It’s a cultural event for Black Americans
1st July 2024 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
One of New Orleans’ signature festivals will celebrate a landmark birthday this year as the 30th annual ESSENCE Festival of Culture will take place downtown from July 4-7.
Hakeem Holmes, who started as an intern before working his way up to vice president of the ESSENCE Festival of Culture, recently expressed pride in the festival’s enduring legacy as a vital cultural event for Black Americans.
“What other live experience could be ‘Blacker than the ESSENCE Fest?’” What other cultural tentpole gathers tens of thousands of Black people to drive economic growth through cultural currency and community beyond music? The short answer: none,” wrote Holmes.
As Holmes stated, the festival is not just a way for the community to celebrate African-American culture; it is also an important economic engine for the Crescent City. In 2022, a Dillard University study estimated that the fest had a $251.3 million economic impact on New Orleans. ESSENCE’s website reported the 2023 festival had an even bigger impact ($316 million). ESSENCE also reported that the 2023 festival created 2,494 jobs, produced $110 million in labor income, and contributed $34.6 million in federal, state and local taxes. They estimated ESSENCE tourists spent $686 per day on average and the city’s hotel occupancy rate was at 70 percent during the event.
The musical headliners at this year’s festival include Janet Jackson, Tank & the Bangas, The Roots, SWV, Charlie Wilson, Usher and much more. All evening concerts will be at Caesars Superdome.
The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center will host a variety of workshops and talks. Writers will be celebrated as part of the ESSENCE Authors event. ESSENCE Hollywood House will feature networking and mentoring for emerging film artists. The New Voices Entrepreneur Hub will offer guidance to emerging entrepreneurs about topics like funding, marketing and customer acquisition. The food and wine festival will showcase global dishes from Africa, the Caribbean and New Orleans.
The first ESSENCE Fest in 1995 celebrated the 25th anniversary of ESSENCE magazine. But the festival’s origin story goes back farther than that. In a June 30, 1995, article in The Times-Picayune, Edward Lewis, the then-publisher of ESSENCE, said it started with a lunch in the south of France in 1991.
“I was having lunch with George Wein (then-chairman of Festival Productions Inc.) and he was talking about the extraordinary role that African-Americans have had in the world through music, and that needed to be celebrated,” Lewis said in the 1995 article.
The two men met again for drinks in 1994 and returned to the topic when discussing the upcoming 25th anniversary of ESSENCE. And the festival was born.
In the 1995 Times-Picayune article, Jazz Fest’s longtime producer Quint Davis also added that the festival was a way to prove that New Orleans could be the center of the festival world even in July when the city had historically struggled to attract visitors.
One of the reasons New Orleans struggled to lure tourists in July was because of the city’s stifling heat and humidity. The weather for last year’s festival featured one of the hottest summers on record. Combine that with many canceled flights across the country, and ESSENCE faced several challenges last year. But Holmes is both optimistic for this year’s festival and proud of how the festival handled 2023’s difficulties.
“Let me tell you something about this team – we are resilient. We were dedicated to persevering for two reasons: 1) “we do this for the culture” and 2) the impact this has on New Orleans. It has been a labor of love for me, personally, as I reflect and continue to dream about how to honor the city that raised me,” wrote Holmes.
For more information about this year’s festival, visit the website at Essence.com. Attendees can also download the festival app on their smartphones.
This article originally published in the July 1, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
