Kate Winslet, The Vamps, Conor Maynard, Jessie J, Fleur East, Paula Abdul and More Come Together at WE Day UK to Celebrate Young People Changing the World
Here: The Vamps Credit: Justin Goff/Goffphotos.com
Today, 12,000 young people from across the UK will descend on The SSE Arena in London, for WE Day, an international series of inspiring stadium-sized events that celebrate the power young people have to solve pressing social issues. The event brings together world-renowned speakers and performers, including Kate Winslet, The Vamps, Connor Maynard, Jessie J, Fleur East, Paula Abdul, Margaret Trudeau, Bruce Dickinson, Becca Dudley, Bluey Robinson, Yasmin Evans, Tallia Storm, Shakii, Celebrity Marauders, Spencer West and more. This star-studded lineup will join international activists and WE co-founders, Craig and Marc Kielburger, to share their passion for change and energise the crowd with unforgettable performances and motivational speeches to inspire another year of change.
WE Day is part of WE — a movement that brings people together and gives them the tools to change the world, achieving transformative outcomes for themselves and others. WE Day UK, made possible by UK Title Supporter Virgin Atlantic and partners, celebrates the remarkable volunteer efforts of students from more than 550 schools in attendance—and the tens of thousands more watching the event streamed live online at WE : watch WE day.
“I can’t wait to take the stage for the second time at WE Day UK—the energy of thousands of young people celebrating positive change is amazing,” said singer-songwriter, Connor Maynard. “I hope I can encourage fellow young people to show off their individuality, stand out from the crowd and stand up for what they believe in.”
Here: Conor Maynard Credit: Justin Goff/Goffphotos.com
WE Day is a true celebration of young people taking action. A shining example is six year old Xavier Shoqat who is helping school children everywhere celebrate the country’s diversity. His plans started with a simple idea—Xavi created a poster representing the different flags of the many countries his classmates and teachers come from, which he hoped to display around his school. Xavi is now planning to turn his project into nationwide campaign with the goal that every school will soon have their own diversity poster to act as a universal sign of acceptance and equality.
Speakers and performers at WE Day UK will energise the crowd through a full day of powerful educational speeches, inspirational moments and empowering performances. A few must-see highlights include:
- Academy Award® winning actress, Kate Winslet, speaks with the WE Day audience about self-esteem and the importance of positive body image
- Award-winning singer and songwriter, Jessie J, rocks the SSE Arena, Wembley, with performances of her hit songs “Price Tag” and “Who You Are”
- American singer-songwriter, dancer, choreographer, actress and television personality, Paula Abdul, connects with the WE Day audience, sharing the impact dance has made in her life and her passion for mentoring young dancers
Here: Paula Abdul Credit: Justin Goff/Goffphotos.com
More than a one-day event, WE Day is connected to the free, year-long educational programme WE Schools. Providing schools and community groups with curriculum, educational resources and action campaigns, this programme is designed to enhance a school’s existing social initiatives or spark new ones. WE Schools encourages students to further their curricular learning and develop life skills for success beyond the classroom. Young people making an impact locally and globally are supported with curricular resources, active citizenship campaigns and mentorship programmes to help them to become change-makers.
“Every year, more than 200,000 students from over 12,000 schools around the globe earn their tickets to WE Day through the year-long WE Schools programme, creating positive impacts in their communities,” said Craig Kielburger, co-founder of WE. “WE Day UK will unite and celebrate thousands of young leaders who are working passionately for the causes they care about most, creating sustainable change in their own communities and around the world.”
In the 2015-2016 school year, students and teachers from across the UK participated in remarkable social change. More than 3,075 schools across the UK have improved the world through WE Schools, volunteering over one million hours and raising more than £1,500,000 in support of global issues and local causes including education, clean water, homelessness and hunger. Pupils at Chesterton Primary School in the London Borough of Wandsworth, know that they have the power to make a positive difference to our world. Nursery pupils are learning about the right to clean water in preparation for their upcoming sponsored walk as part of WE’s WE Walk for Water campaign. Meanwhile, older students are raising awareness for local homelessness by spending the night in their school hall and reflecting on what it might be like to be homeless by posting anonymous notes in a worry box. By tackling these local and global issues, the pupils of Chesterton Primary School show their compassion and capacity to be leaders of positive change.
During the 2015-2016 school year, 82 per cent of teachers across the UK participating in WE Schools said that their students demonstrated more consideration of local and global issues in their everyday life choices; 84 per cent of teachers said their students demonstrated increased leadership among their peers; and 83 per cent of teachers said their students are now more capable of effectively voicing their own opinions.
You can’t buy a ticket to WE Day—young people from across the UK earn their way by the actions they take on one local and one global cause of their choice. WE Day is free of charge to students and teachers, thanks to the generous support of Virgin Atlantic.
Visit WE to take the WE Pledge, a commitment to living WE by making a difference every day.
About WE Day
WE Day is part of WE—an organisation that brings people together and gives them the tools to change the world. A unique family of organisations, WE is made up of WE Charity, empowering change with resources that create sustainable impact, and ME to WE, a social enterprise that creates socially conscious products and experiences that allow people to do good through their everyday choices. The celebration of that change happens at WE Day—inspiring stadium-sized life-changing events that take place around the world. You can’t buy a ticket to WE Day—young people earn their entry by taking action on one local and one global cause. WE Day unites world-renowned speakers, presenters and award-winning performers with thousands of young people and families to celebrate and inspire another year of incredible change. This year alone over 200,000 young people will come together in 16 stadium gatherings across the UK, Canada and the U.S. to take part in this unprecedented educational initiative.
A global movement of 2.4 million young people strong, young people involved with WE have raised £63.9 million for more than 2,500 local and global organisations, volunteered 27.8 million hours for local and global causes and collected over 3.4 million kilograms of food through active citizenship programmes and campaigns. WE was founded more than 20 years ago by humanitarians, activists and social entrepreneurs, brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger. Learn more at WE.
