🎷 Rooted in Rhythm
🌱 The Essence of Essence
More than a festival, the Essence Festival is a sacred drumbeat. Since its founding in 1995, it has honored Black joy, resistance, spirituality, entrepreneurship, and artistry. Every summer, New Orleans becomes a sanctuary for celebration and cultural reclamation. Its power lies not just in what happens on stage, but in who shapes the stage itself.
Black people must manage the spaces where Black culture is exalted. This isn’t gatekeeping—it’s guardianship.
🧠Stewardship Over Spectacle
When Black organizers lead Essence, they protect its pulse from dilution and extraction. Their stewardship means:
- Authenticity in narrative: Programming rooted in experience, not algorithms
- Economic reciprocity: Opportunities and revenue directed toward Black vendors, creatives, and communities
- Spiritual continuity: A rhythm that remembers its origin stories
The Essence Festival is not just a brand—it is a living archive of Black brilliance.
💰 Cultural Capital & Ownership
Essence is one of the most profitable cultural festivals in the country. But profit without protection leads to the gentrification of the soul. When external entities manage Black events, it often signals a shift from culture to content, from communion to commodity.
Black ownership ensures the labor behind the joy is compensated, credited, and sustained.
- 🔥 Essence as Resistance
- From Michelle Obama’s electrifying addresses to radical panels on reproductive justice, Essence has always wielded joy as political power. But that power must be curated by those who understand its stakes—emotionally, historically, spiritually.
- Outsourcing that responsibility is not just risky—it’s erasure in slow motion.
- 🎤 Final Note: Keep the Rhythm in Our Hands
Essence is our Sankofa, our cipher, our revival tent. Its heartbeat should always be held by those who feel its rhythm in their bones. Black leadership of Essence is not just about representation—it’s about reclamation.
Let the bassline stay ours. Let the stories be sung by those who lived them. Let Essence be our sanctuary—and our stage.