More than 20,000 young people from elementary through high school filled the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on October 1 for the first stop of the We Day tour. The four-hour events mix education and entertainment and will take place in 13 cities around Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom through April 2016. Each one includes about 40 speakers—celebrities such as Demi Lovato, Richard Branson, and Marlee Matlin as well as local activists—and performers such as Nick Jonas, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Shawn Mendes. It’s the kind of lineup kids might spend hundreds of dollars to see, except it’s not possible to purchase a ticket to a We Day event: students earn their way in by participating in one local and one global service project coordinated through the We Schools program.
“It’s one of the most extensive touring shows that exist,” says Lina Beaudin, We Day’s executive producer and creative director. “Our goal is to say congratulations, thank you, and keep doing what you’re doing. Imagine being in a room with 20,000 of the keenest kids who are just so pumped that they can effect change in this world, that they have that power. They are so very present and paying attention. In my five years, we haven’t had one single band or performer ever sign on to We Day and not want to do it again the next year.”
While the overall strategy and theme of the shows are similar from one location to the next, much of the experience is customized to each location. There are four different sets to accommodate the various venues, from a theater-in-the-round stage that was used in Toronto and will be replicated in large arenas in Vancouver, Calgary, St. Paul, Minnesota, and elsewhere, to a traditional set that will be used in the Theatre St-Denis in Montreal and a separate design for the London event in March and in Los Angeles in April.
“The level of execution is pretty intense for the time frame we have. We put the entire show and stage up in one day. Day two is rehearsals, and day three is show. Then we tear down and move on to the next city,” Beaudin says. “Amidst all this we try to be really locally and culturally relevant everywhere we go. So the meat of the script is similar, but we change the language, for example in the U.K. to use the right terms and addressing issues that might be relevant there, in Montreal it’s French, and in the U.S. we’re again changing the way we are speaking.”
The theme for the current tour is the idea of moving from a focus on “me” to “we.” In addition to the speakers who are weaving that concept into their remarks, organizers have also created a variety of interactive moments tied to it. For example, early in the program the attendees are asked to stand up and take a selfie and then post it to social media. As the program progresses, the activities become more cooperative, such as dancing and taking group photos.
The We Day events are funded through partnership sponsors including RBC, Telus, Allstate, Microsoft, and Unilever. Since 2007, youth involved in We Schools programs have raised $62 million for more than 2,500 local and global organizations, and they have logged nearly 20 million volunteer hours.
