CHEVEL JOHNSON RODRIGUE
Nearly 30 years ago, creators of Essence Magazine came to New Orleans to celebrate the publication’s 25th anniversary with a salute to Black women highlighting culture, empowerment conversations with the nation’s thought leaders and, of course, music.
The Essence Music Festival has since morphed into the Essence Festival of Culture, which, in its 29th year, kicks off Thursday and goes through July 3 across various venues in downtown New Orleans. The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center will hold most of the free workshops, vendor exhibits and celebrity meet-and-greets. Blocks away, the Superdome will host nightly ticketed performances by artists including headliners Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliott and Megan Thee Stallion as the festival commemorates 50 years of hip-hop.
Hakeem Holmes, a New Orleans native and newly appointed vice president of the festival, describes the festival as a “crown jewel of Black culture” that “plays a pivotal role in
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