--- description: Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is taking the stage at the 20th Essence Festival in New Orleans at 11:15 am CT. Reed began his second term... title: WATCH LIVE: Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed Speaks at Essence Festival image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84c15021776b548b/69869aa01eebf7385f371c10/451687232.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [cities](/tag/cities/) ## cities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # WATCH LIVE: Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed Speaks at Essence Festival by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 5, 2014 3:56 PM CUT  Vanessa K. Bush and Michelle Ebanks onstage at the 2014 Essence Music Festival on July 4, 2014 in New Orleans. Vanessa K. Bush and Michelle Ebanks onstage at the 2014 Essence Music Festival on July 4, 2014 in New Orleans.Paras Griffin—Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 5, 2014 3:56 PM CUT Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is taking the stage at the 20th Essence Festival in New Orleans at 11:15 am CT. Reed began his second term in January and has championed fiscal reform while increasing core city services. Reed has reduced Atlanta’s spending during the recession and chairs the Transportation and Communications Committee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2958611/watch-live-atlanta-mayor-kasim-reed-speaks-at-essence-festival/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2958611/watch-live-atlanta-mayor-kasim-reed-speaks-at-essence-festival/"},"headline":"WATCH LIVE: Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed Speaks at Essence Festival","datePublished":"2014-07-05T15:56:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:59:11.225Z","description":"Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is taking the stage at the 20th Essence Festival in New Orleans at 11:15 am CT. Reed began his second term...","url":"https://time.com/2958611/watch-live-atlanta-mayor-kasim-reed-speaks-at-essence-festival/","keywords":["cities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84c15021776b548b/69869aa01eebf7385f371c10/451687232.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84c15021776b548b/69869aa01eebf7385f371c10/451687232.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2014 Essence Music Festival - Seminars - Day 2","caption":"2014 Essence Music Festival - Seminars - Day 2","creditText":"Paras Griffin—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/cities/","name":"cities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2958611/watch-live-atlanta-mayor-kasim-reed-speaks-at-essence-festival/","name":"WATCH LIVE: Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed Speaks at Essence Festival"}}]}] ```