Essence Music Festival

The Essence Music Festival, known as "the party with a purpose", is an annual music festival which started in 1994 as a one-time event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Essence, a magazine aimed primarily towards African-American women. It is the largest event celebrating African-American culture and music in the United States. Locally referred to as the Essence Fest, it has been held in New Orleans, Louisiana every year since 1994 except for 2006, when it was held in Houston, Texas due to Hurricane Katrina. It features artists simultaneously performing on a main stage as well as four standing-room only superlounge stages.

In 2008, for the first time since its 1994 inception, the festival was not produced by the original producer team. Instead, Essence Communications, owner of the festival and the Essence magazine, contracted Rehage Entertainment Inc.. A new main stage facelift was designed by production designer Stefan Beese. Beginning in 2013, Solomon Group became the Producer of Essence Festival.

New Orleans

New Orleans (/nuː ˈɔːrlɪnz/,/nuː ˈɔːrliənz/, /nuː ɔːrˈliːnz/, or /ˈnɔːrlənz/; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃]) is a major United States port and the largest city and the center of the metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city was 343,829 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. The New Orleans metropolitan area (New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area) had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States. The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a larger trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,452,502.

The city is named after the Duke of Orleans, who reigned as Regent for Louis XV from 1715 to 1723, as it was established by French colonists and strongly influenced by their European culture. It is well known for its distinct French and Spanish Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is also famous for its cuisine, music (particularly as the birthplace of jazz), and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras, dating to French colonial times. The city is often referred to as the "most unique" in the United States.

The Clark Sisters

The Clark Sisters are an American gospel vocal group consisting of four sisters: Jacky Clark Chisholm (b. 1948), Elbernita "Twinkie" Clark-Terrell (b. 1954), Dorinda Clark-Cole (b. 1957), and Karen Clark Sheard (b. 1960). A fifth sister, Denise Clark Bradford (b. 1953), no longer performs with the group. The Clark Sisters are the daughters of legendary gospel musician and choral director Dr. Mattie Moss Clark. They are credited for helping to bring gospel music to the mainstream and are considered as pioneers of contemporary gospel. Their biggest crossover hits include: "Is My Living in Vain?" "Hallelujah," "He Gave Me Nothing to Lose," "Endow Me," their hit song "Jesus Is A Love Song," "Pure Gold," "Expect a Miracle," and their largest mainstream crossover gold certified, "You Brought the Sunshine." The Clark Sisters have won twoGrammy Awards. With 16 albums to their credit and millions in sales, the Clark Sisters are the highest-selling female gospel group in history.

Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1969 or 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She rose to prominence after the release of the first single taken from her eponymous debut album in 1990, "Vision of Love". More than two decades later, Rolling Stone defined the song as an influence on "virtually every other female R&B singer since the nineties". Mariah Carey produced four chart-topping singles in the US and began what would become a string of commercially successful albums which solidified the singer as Columbia's highest selling act. Carey and Boyz II Men spent a record sixteen weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 with "One Sweet Day", which remains the longest-running number-one song in US chart history. Following a contemptuous divorce from Sony Music head Tommy Mottola, Carey adopted a new image and traversed towards R&B with the release of Butterfly (1997). In 1998, she was honored as the world's best-selling recording artist of the 1990s at the World Music Awards and subsequently named the best-selling female artist of the millennium in 2000.

Clark Art Institute

The Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute, referred to as "The Clark", is an art museum with a large collection located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Along with the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MassMoCA) and the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), it forms a trio of significant art museums and resources in the north of The Berkshires. In June 2008, the Clark expanded its campus with the addition of the Stone Hill Center, a 32,000-square-foot (3,000 m²) building designed by Tadao Ando on a nearby wooded hillside that contains exhibition space and a conservation studio. In 2014, the Clark Center, also designed by Ando, opened with more than 11,000 square feet of gallery space for special exhibitions; a multipurpose pavilion for conferences, lectures, and events; new dining, retail, and family spaces; and an all-glass Museum Pavilion that creates a new entrance to the original Museum Building . The Clark has a dual role of serving as a museum and a research institute; it is home to the Research and Academic Program, which offers semester-long fellowships to scholars and hosts many public lectures throughout the year. It is also the seat of the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.