Essence Festival, the Original “Party With a Purpose,” Celebrates 25th Anniversary

“In America, Black folks don’t have a lot of spaces where we can celebrate our culture and just enjoy being alive and among our people, but Essence Festival is one of those rare places. For three days, Black folks come together to dance, drink, and celebrate our magic. And in a country that has systematically tried to break our spirit, you can’t underestimate how valuable and necessary that experience is.” — Britni Danielle, journalist

Story by National Urban League

To Be Equal #25 Marc H. Morial June 21, 2019

Among my proudest achievements as Mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002 is bringing the Essence Festival to the vibrant city with which it is iconically identified.

Now, 25 years later, the Essence Festival has taken on a cultural significance unequaled by any multicultural or African-American event.

Just a few months into my first term as Mayor, I was looking for ways to leverage our city’s rich cultural identity for economic development and job creation. At the same time, Essence co-founder Ed Lewis and Festival Productions founder George Wein were looking for the perfect location for a 25th birthday party for the magazine.

As the leading African-American publication in America, they were looking for a city with a strong African-American cultural heritage and an African-American mayor. No other city had — or has — such a strong musical tradition and the unique and versatile construction of the Superdome made it the perfect venue. Because of the size and number of event rooms within the Superdome, it was possible to conduct multiple concerts at the same time, and keep everything indoors and out of the heat.

What was meant to be a one-time celebration of Essence’s 25th anniversary evolved into the largest annual multicultural event in the nation, the “party with a purpose,” attracting international recording artists, political and intellectual luminaries, and bestselling authors.

No other event has done as much to highlight and celebrate the achievements and talents of African-American women. Essence Festival addresses the specific challenges and needs that women of color face — not only professionally and culturally, but spiritually and physically.

Last year, more than 500,000 people attended the festival, adding Essence Festival added $280 million to the New Orleans and Louisiana economy. That’s more than triple the attendance of the first festival in 1995.
The headlining musical acts that year were Luther Vandross, Patti LaBelle, B.B. King, Boyz II Men, Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker and Earth, Wind and Fire. The festival also gave local New Orleans area talent the opportunity to shine and continues to support the regional cultural traditions of jazz and zydeco.

This year, the leading musical acts include Mary J. Blige, Nas, Missy Elliott, and Pharrell Williams, and the headlining speaker is Michelle Obama.

The Essence Festival helped solidify New Orleans as the quintessential destination for multicultural and African-American gatherings. That first year, the daytime events — the cultural, social and political presentations and discussions — were so popular that first year that they had to be moved from the Superdome into the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center where there was more space.

My own keynote that year focused on affirmative action, as it was the year President Clinton launched his “mend it, don’t end it” initiative.

One enduring legacy of the first Essence Festival of which I’m especially proud is the Louis Armstrong Jazz Camp, the nation’s pre-eminent jazz education program devoted to developing the next generation of Jazz artists and preserving the great American art form.

There’s nothing else like the Essence Festival, and nowhere else like New Orleans. The two are forever intertwined.