The ESSENCE Festival of Culture 2026 unveils Mara Brock Akil, Nikole Hannah-Jones, and Nina Compton as curators, joining ...

For more than three decades, ESSENCE Magazine and the Essence Festival of Culture have been a beacon of Black excellence, a cultural celebration of who we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re going.

ESSENCE Festival hits different when you show up solo. For the second time, I did it on my own—and loved every minute of it. This year, I spent Friday and Saturday in New Orleans, soaking up the ...

Summer in New Orleans doesn’t officially kick off until ESSENCE Festival of Culture rolls through town. If you know, you know. And like years prior, this year will surely be a time. From the concerts ...

The 2025 ESSENCE Festival of Culture’s Evening Concert Series came to an unforgettable close on Sunday, July 6, delivering a finale packed with heart, history, and show-stopping performances. After ...

This story was originally published in ESSENCE’s special 55th anniversary July/August 2025 issue, on stands now. It was the height of the Black Power Movement and the Vietnam War. This was an era when ...

“AI is here — let’s not be afraid of it,” said Josette Gbemudu, Associate Vice President of Patient Health Innovation at Merck & Co., during a forward-thinking panel at the 2025 ESSENCE Festival of ...

In case you missed it, H&M was one of the esteemed partners of the 2025 ESSENCE Festival of Culture. They teamed up with us to be part of their festival style destination hub, as the fashion brand ...

This story was originally published in ESSENCE’s special 55th anniversary July/August 2025 issue, on stands now. The last time I published “In the Spirit” in ESSENCE was in 2008. I never expected to ...

You can feel a certain energy in the air when a living legend is about to hit the stage, and at this year’s ESSENCE Festival of Culture™ presented by Coca-Cola®, that moment belongs to Nas. As part of ...

This story was originally published in ESSENCE’s special 55th anniversary July/August 2025 issue, on stands now. How does one properly prepare for an interview with “the” Patti LaBelle? They call ...