Suicide Awareness Concert: Ottawa Sept 10, 2011

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Ottawa Citizen
September 1, 2011

OTTAWA ? A September concert event in Ottawa attempting to break down the stigma surrounding suicide will be attended by Bono of the popular rock group U2, as well as actor Colin Farrell and film director Jim Sheridan, a suicide prevention company has announced.

LivingWorks Education Inc. offers a suicide prevention program around the world. The Sept. 10 concert at Centrepointe Theatre will feature Susan Aglukark and the Irish rock band Friends of Emmet.

Proceeds from the event will go to suicide prevention programs in the Ottawa area, as well as the Collateral Damage Project and the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation (chaired by Aglukark).

?This event is the first of its kind in Canada, and perhaps around the world, as it brings Ottawa together in creating a suicide safer community,? Scott Chisolm, CEO of the Collateral Damage Project, is quoted as saying in a LivingWorks press release.

Local and national partners include the Canadian Mental Health Association, Your Life Counts International, the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention and the Ottawa Suicide Prevention Coalition.

Tickets are still available at the Centrepointe Theatre online box office at Centrepointe Theatre - Sept 2011, or by calling 613-580-2700.

 

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Retraction
Ottawa Citizen
September 1, 2011

OTTAWA ? The appearances of Bono, actor Colin Farrell and film director Jim Sheridan at a Sept. 10 suicide prevention fundraising concert in Ottawa have not been confirmed, contrary to a press release circulated on Wednesday.

LivingWorks Education Inc. ? which sells a suicide prevention program ? announced Wednesday that the Centrepointe Theatre concert would be attended by the three stars, but retracted that press release on Thursday.

Frances McCahon of RMP London, which handles public relations for both Bono and the rock group U2, confirmed by e-mail to The Citizen on Thursday that Bono ?is not attending.?

An employee at Colin Farrell?s publicist?s office (PMKBNC) in Los Angeles said they hadn?t heard anything about an appearance in Ottawa.

The concert at Centrepointe Theatre will feature Susan Aglukark and the Irish rock band Friends of Emmet, and is being held to break down the stigma surrounding suicide and to benefit local suicide prevention groups.

Lynne Sterritt, vice-president of marketing and communication for LivingWorks, said by phone Thursday afternoon that the bass player for Friends of Emmet, Keith Geraghty, said he had a personal agreement with the stars.

?My understanding is that the bass player did talk to them,? Sterritt said. ?What their official publicists are saying is different because this isn?t official business for them ? this is a personal relationship between Keith and them.?

?Our apologies go out to Bono, Colin Farrell, Jim Sheridan, Principle Management and the press for inadvertently misleading that these people are confirmed to attend this event,? said an updated LivingWorks press release issued Thursday afternoon.