Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

---

Inside ESSENCE Festival of Culture's partnership with the Ashé Cultural Arts Center, where community healing starts with New Orleans youth.
As part of ESSENCE Festival of Culture's Create to Heal initiative, we partnered with the Ashé Cultural Arts Center to bring youth engagement, drumming, and community joy to life during Community Day. This video captures why that partnership matters: the belief that housing, shelter, joy, and happiness are every child's birthright, and that healing a community starts with modeling the behavior we want the next generation to carry forward.
From drumming circles to the emotion of the Maafa remembrance, this is what it looks like when culture, care, and community come together.

🔗 Learn more about Ashé Cultural Arts Center: ashenola.org
🔗 Learn more about ESSENCE Festival of Culture: essence.com/essencefestival2026
#ESSENCEFest #CreateToHeal #AsheCulturalArtsCenterSubscribe


to ESSENCE - ow.ly/QXFD50lRgPz

ESSENCE is the Black woman’s guide to what’s hot now — our stars, our style, our lives.

Connect with ESSENCE Online:
► Website: essence.com
► Facebook: facebook.com/essence
► Twitter: twitter.com/essence
► Instagram: instagram.com/essence