Look To The Stars News: Norman Lear

Inaugural Noble Awards Celebrate Hollywood Philanthropy

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Look To The Stars was proud to be part of the inaugural Noble Awards on Sunday, October 18 – an event that honored a host of charities and the celebrities that support them, elevating awareness of the significant impact of their work.

Held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, the event honored Morgan Freeman with a lifetime achievement award, as well as Laila Ali (Women’s Sports Foundation), Billy Bush (Lollipop Theater Network), Kenny Edmonds (Stand Up To Cancer), Teri Hatcher (Children’s Hospital Los Angeles), Norman Lear (Playing for Change), Joel Madden (The Art of Elysium), AnnaLynne McCord (The Blind Project), Nancy O’Dell (Best Buddies International), Eva Longoria Parker (Padres Contra El Cancer) and Brett Ratner (DoSomething.org).

Lionel Richie was on hand during the ceremony to present an award to Joel Madden, who attended the event with Nicole Richie and his brother Benji.

“I want to welcome him to our family and present this Noble award to a guy I love very much – Joel Madden!” said Lionel as he introduced Joel to the crowd.

“They are just as much a part of it,” said Madden, paying tribute to Nicole and Benji. “Nicole does just as much as I do with Art of Elysium and all the charities we work with. And so does Benj – Benj actually does more then I do, and he plays the guitar better then I do, so he is a little more entertaining for the kids.”

Madden later Twittered about the emotions he felt as he accepted his award: “Just left the NOBLE awards. Got an award that was really for the people at the Art of Elysium. Awesome folks and I’m humbled to know them. By the way got totally choked up when I got my award. I hate thinking about kids in the hospital, they should be getting the awards not us.”

The award itself was designed by Antonio Banderas, with personal touches added by children who participated in The Art of Elysium workshop at the Shriners Hospitals for Children.

Morgan Freeman received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his tireless work and dedication to over a dozen non-profits. Freeman’s diverse charitable efforts include working with American Red Cross, Artists for a New South Africa, the Campaign for Female Education, Earth Biofuels, Grenada Relief Fund, Mississippi Animal Rescue League and Mississippi State College of Veterinary Medicine. Freeman has also done PSAs for Sierra Club, and a number of Entertainment Industry Foundation campaigns, covering issues like colon cancer prevention, health care reform and volunteerism.

“I think so often we don’t know that our gestures matter,” said Teri Hatcher, who was also honored. “I think when you get involved in your local community charity you really do see you make a difference and it’s empowering for you.”

Look To The Stars was at the awards, and we will bring you more about the fantastic event over the coming days.

Look To The Stars Helps Promote Hollywood Philanthropy At Noble Awards

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Look to the Stars is pleased to announce that we will work year-round with The Noble Awards to promote philanthropy in Hollywood.

The inaugural Noble Awards, taking place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, October 18, has announced five new award honorees. The Blind Project, The Lollipop Theater Network, Padres Contra el Cancer and Playing for Change will be honored along with six previously announced charities. In addition, Morgan Freeman will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. The two-hour event, hosted by “Access Hollywood’s” Billy Bush, seeks to annually honor up to a dozen charities and celebrities who actively support them, elevating awareness of these organizations and the significant impact of their work.

Celebrities who will accept awards on behalf of the charities being honored include Laila Ali (Women’s Sports Foundation), Billy Bush (Lollipop Theater Network), Kenny Edmonds (Stand Up To Cancer), Teri Hatcher (Children’s Hospital Los Angeles), Norman Lear (Playing for Change), Joel Madden (The Art of Elysium), AnnaLynne McCord (The Blind Project), Nancy O’Dell (Best Buddies International), Eva Longoria Parker (Padres Contra El Cancer) and Brett Ratner (DoSomething.org). During the ceremony, each will be presented with an award sculpture, designed by Antonio Banderas, with personal touches added by children who participated in The Art of Elysium workshop at the Shriners Hospitals for Children. Brian McKnight and Julio Iglesias, Jr., along with Emily Bear and Timothy Mitchum will provide live musical performances throughout the evening.

“We are delighted to present these eleven distinguished charities and their celebrity supporters with the inaugural Noble Award,” stated Janeen Mansour, creator and executive producer of The Noble Awards. “With the presentation of The Noble Awards, our goal is to turn the spotlight back onto these celebrities and charities to provide recognition, to educate, to inspire, and to encourage even more support from the Hollywood community and the public at large.”

Morgan Freeman will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for his tireless work and dedication to over a dozen non-profits. Freeman’s diverse charitable efforts include working with American Red Cross, Artists for a New South Africa, the Campaign for Female Education, Earth Biofuels, Grenada Relief Fund, Mississippi Animal Rescue League and Mississippi State College of Veterinary Medicine. Freeman has also done PSAs for Sierra Club, and a number of Entertainment Industry Foundation campaigns, covering issues like colon cancer prevention, health care reform and volunteerism.

“The Entertainment Industry Foundation is pleased to be a part of the inaugural Noble Awards,” said Lisa Paulsen, President and CEO of Entertainment Industry Foundation. “We are honored and so proud to present our dear friend and exceptional actor Morgan Freeman with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding charitable work and ongoing contributions to so many important social causes.”

The Noble Awards will kick off the “Be A Noble” Movement, a perennial effort to encourage each and every person to “Be A Noble,” and inspire them to give back and take action with a purpose on a global scale. Some of these initiatives include:

Look to the Stars will work year-round with The Noble Awards to promote philanthropy in Hollywood.

As part of next year’s Cup with a Cause program, 7-Eleven, in collaboration with The Noble Awards, will produce a series of celebrity-designed coffee cups featured in stores nationwide. A minimum of $250,000 will go towards each participating celebrity’s charity of choice. During The Noble Awards’ cocktail hour, guests will be asked to design cups as part of the program.

Participant Media and Takepart.com, the official “action” platform for the Awards, have partnered with the “Be A Noble” Movement to provide the Foundation with a web platform to showcase the work of all the organizations they are honoring throughout the year.

ONEHOPE Wine has bottled an award-winning varietal of wine to be labeled “NOBLE.” 100% of all proceeds from each bottle will go towards the “Be A Noble” Movement, to be distributed among the honored charities.

Rumblefish Jewelry will design a jewelry line based on The Noble Awards and “Be A Noble” Movement, where a percentage of sales will be donated to Noble charities.

Additional partners include EIF/iParticipate, The Hollywood Reporter, Audi, Beverly Hilton, Mobile Cause, Rosenthal and GoodSearch.

As the film industry has the Oscars, television the Emmys and the music industry the Grammy Awards, the charity community and its most dedicated Hollywood supporters will gain global recognition with the staging of The Noble Awards. Produced on behalf of the Celebrity Charity Awards Corporation, a non-profit organization, the first annual awards will take place on October 18, 2009. The Celebrity Charity Awards Corporation will launch a year-round movement to BE A NOBLE to better unify the efforts of charities with celebrities, influencers, media and everyday citizens in order to create an effective forum for change and service. For more information, please visit www.thenobleawards.org.

Stars Set To Shine At Global Green Pre-Oscar Party

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Environmental organization Global Green USA will hold their annual pre-Oscar party this week and have invited some stellar performers and hosts.

Entertainment at this year’s party will include Sheryl Crow and Gavin Rossdale and co-hosting the event are stars such as Orlando Bloom, Leonardo DiCaprio, Penelope Cruz , Rosario Dawson, Marisa Tomei, Kate Bosworth, Sebastian Copeland, Lyn & Norman Lear, Damien Rice, Heather Graham, Roland Emmerich, Dominic Monaghan, Matt Petersen, Neil Patrick Harris, Sharon Lawrence and Esai Morales.

Proceeds from the evening – which includes drinks and a gift bag – will go to Global Green USA’s Green Schools Initiative. Green Schools are community facilities that are designed, built, renovated, operated, or reused in an ecological and resource-efficient manner. Green schools protect occupant health, provide a productive learning environment, connect students to the natural world, increase average daily attendance, reduce operating costs, improve teacher satisfaction and retention, and reduce overall impact to the environment.

General tickets to the party – which will be held on Thursday, February 19, at Avalon in Hollywood – range from $125 – 250. VIP tickets are available for $1000 and give you access to exclusive VIP lounge with hosted bar, unreserved seat in VIP balcony area for the musical performance, an eco gift bag, & access to the after party.

More info and tickets are available from the Global Green USA website.

Jessica Alba Wants You To Declare Yourself

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Actress Jessica Alba has appeared in a new advertisement and public service announcement aimed at energizing young adults to register and vote in the 2008 US election.

The 27-year-old actress – who appears in the adverts naked and wrapped in black electrical tape – is part of the “Only You Can Silence Yourself” campaign being run by Declare Yourself, a non-profit organization initiated in 2004 to energize and empower a new movement of young voters.

“If you don’t register and vote and make a difference, and hopefully change the bad things that are happening in our country, you are essentially just binding and muzzling yourself,” she said. “I really don’t see the point in not registering to vote. We sign up for MySpace pages and Facebook pages, and download music off the internet. The least people can do is register to vote online, actually making a difference in their world, not just making their lives a little bit cooler. It makes more sense to spend your time making a change in society—and it actually doesn’t take that much time! It takes more time to make a music playlist than it does to register to vote.”

According to their website, Declare Yourself registered over one million young people in the 2004 and 2006 elections. Founded by television producer and philanthropist Norman Lear, the campaign has gathered support from a wide range of stars, including Ben Affleck, Christina Aguilera, Scarlett Johansson, Drew Barrymore and many more. Declare Yourself aims to empower and encourage every eligible 18-year-old in America to register and vote in the presidential primaries and 2008 presidential election, using the power of media partnerships, celebrity spokespeople, the sports arena, and mobile and Internet technology.

Celebrities Gather For Global Green Pre-Oscar Party

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:23:10 -0000

Written by Delinda Lombardo

Celebrities, artists, actors, industry executives, and environmentalists joined Global Green USA CEO Matt Petersen for the 5th Annual Global Green Pre-Oscar Party last Wednesday, February 20, at the Avalon Nightclub in Hollywood.

The theme of this year’s event was “Time To Act: Reduce your Carbon Footprint today: Drive Green, Live Green, Vote Green”. The evening, emceed by HBO’s ‘Real Time’ host Bill Maher, raised $420,000 to benefit Global Green’s climate change initiatives, which include the green rebuilding of New Orleans.

“There are a lot of people in this town who talk a lot about (the issue), but these guys (Global Green) are actually doing something,” said Maher, who arrived at the event in a hybrid SUV.
Special performances by Grammy Nominated artist Michelle Branch, Oscar nominated artists Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, as well as Damien Rice and Michael Franti, were among the night’s highlights.

Salma Hayek, who serves on the local Global Green board, showed her support and said she is more focused on environmental initiatives since becoming a mother last September.

“I get a bigger fear of what kind of world she’s going to live in,” said Hayek on her way into the party. “Is she going to run out of water? What kind of water is she going to drink? It’s really scary and it’s not that far away if we don’t do something about it.”

Other celebrity supporters in attendance included Oliver Stone, Entourage actor Adrian Grenier, Sophia Bush, actress Dana Delany, Las Vegas star Molly Sims, Josie Maran, Mia Maestro, actor Christian Slater, Governor Bill Richardson, Radha Mitchell, Lost actor Ian Somerhalder, actor-turned-model Jason Lewis, Alexis Arquette, Eric Mabius, Anna Getty, Bahar Soomekh, Tate Donovan, Esai Morales, Norman Lear, Julie Benz, Kevin Weisman, Lady Victoria Hervey, Leonor Varela, Mark DeCarlo, Tamara Mellon, Q’orianka Kilcher, Vanessa Branch, Walton Goggins, Elisabeth Rohm, Tia Carrere, Taylor Dayne, Thomas Ian Nicholas, and Kenneth Johnson.

This election year, Global Green USA used the party to highlight their 2008 message of “Drive Green. Live Green. Vote Green.”

“Our homes and transportation represent the biggest opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint – but the most important thing to green this year is our vote,” said Global Green CEO Matt Petersen. “The next President of the United States has the power to solve the climate crisis; they will only be successful if the public – and the media – demand action on climate change.”

ANSA Shakes the Blues With Stars in Los Angeles

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 08:42:33 -0000

On Thursday, November 15, 2007, Artists for a New South Africa (ANSA) will host “Shaking The Blues,” a star-studded benefit, at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. The evening combines the power of music and activism to shake off our blues – from the personal to the global – and make a difference in the world. The event will feature blues-influenced musical artists as well as a multi-cultural array of renowned entertainers who are donating their time and talents to the fight against HIV/AIDS in the US and Africa.

The event begins with a pre-show cocktail party for major donors at 6 PM. Shaking The Blues performances start at 7:45, immediately followed by a VIP after-party. Those confirmed to appear include Erykah Badu, Nikka Costa, Keb’ Mo’, Taj Mahal Trio and The Roots, with Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson serving as the event’s musical director. Additional highlights include appearances by George Lopez, Jurnee Smollett, Blair Underwood and other special guest stars soon to be announced.

Shaking The Blues, which continues ANSA’s tradition of presenting one unique and extraordinary major fundraiser annually, is chaired by Dianna Cohen & Jackson Browne, Myrna Colley-Lee & Morgan Freeman, LaTanya Richardson Jackson & Samuel L. Jackson, Ann & George Lopez, Deborah Santana, Alfre Woodard & Roderick Spencer and Keisha Nash-Whitaker & Forest Whitaker. Host committee members include J.J. Abrams, Gillian Anderson, Johnny Clegg, Danny Glover, Dulé Hill, Quincy Jones, Norman Lear, Lebo M, Alexandra Paul, Chris Rock, Cicely Tyson, Blair Underwood, Alice Walker, Denzel Washington and other luminaries.

“Last year, ANSA was honored to host the 75th birthday celebration for our dear friend and advisor [”Archbishop Desmond Tutu":http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/580-desmond-tutu]," said ANSA’s Executive Director Sharon Gelman. “He embodies the belief that justice and love will ultimately triumph and maintains a remarkable sense of humor, even in the face of enormous challenges. It is activists like him who inspire us to shake off the blues and take action to fix our world. That’s the spirit of Shaking the Blues, which promises to be one of ANSA’s best events ever.”

Proceeds from the event will support ANSA’s work in the US and Africa. ANSA will also donate a portion of the proceeds to the Treatment Action Campaign, the grassroots organization that is at the forefront of South Africa’s fight against AIDS.

Tickets range from $45 to $100, and are available through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com and (213) 480-3232. For major donor and VIP tickets, ranging from $250 to $75,000, contact Blue Room Events: (310) 491-1401.

A Shaking The Blues online auction of one-of-a-kind items and experiences from President Bill Clinton, Denzel Washington, J.J. Abrams, Dulé Hill, and many others, launched October 29 at www.charityfolks.com/ansa.

ANSA is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization working to combat HIV/AIDS, safeguard voting rights and democracy, advance human rights and equality, and assist and empower AIDS orphans and other at-risk youth. By working in partnership with effective grassroots organizations and pivotal movements on the frontlines of these issues, ANSA makes a substantial difference. Founded in 1989 to support South Africa’s quest to end apartheid and build a new democracy, ANSA is now dedicated to eradicating social and health inequities that are the legacies of apartheid, segregation, and generations of poverty. In the past decade alone, ANSA has raised $9 million for effective African programs, shipped 70 tons of medical supplies and books to impoverished communities, and educated millions of adults and young people in the US, South Africa, and across the African continent about HIV/AIDS and voting rights. For more information go to www.ansafrica.org

Look To The Stars News: Norman Lear

Inaugural Noble Awards Celebrate Hollywood Philanthropy

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Look To The Stars Helps Promote Hollywood Philanthropy At Noble Awards

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Stars Set To Shine At Global Green Pre-Oscar Party

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Jessica Alba Wants You To Declare Yourself

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ANSA Shakes the Blues With Stars in Los Angeles

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