Essence Festival of Culture

ESSENCE partnered with Mark Stephen Experiential Experiential Agency to produce a hybrid version of the traditional Essence Festival for 2021. With the theme “Live Loud,” ESSENCE curated an invaluable experience that offers the best of in-person and virtual worlds via a celebration of the resilience, power and achievement of Black communities. For the in-person events, they produced four days of activations only to New Orleans residents. Essence did not want another year to go by without a festival (2020 cancelled because of the pandemic) so created a full schedule of content — The event was broadcast on ESSENCEStudios and ESSENCE website on June 25-27and July 2-4. "We produced 2 drive-in movies; more than 6 outdoor concerts; and multiple speaker/panelist activation in four different locations throughout the city," said Mark Stephen Agency founder Mark Testa. "It felt great being back in New Orleans producing in-person events and to support a community that is the backbone of Essence Festival." In addition to the live events, Mark Stephen Agency also created the Essence Festival of Culture Virtual Marketplace, a fully virtual experience featuring event sponsors Coca Cola, Aveeno, Ford, My Black is Beautiful, Neutrogena and Walmart as well as 20 black owned businesses. Visitors were transported to a virtual New Orleans-style marketplace featuring all of the real life components of a festival experience including a resident DJ spinning an Essence curated playlist.