Coca-Cola Company has been the presenting sponsor of the festival since 1995.Photo: Courtesy of Coca-Cola
As usual, the four-day event took place in New Orleans July 4-7, with daytime experiences held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and an evening concert series at Caesars Superdome. It featured headlining performances from Usher, Janet Jackson, Charlie Wilson, and Victoria Monét.
Once again, the event featured different zones including returning faves such as the Essence Food & Wine Festival, Beautycon: @EssenceFest Edition, Afropunk Blktopia, Essence Film Festival by Essence Studios, Essence Stage, Soko Mrkt by Essence, Essence Authors, Essence GU Creators House, and GBEF HQ, as well as new ones such as Essence Hollywood House and the Suede: Men’s Experience (formerly known as “In His Zone").
For this year’s festival, Mark Stephen Experiential Agency was tasked with creating Beautycon: @EssenceFest Edition, the Wellness House, the Essence Authors, and Soko Market. “With Instagram and TikTok permeating our day-to-day lives more than ever, we knew that this year needed to be all about the photo and video moments,” said Mark Testa, founder and CEO of the agency.
“From a unicorn statue guests could sign to banners with impactful statistics, each of our environments enabled Essence Fest attendees to fully immerse themselves in the festival, with countless opportunities to document it all,” he said.
In addition to title sponsor Coca-Cola, other major partners included AT&T, L’Oréal, McDonald’s, and Target.
Keep scrolling to see more from inside this year’s Essence Festival...
