Ed Sheeran,
Sia,
Bruce Springsteen,
Sting and
Pharrell Williams, will join together to perform, including a once-in-a-lifetime series of duets, focused on creating reconciliation and positive change in local communities. Additional performers will be announced in the coming weeks.
Immediately following the concert at 10pm ET/PT, A&E Network will air the one-hour special, “Shining a Light: Conversations on Race in America,” featuring artists engaging a diverse group of residents in local communities at the center of the national conversation on racial inequality and violence, including Charleston, Baltimore and Ferguson. Artists, including Pharrell Williams and John Legend, will spark solutions-focused conversations with community members with varying perspectives, including family members of victims, community leaders, law enforcement officials, clergy and organizations seeking to empower communities by fostering understanding, eliminating bias and addressing inequities that break along racial lines.
The concert and the ancillary programming will help raise money for the Fund for Progress on Race in America powered by United Way Worldwide. The fund will provide grant funding to individuals and organizations fostering understanding, eliminating bias, as well as provide support to Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church and the broader A.M.E. denomination. The fund will support efforts to address racism and bias through public policy change, individual innovation, and community mobilization.
