When Essence Communications rebranded its flagship occasion because the Essence Pageant of Tradition, it might have appeared like a innocent replace. However in a metropolis like New Orleans, the place tradition is lived—not marketed—that change mentioned greater than they probably supposed. It marked a shift—away from one thing rooted and religious, towards one thing packaged, curated, and more and more company.

This yr, social media was jammed with critiques of delayed Essence exhibits and low attendance. 

Sure, the competition has grown. And sure, with that development has come confusion: about who it serves, what it represents, and the way it operates. However let’s be clear—the deeper problem isn’t logistics. It’s ideology.

For these of us who’ve attended Essence since its earliest days—or who’ve documented it with our cameras and our lives—the change in title mirrored a bigger shift in values. What as soon as felt like a homecoming has change into a branded expertise. What as soon as honored the sacred spirit of Black womanhood and Black music now too typically appears like a weekend of company advertising and marketing wearing cultural language.

It’s greater than organizational points. Essence has an identification problem.

From motion to advertising and marketing

The unique Essence Music Pageant was extra than simply an occasion—it was a motion. It centered Black girls in all their energy. It introduced households collectively. It echoed with sermons, soul, and social justice. Even within the midst of leisure, it was about edification.

However the shift to “Pageant of Tradition” marked a turning level. Right now, what’s celebrated is usually a rigorously curated model of Blackness that performs properly on Instagram and in branded content material—however doesn’t at all times replicate the lived expertise of those that constructed this metropolis or carried this tradition.

That’s not only a missed alternative. That’s a betrayal of objective.

Tradition can’t be curated from the highest down

New Orleans isn’t a backdrop. It’s a dwelling, respiratory tradition with deep ancestral roots. And but, annually it feels extra like locals are being pushed to the margins of the very competition that claims to have fun them. From restricted alternatives for native artists and distributors, to an growing disconnect between competition management and the communities they’re purported to characterize, the message is obvious: this house is now not ours—it’s leased to us, if something.

That actuality got here into sharp focus in 2023 when Essence filed a cease-and-desist in opposition to Baldwin & Co., a Black-owned bookstore in New Orleans, for internet hosting a e book signing by a well known Black creator throughout competition weekend. The transfer sparked speedy backlash from the native Black literary and activist neighborhood, who noticed the lawsuit not solely as a tone-deaf overreach—however as a surprising contradiction of every part the competition claims to face for.

The lawsuit was quietly dropped, however the injury was carried out. The message was unmistakable: even community-led cultural occasions by and for Black individuals might be seen as threats once they don’t match the industrial script.

That wasn’t only a authorized misstep. It was a revealing second—a flashpoint that uncovered the rising hole between Essence’s branding and its habits. A competition constructed on the backs of Black girls ought to by no means discover itself in opposition to a Black-owned bookstore. But right here we have been.

What we lose when the essence is lacking

We all know how this metropolis treats its tradition. We’ve seen our traditions commodified and reshaped for vacationer {dollars}. However we anticipated extra from Essence. For many years, it was an area of integrity—a spot the place Black individuals might see themselves mirrored not simply in magnificence and enterprise, however in fact and battle.

To see that unravel feels private.

The expertise now feels fractured—much less intimate, much less grounded, and fewer involved with the on a regular basis Black individuals who made it sacred within the first place. If you substitute objective with polish, you get a competition that’s shiny, however hole. Massive crowds, however fewer connections.

What now?

Essence has each proper to develop and evolve. However development with out accountability turns into erasure. And proper now, there’s an actual hazard that the competition will drift so removed from its origin that it’ll now not resemble what it as soon as was—a cultural sanctuary, a religious reunion, a celebration of who we’re and who we’re turning into.

If Essence desires to really honor its title, it should reckon with its ideological drift. It should cease complicated tradition with management. Which means greater than panels and performances. It means respecting the individuals, honoring the place, and refusing to commodify tradition simply because it’s worthwhile.

Tradition isn’t one thing you create in a boardroom or implement with a trademark lawyer. It’s one thing you reside. One thing you earn. And one thing you shield.

As a result of as soon as the essence is gone, what’s left is simply an empty model with a well-recognized title.

Gus Bennett is the Lens photographer and author with over 40 years of expertise documenting Black life and resilience, he brings a firsthand perspective to conversations about cultural possession and the which means of legacy.

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