Essence Ventures, an independent Black-owned consumer technology company, which merges content, community, and commerce to meet the evolving cultural and lifestyle needs of people of color, has recently announced that it has partnered with Full Circle Festival, LLC to create the ESSENCE Full Circle Festival.
The festival is meant to portray everything positive with Africa: Strengthen the public image of African American culture, networking between intelligent creatives, and to give new creatives a platform to get discovered. According to Richelieu Dennis, the founder and chair of Essence Ventures, “as someone born and raised in West Africa and who has spent adulthood in the U.S., there is no greater joy than forging partnerships with a purpose rooted in the elevation and the promise of the people of the African continent and the Diaspora.”
In addition, the annual ESSENCE Full Circle Festival experience will focus on showcasing African nations by highlighting their critical roles as ancestral, spiritual, cultural, and commercial epicenters. The festival will take place in Accra in December and complete the Year of Return commemoration, which marks 400 years since the first slave ships left Ghanaian coasts for the transatlantic slave trade.
This specially created, week-long venture enables engagement between U.S.-based cultural influencers and business executives with Ghanaian and regional leaders and communities; which includes explorations of history, cuisine, music, fashion, beaches, nightlife, commerce and more. Partners of the festival will consist of Ghanaian President Akufo-Addo, LLC partners Boris Kodjoe, Patrick Kodjoe, Bozoma Saint John, and Nicole Ari Parker.
Capturing diverse images and narratives of African culture, ESSENCE Full Circle Festival participants are encouraged to share their first-hand experiences via their social and digital platforms. In addition, select events will be live-streamed for broader community participation, engagement, and input. ESSENCE Full Circle travel packages will become available to the public in 2020. The line up has yet to be announced.
“This partnership recognizes Ghana’s role as a beacon for people of African descent in this Year of Return,” said Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo. “The Year of Return, Ghana 2019, is a conscious effort to cement our pan-African legacy. Throughout the year, the Tourism Authority has worked with several partner organizations to welcome home our brothers and sisters from the Diaspora. The Essence Full Circle Festival is a welcome addition to the activities and will hopefully become one of the legacies of the year, which celebrates African resilience.”