LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Live on August 14th at 7:30 p.m. from Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE, Ken Ehrlich Productions, Anschutz Film Group/Walden Media, and AEG present TEACHERS ROCK presented by Walmart and Walden Media’s upcoming feature film “Won’t Back Down,” a special tribute concert celebrating teachers and education and benefitting several non-profit organizations, featuring some of the biggest names in music, film and sports.
The benefit concert will showcase live performances by Dierks Bentley, Fun. and Josh Groban and special appearances by Viola Davis from “Won’t Back Down,” Josh Hutcherson, Miranda Cosgrove, Pauley Perrette, Roshon Fegan and many more. Proceeds from TEACHERS ROCK will benefit three non-profit organizations: DonorsChoose.org, Feeding America and Teach for America.
Tickets for this special benefit, starting at just $40, will go on sale this Friday, July 27th at 10 a.m. at all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster.com, plus via Charge-By-Phone (800.745.3000). A limited number of VIP packages will also be offered for TEACHERS ROCK, which include tickets to a post-concert party at L.A. LIVE.
The TEACHERS ROCK concert will feature scenes from Walden Media’s upcoming motion picture “Won’t Back Down,” released by 20th Century Fox. The film stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis, who play two determined mothers, one a teacher, who will stop at nothing to transform their children's failing inner city school. Facing a powerful and entrenched bureaucracy, they risk everything to make a difference in the education and future of their children. This powerful story of parenthood, friendship and courage mirrors events that are making headlines daily.
“AEG and Walden are very excited to join efforts with Walmart in celebrating teachers. Honoring teachers and recognizing the importance of education have been bedrock values since the founding of our companies,” said Anschutz Film Group & Walden Media CEO, David Weil. “We believe that TEACHERS ROCK and our upcoming movie, WON'T BACK DOWN, will both inspire parents to believe that they can make a real difference in the lives of students and teachers.”
TEACHERS ROCK will be taped for a special one hour CBS television event broadcast Saturday, August 18th from 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET/PT, that will also feature taped performance and appearances from Carrie Underwood, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Garner, Matthew Morrison, Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Usher, Maroon 5’s Adam Levine and James Valentine, and more.
For more information on VIP packages and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Jennifer Lynch, jlynch@staplescenter.com. Proceeds from TEACHERS ROCK will benefit three non-profit organizations: DonorsChoose.org, Feeding America and Teach for America.
For more information on Walmart’s back-to-school offerings visit www.walmart.com/backtoschool
About Walmart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at more than 10,300 retail units under 69 different banners in 27 countries. With fiscal year 2012 sales of approximately $444 billion, Walmart employs more than 2 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting http://walmartstores.com, and on Facebook at http://facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/walmart. Online merchandise sales are available at http://www.walmart.com and http://www.samsclub.com.
AFG/Walden Media
Walden Media specializes in entertainment for the whole family. Past award-winning films include: “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” “Nim’s Island,” “Charlotte’s Web” and the Sundance Audience Prize Winning documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman.’” “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” is Walden’s most recent release and upcoming films include “Won’t Back Down,” “Chasing Mavericks” and the Christmas family comedy “Parental Guidance.”
DonorsChoose.org
Founded in 2000, DonorsChoose.org is an online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help students in need. Public school teachers from every corner of America post requests, and individuals can give directly to the ones that inspire them. To date, 235,000 public and charter school teachers have used DonorsChoose.org to secure $119 million in books, art supplies, technology, and other resources that their students need to learn.
Feeding America
Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, provides food assistance to more than 14 million children each year. Feeding America’s network of more than 200 food banks partners with more than 60,000 agencies serving every county in the United States. Programs like BackPack, Kids Cafe and the School Pantry help children get the nutritious food they need afterschool, on weekends and vacations and at home.
Ken Ehrlich Productions
For more than 25 years, no individual has produced more music related and non-traditional programming for television, as well as single and multi-artist and concept specials for network, cable, syndication and home video programming than Ken Ehrlich. With hundreds of hours of highly acclaimed specials to his credit, from the annual GRAMMY® Awards, which he has produced since 1980, to a yearly slate of award shows including his fifth and most recent Emmy Awards show [in 2008,] Ehrlich's credits are unmatched.
Teach For America
In 1990, 500 committed recent college graduates joined Teach For America to help lead the way to eliminating educational inequity. Since then nearly 33,000 leaders, during their 2-year commitment to the organization, have reached more than 3 million students across 43 urban and rural communities.
Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE
Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE hosts over 120 music, family, dance and comedy acts, award shows, televised productions, conventions and product launches annually. Since opening its’ doors in October 2007, Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE has hosted six nights of the Eagles and Dixie Chicks and have hosted the likes of Sugarland, Queens of the Stone Age, Neil Young, Anita Baker, Mary J. Blige, So You Think You Can Dance Tour, John Mayer, Bjork, John Fogerty, Tori Amos, George Lopez, The Wiggles, Sesame Street Live, Kayne West, Kings of Leon, The Who, Carrie Underwood, Tool, Rush, Juanes, Jenni Rivera, Michael Jackson’s This is It Movie Premiere and Twilight Eclipse Movie Premiere. Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE is the home to the American Idol Finale Shows, American Music Awards, ESPY Awards, Primetime Emmy Awards, and People’s Choice Awards, 2010 & 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. Over 500,000 people pass through the doors of Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE annually.
Won’t Back Down
In this powerful story – inspired by true events – of parenthood, friendship, hope and courage, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis portray determined mothers who will stop at nothing to transform their children’s failing inner city school. Facing a powerful and entrenched bureaucracy and a system mired in traditional thinking, they risk everything to make a difference in the education and future of their children.