MuchMusic and today’s hottest celebs come together to celebrate and inspire young Canadians to “be the change” in MUCH PRESENTS WE DAY 2011, premiering Sunday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. ET. Co-hosted by VAMPIRE DIARIES’ Nina Dobrev and chart-topping, teen-throb Joe Jonas, the one-hour special features highlights from We Day events in Toronto (Sept. 27) and Vancouver (Oct. 13). Organized and produced by Free The Children, We Day is the largest youth-empowerment event of its kind led by international children’s rights activists and Free The Children co-founders Craig and Marc Kielburger. As a companion to the special, additional content from the We Day will be posted on muchmusic.com/weday following the premiere broadcast. MUCH PRESENTS WE DAY 2011 also airs Saturday, Nov. 26 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV and on Sunday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV 2, as well as additional air dates on E!, MuchMore, MTV and MTV2. For a full list of broadcasts click here.
“Today’s youth have a voice and want to make a difference,” said Rick Brace, President, Specialty Channels and CTV Production. “We Day is a celebration of this positive energy and we are proud to pair MuchMusic, Canada’s leading youth brand, with one of the biggest youth movements in the world, to share this inspirational day with a national audience.”
“We Day fills stadiums with tens of thousands of passionate, engaged youth, and some of the greatest social justice leaders of our time,” said Craig Kielburger, founder of Free The Children. “MuchMusic and CTV’s broadcast captures We Day’s idealism, passion and imagination for the rest of Canada, and helps us remind youth a better world is possible and they are not alone in their commitment to social justice. Youth coming together to lead global change is the movement of our time.”
MUCH PRESENTS WE DAY 2011 includes performances by:
• City and Colour
• Classified
• Down With Webster
• Hedley
• Joe Jonas
• Nelly Furtado with the Kenyan Boys Choir
The celebrity jam-packed special includes testimonials from City and Colour, Classified, DEGRASSI’s Munro Chambers and Aislinn Paul, Down With Webster, Hedley, and Shaquille O’Neal on what We Day means to them and how they inspire others to get involved. Also featured in the special is a sneak peek at Nelly Furtado’s trip to Africa, and Hedley’s recent trip to India, with Free The Children. It was following Nelly Furtado’s trip to Africa that she was inspired to donate one million dollars to Free The Children to fund two new programs supporting girls in need throughout the Maasai Mara region of Kenya and in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). The surprise donation announcement, made at Toronto We Day, Sept. 27, is also featured in the special.
Throughout the day on Sunday, Oct.30, leading up to the premiere of MUCH PRESENTS WE DAY 2011 at 7 p.m. ET, Much airs exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and interviews captured at the We Day events in Vancouver, featuring Shaquille O’Neal, Down With Webster, Hedley, Classified and more.
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Like We Day on Facebook: facebook.com/weday
Follow Free The Children on Twitter: @freethechildren
Follow Nina Dobrev on Twitter: @ninadobrev
Follow Joe Jonas on Twitter: @joejonas
Follow Craig Kielburger on Twitter: @craigkielburger
Follow Shawn Desman on Twitter: @DaRealSD
About We Day
Youth coming together to lead global change is the movement of our time. We Day (www.weday.com) is the manifestation of this movement. Harnessing the energy and passion of this young community of change-makers, We Day brings youth together in an unparalleled setting to show them that they are not alone in their journey to make a difference. We Day is not just an event. It’s a movement. We Day is part of an unparalleled educational opportunity called the We Schools in Action program. Throughout the year-long program, young people turn their inspiration into action by committing to take one local and one global action throughout the school year. In the 2010/2011 school year alone, youth volunteered 1.7 million hours in their communities and raised more than $5.4 million to support local and global organizations.We Day events are completely free of charge to students and educators, thanks to the support of
generous sponsors who believe in the power of youth to change the world.
About Free The Children
Free The Children (www.freethechildren.com) is the world’s largest network of children helping children through education, with more than one million youth involved in our innovative education and development programs in 45 countries. Founded in 1995 by international child rights activist Craig Kielburger, we are a charity and educational partner that believes in a world where all young people are free to achieve their fullest potential as agents of change. Our domestic programs educate, engage and empower hundreds of thousands of youth in North America, the UK and around the world. Our international projects have brought over 650 schools and school rooms to youth and provided clean water, health care and sanitation to one million people around the world. Free The Children has a proven track record of success. The organization has received the World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child (also known as the Children’s Nobel Prize), the Human Rights Award from the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations, and has formed successful partnerships with leading school boards and Oprah’s Angel Network.
