Tuesday, November 17 (New York, NY) – The 2015 Focus for Change Benefit dinner and concert, held annually in support of the WITNESS organization, took place at New York City’s ArtBeam this past Thursday, November 12.  Annual guest and WITNESS co-founder Peter Gabriel was unable to attend the event in person this year, as he was stuck in London fighting off the flu.  Not content with missing out on his annual event, however, the singer-songwriter enlisted the help of “BeamPro,” an innovative technology that allowed Peter face-to-face contact, interaction and movement throughout the event with his guests.  Peter was able to “walk” the red carpet, conduct interviews, take photos and even give his annual address, introducing honorary speaker Kevin Moore.

 

The evening featured special performances by Sebu Simonian of Capital Cities, Black Violin and DJs Scribe and OP!.  This year’s honoree was Philippe Daumon, Viacom President & CEO, for his dedication to amplifying stories of social change.  The night also included featured speaker Kevin Moore, the WeCopwatch Baltimore activist who filmed the 2015 arrest of Freddie Gray.

 

About the Focus for Change Gala: A combination of musical performances, inspiring stories from human rights activists, and a community of supporters representing the arts, journalism, philanthropy, tech and more come together for one of most inspirational events in New York City.  This year’s Benefit theme “Video for Justice” highlights WITNESS’ work connecting activists and lawyers to ensure they understand each other’s needs and challenges in order to increase the potential of video as a tool for justice.

 

About WITNESS: WITNESS trains and supports people to use video safely, ethically, and effectively for human rights worldwide. More people than ever are using video to expose the truth, yet they often lack the tools and skills to turn their videos into justice. Too often their footage is difficult to verify, lost completely, or simply does not contain the information needed for a court of law.

 

For more information about WITNESS, please visit http://witness.org