Chris Martin steps up to curate Global Citizen festival for the next 15 years

Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin has agreed to curate Global Citizen festival for the next 15 years.

The rocker has signed up to help shape the line-up for the well-respected event, with the aim of raising money to help get rid of extreme poverty. Part of Martin's mandate during his 15-year role is to tackle the 17 sustainable development goals put forward by the United Nations, which include achieving gender equality and ending hunger.

Speaking about this exciting new venture, Billboard quotes the star as saying: “At first I thought, ‘How on earth do you make 17 things famous?’ And then I thought, ‘By making them as glamorous as possible, with very noticeable people.’ It’s remarkable that, with 193 countries and 7 billion people, we only have to do these 17 things and life gets better for a lot of people. And as long as you ask Beyoncé to say one of them and [former UN secretary-general] Kofi Annan to say another one, it becomes something that kids talk about.”

The first concert under the 'Viva La Vida' musician's control will take place on September 26 at New York City's Central Park. Previous Global Citizen events have featured performances from the likes of fun., Jay Z and the Foo Fighters.

Watch Martin discuss the importance of reading and writing here: