Rock & Rouge Women’s Music & Food Festival & beyond is a 2-day women’s empowerment festival at Lafayette Square in the Central Business District (CBD) of New Orleans, Louisiana produced by Rock & Rouge Foundation, Inc, as a special event.The festival will be held on Saturday and Sunday, October 25th and October 26th, 2025, from 10AM to 8PM.

Our four cornerstones include local women-fronted rock bands, women-owned food businesses, women’s empowerment panels, and a S.T.E.A.M. tent for girls. The Rock & Rouge Festival established its four cornerstones in 2018 with a successful event at the New Orleans Jazz Museum. The Soul Queen of New Orleans, Miss Irma Thomas, rocked the “Women Who Rock Stage” with fireworks erupting over the Mississippi River. Since then, Rock & Rouge has moved to Lafayette Square in the Central Business District (CBD) and has remained at this location after the pandemic and Hurricane Ida. New features added to the festival include the Rock & Rouge Ambassadors Club, featuring beauty experiences; a men’s experience called the “End Zone”, with A-1 Appliances sponsoring our sports lounge with televising football games and whiskey bar, and our newest inception, a health and fitness program led by New Orleans’ own newest health guru, Valerie Sassyfras!! its call Sassercise. Rock & Rouge continues with its empowerment speakers’ program and a sparkle tent featuring bubbles paired with hors d’oeuvres for our Ambassadors Club ticket experience offering VIP service and special reserve seating near the stage. Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (S.T.E.A.M.) programs are available for the next generation of young women and girls ages 6-14, with workshops featuring sounds and colors, crafts, sewing Indian beadwork, and more.

Rouge Foundation Inc. (RFF) (EIN# 82-3609321) is a registered 501(c)(3), non-profit, founded and registered in the State of Louisiana in 2017. Empowering girls and women in the greater New Orleans area, the Rock & Rouge Foundation received a proclamation from the City of New Orleans in 2020. Committed to fostering educational opportunities, RRF provides tuition grants for S.T.E.A.M. summer camps and micro-grants for women’s emergency health or housing needs. The foundation hosts a S.T.E.A.M. Tent at the festival, offering workshops for girls aged 6-14. Throughout the year, Rock & Rouge Foundation spearheads events and initiatives that uplift and empower women and girls. In 2019 and 2022, RRF expanded its impact, hosting events in Los Angeles, California, to raise funds for its New Orleans-based initiatives.

As Rock & Rouge Ambassadors, our mission is to harness the power of music, food, organizations, and education to create vibrant, inclusive events where women and girls from all walks of life can connect, network, and thrive. By doing so, we aim to amplify the voices, opportunities, and prosperity of women everywhere, regardless of their race, nationality, gender, sexual identity, socioeconomic status, religion, or any other aspect of their identity.

Rock & Rouge Music line-up 2025

• Charmaine Neville Band
• Sweet Crude
• Kristen Diable
• Big Pearl & The Fugitives Of Funk
• Whisper Party!
• Caroline Cotto
• Buddha Bellies
• Curstin Kay
• Royal & Toulouse
• Catie B. & The Hand Me  Downs
• Sheepy & Hen
• Sariyah Idan

Days & Time coming soon!