Then-Mayor of New Orleans Marc Morial and then-editor-in-chief of Essence Magazine Susan L. Taylor unveil "Proud Mary" at the 1997 Essence Music Festival in New Orleans.
Then-Mayor of New Orleans Marc Morial and then-editor-in-chief of Essence Magazine Susan L. Taylor unveil "Proud Mary" at the 1997 Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. The festival is celebrating is 30th anniversary this year. Credit: Courtesy of Essence Festival/Margaret Spade Kelley

In 1994, Ed Lewis knew he wanted to do something special to celebrate Essence Magazine’s 25th anniversary.

Lewis, a cofounder of the magazine (and a member of Verite News’ board of advisers), said he was having drinks with New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival founder George Wein when Wein suggested the magazine put on a festival to mark the occasion.

“He said to me, ‘Ed, [have] you ever thought about doing a music festival in New Orleans on the Fourth of July weekend at the Superdome?’” Lewis recalled in an interview with Verite News. “I said, ‘No, I hadn’t thought about that.’”

Lewis and other Essence executives liked the idea, and soon began working to make it a reality. The following year, the inaugural Essence Festival took place in New Orleans. 

Marc Morial, New Orleans mayor from 1994 to 2002, helped Essence bring the festival to the city by supporting the company, which is based in New York, on the ground. A local steering committee was created to advise Essence on involving local musicians and other logistics.

The festival was only supposed to be a one-time event. But after the first year, Morial said he was intent on keeping Essence in New Orleans. The event was so successful, Morial told Verite News, that he expressed his desire to bring the festival back in subsequent years with a joke to Lewis. “Let’s get married,” he remembers saying. “I told him I wasn’t interested in a one-night stand.” 

The festival began celebrating its 30th anniversary at the Superdome, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and throughout the downtown New Orleans area on Thursday (July 4). And the party will continue through Sunday (July 7). For three decades, the festival has been known as a place for Black people across the world to revel in Black art, culture and live entertainment.

Legendary performers such as Aretha Franklin, Prince and Beyonce have made their way to New Orleans over the years to perform at the festival. It’s also been a venue for discourse about issues important to the Black community, such as diversity in the workplace and racial wealth disparities.

“It was started with the intention of really bringing the pages of the magazine to life,” said Essence Fest Vice President Hakeem Holmes, ”but also designed to be the experience that helped our community improve its relationships.”

A Black festival for a Black city

New Orleans has hosted the Essence Festival every year since its inception except for 2006, the first summer after Hurricane Katrina, when it was hosted in Houston, and 2020 and 2021, when the festival was held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“New Orleans continues to be the place to be,” Lewis said. “New Orleans is just a very different city than any other city we have in the country because of its culture, because of its history and obviously, because of its music.”

Lewis refers to the Essence Festival as a “shared family reunion” that people from all over the African diaspora come to take part in. Holmes agreed. 

“It’s the air of New Orleans being … one of the most Afro-centric cities and deeply rooted cultural cities, and also just what New Orleans offers in terms of the food experience, the music experience,” Holmes said.

The fact that New Orleans is a predominantly Black city has not been lost on leaders in the tourism industry in the city, either. 

“A lot of times there’s a disconnect between the Black community and some of the major events that happen here,” said Kevin Ferguson with New Orleans & Company, the organization that handles marketing and sales for the city’s tourism industry. “They don’t always feel like they are part of it, or that these events are for them. The thing I love about events like Essence and Bayou Classic — I put [that] in there as well — these are things that our community feels like are for them — from the people that will attend, as well as the vendors and businesses that operate in the city.”

Ferguson said that the festival has had an “immeasurable” impact on New Orleans.

Last year’s festival had an economic impact of $316 million, according to the Essence Festival’s 2023 economic impact report. It produced nearly 2,500 jobs.

Ferguson also said that the festival is a major driver of tourism during a traditionally slower time in New Orleans, typically due to how hot the city gets.

But some question how much of an economic benefit the festival provides to Black New Orleanians.

Asali Ecclesiastes, the chief equity and executive officer of Ashé Cultural Arts Center, said she doesn’t think the festival has become the powerful driver for Black economic development that she thinks it could be.She was the inaugural winner of the Essence Festival Excellence Award in 2018 for her work in the community in greater New Orleans.

Essence touts the economic impact of the festival and how many millions of dollars it generates, she said. “But those are not millions of dollars that go to Black folks. I think Essence could [stand] in its power in a much different way.” 

Verite News reached out to communications staff for Essence Festival for a response to the Ecclesiastes’ critique, but didn’t receive a response in time for publication.

The future of the festival

Lewis said he hopes that the Essence Festival will carry on its tradition of centering Black women. 

“I want Essence to continue to treasure Black women, because they should be treasured,” he said.

Morial said that when the festival first started, there were more musicians than audience members, but that it’s grown over the years. He said he’s looking forward to what the festival will become over the next 30 years.

Holmes said the future of the festival is now and that there is constant work being done to see how the festival can be improved.

“The event was built on bettering your relationships,” Holmes said. “Bettering your relationship to your community and bettering your relationship to yourself — I think that will always be at the core of this event in the years to come.”

Most Read Stories

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

Creative Commons License