When considering the country’s largest and most iconic music festivals, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is right at the top of the list. Big name bands, rows of Louisiana delicacies, cultural exhibits, and exclusive fine arts and crafts—for so many reasons, JazzFest is one of New Orleans’ premier events. It’s also the creative and economic engine that drives the non-profit New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s community programming, providing the proceeds required to teach, build, and celebrate Louisiana’s cultural economy.
For more than fifty years, the Foundation has worked to preserve Louisiana’s unique culture, highlighting the region’s diverse musical heritage through its radio station WWOZ 90.7-FM, the Jazz & Heritage Concert Series, and a series of free festivals including the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, the Congo Square Rhythms Festival, the Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival, and the Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival.
Through the Don “Moose” Jamison Heritage School of Music, more than 300 local children receive free music education. The Tom Dent Congo Square quarterly lectures offer a creative, community outlet for artists and thinkers to engage in dialogue, and the Class Got Brass competition for school brass bands supports music education in schools while promoting New Orleans’ traditional brass band music.
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Eric E. Simon
Lincoln Elementary School students
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Eric E. Simon
L.W. Higgins High School students
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Eric E. Simon
St. Katharine Drexel Prep winners of the Class Got Brass competition
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Eric E. Simon
St. Augustine High School drummer
With their Community Partnership Grants, the Foundation has distributed more than $12 million in grants to Louisiana communities over the last decade. Each grant supports music and art education programs, cultural events put on by Louisiana arts-based nonprofits, new artistic works that interpret Louisiana culture, and other projects that support the Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s mission. The Catapult Fund provides a series of courses designed to help entrepreneurs in the beauty, fashion and jewelry industries grow their business, while Sync Up focuses on educational and business development for the entertainment industry. To help offset the hardships arising from the COVID pandemic, the Jazz & Heritage Music Relief Fund has delivered more than two million dollars in support to five thousand members of the music community since 2020.
Louisiana’s rich cultural legacy is part of the foundation of our vibrant community and culture. It’s a legacy worth preserving and sharing, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation is ensuring this happens. To learn more, visit jazzandheritage.org.
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