Lumos and the producers of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play are hosting a special gala performance of the new stage play to benefit the author’s children’s charity. J.K. Rowling will personally attend and introduce the play.

Tickets to see performances of both part one and part two of the play on Sunday 18th September in London’s West End, are now available by auction at givergy.com/charity/lumos. They are combined with special prizes and experiences and are expected to be popular. More information can also be found at wearelumos.org/worldwide.

Thanks to the generosity of the play’s producers and Lumos’ 100% Pledge, every penny donated and raised in the auction will go directly to Lumos’ Families Not Orphanages Fund that will help children in the countries where Lumos works to leave orphanages and return to a family life. Donations do not go towards administration, fundraising or overhead costs of the organisation.

The special gala performance of both parts offers a unique opportunity to see the much-anticipated play introduced by J.K. Rowling, and is the first of several events yet to be announced for the autumn as part of the Lumos global We Are Lumos Worldwide campaign in the UK, United States, and around the world. The campaign invites people and groups all over the world to join a growing movement to end the harmful and unnecessary practice of placing children in orphanages.

An estimated eight million children around the world live in orphanages and institutions, despite 80% having at least one living parent that could care for them with some support.

Georgette Mulheir, CEO of Lumos said: “Intuitively, we know that children need families to thrive, but it’s the decades of evidence that shows us the profound harm that being deprived of a family life and placed in an orphanage can do to a child’s intellectual, physical and psychological development.

“This special gala performance is not only a wonderful opportunity for fans to see the play but it will help raise awareness of the vulnerable, voiceless children living in orphanages around the world and play its part in helping to get them home and back to a loving family, where they belong.”

Visitors to the wearelumos.org/worldwide website are invited to sign up now to the We Are Lumos Worldwide campaign, which will launch at the same weekend of the play gala in September. Those registering now will receive early notification of further exciting announcements.

Over the past decade, Lumos has helped thousands of children – from infants to older children – return to family life in Central and Eastern Europe and more recently in Haiti. Now, in its second decade, Lumos is expanding its work in Latin America and the Caribbean, and other regions around the world with the aim to end institutionalisation of children globally by 2050.