New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc. December 23, 2010

2010 YEAR IN REVIEW

It’s been another big year for the New Orleans Jazz &

Heritage Foundation, the nonprofit that owns the New

Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell. Our

year-round programs in education, economic development

and cultural events continue to grow and improve. Here’s a

recap of our work in 2010.

HERITAGE SCHOOL OF MUSIC

Several of New Orleans’ favorite musicians are graduates of

our free after-school music program, the Don Jamison

Heritage School of Music. Sammie Williams of Big Sam’s

Funky Nation and Shamarr Allen are both alums, as is

Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, who this year scored

a No. 1 album on the Billboard jazz chart – and a Grammy

nomination! Two of our students, John Michael Bradford

and Doyle Cooper , were winners in this year’s Seeking

Satch competition.

The school keeps getting better. Derek Douget has come on

board as our new music education coordinator. Michael

Pellera (piano), Leon Brown (brass) and Ricky Sebastian

IN THIS ISSUE

>> 2010 Year In Review

>> Heritage School of Music

>> Community Partnership

Grants

>> Raisin' The Roof

>> Community Day of Service

>> Musical M*A*S*H Unit

>> Jazz & Heritage Archive

>> Tom Dent Congo Square

Lectures

>> Tom Dent Congo Square

Symposium

>> Sync Up Conference

>> Talent Exchange Web Site

>> Jazz Journey Concerts

>> Jazz Fest Events

>> Festivals

>> Junior Brass Band

>> Gallery Exhibits

>> Fans of the Fest

>> Gulf Aid

>> Thank You

(drums) are now on the teaching staff, joining Leah Chase

(voice), John Bagnato (guitar) and founding director

Edward “Kidd” Jordan.

We're increasing the number of visiting artists who bring

their expertise to our students. This year, we hosted the

legendary bass player Ron Carter (a veteran of Miles Davis'

band in the 1960s), the pianist Barry Harris and the blues

artist Corey Harris. We're also adding more performances.

In addition to playing at Jazz Fest, French Quarter Festival

and the various festivals produced by the Foundation, we'll

be doing a monthly jam session at Snug Harbor.

Auditions for the Spring 2011 semester are scheduled for

Saturday, Jan. 15. Find out more here.

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP

GRANTS

This year, we’re on track to distribute more than $300,000

through our Community Partnership Grants program. In

October, we allocated more than $75,000 to local nonprofit

organizations that present cultural events and hire our

musicians (such as the Nickel-A-Dance concert series,

pictured, presented by the Jazz Centennial Celebration). In

December, we accepted applications in three categories: one

for creating or exhibiting new art works that showcase

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Louisiana heritage; an education category for after-school

and summer programs in music and art; and a new education

category that allows local public schools to apply for

funding to help offset costs of instruments, instrument repair,

teacher salaries and other things essential to arts education in

the public school system. Early next year, we’ll roll out a

new grant category to help cover travel costs for our

musicians going abroad for gigs.

RAISIN' THE ROOF

Our pilot program to help musicians qualify for home

ownership in the Musicians Village - a part of our Raisin'

the Roof initiative - resulted in 11 people getting keys to

their own house. Among them was Shamarr Allen (pictured

with former Foundation board president Ron Sholes). We

also secured more than $100,000 in funding from the

Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, which went

toward a rent subsidy program administered by Sweet Home

New Orleans. Dozens of musicians have received rental

assistance through the program.

COMMUNITY DAY OF SERVICE

Our second annual Community Day of Service brought

more than 75 volunteers to the Musicians Village for a day

of hammering, painting and landscaping. Held the

Wednesday between Jazz Fest weekends, the Day of Service

(co-presented with radio station WWOZ) attracted

volunteers from around the country and overseas.

MUSICAL M*A*S*H UNIT

On the same day as our Community Day of Service, we

partnered with the Tipitina's Foundation to create a “Musical

M*A*S*H Unit,” a mobile field hospital for marching band

instruments. A team of volunteer technicians fixed some 125

horns brought by students from three local high schools.

Saxophonist Branford Marsalis, his trombone-playing

brother Delfeayo and trumpeter Shamarr Allen were on

hand to give the students clinics on proper instrument care.

See a video from the event here.

JAZZ & HERITAGE ARCHIVE

The Jazz & Heritage Archive received a large grant from

FEMA to transfer old reel-to-reel tapes of amazing

interviews, originally done for WWOZ, to digital format.

The archive also continued expanding its collection with

artifacts like Houma Indian arrow heads and other

interesting items. The archive coordinated a fun exhibit of

photos from weddings that have taken place at Jazz Fest over

the years (pictured), along with its usual work of

documenting the oral histories that happen at Jazz Fest (more

than 50 in the past two years) and coordinating a large group

of volunteer photographers to document the festival. The

Archive is open to researchers by appointment. Find out

more here.

TOM DENT CONGO SQUARE

LECTURES

In September, we presented a Tom Dent Congo Square

Lecture featuring Andrew Young, a native New Orleanian

and a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and

mayor of Atlanta. Young spoke at Tulane University about

his life-long friendship with Dent. Young’s talk coincided

with the opening of an exhibit of Dent’s papers at Tulane’s

Amistad Research Center. Amiri Baraka (pictured), the

poet, author and activist, gave a Tom Dent Congo Square

Lecture to a packed house at Dillard University in March.

TOM DENT CONGO SQUARE

SYMPOSIUM

Our second annual symposium in November was titled,

“Triumph of the Spirit: Culture’s Role in Overcoming

Tragedy in New Orleans and Haiti.” Haitian musicians

Manno Charlemagne, Richard Auguste Morse and Jean

Montes joined authors Ned Sublette, Alfred N. Hunt and

Jessica B. Harris (pictured) at the Old U.S. Mint for a lively

discussion.

SYNC UP CONFERENCE

Our third annual Sync Up conference – a gathering for

entertainment industry professionals held during Jazz Fest –

featured a keynote by Eric Overmyer, co-creator of the

HBO series “Treme.” We also presented panels on

marketing music through social media, creating music for

film and TV, the international music festival market and the

career trajectory of Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews. The

conference moved this year to the New Orleans Museum of

Art, where it will happen again next year. The conference is

free to attend. See www.syncupconference.com to register.

TALENT EXCHANGE WEB SITE

Our Jazz & Heritage Talent Exchange – a free service to

help connect Louisiana musicians with opportunities for gigs

and to license their music to film and TV productions –

underwent a major transformation this year. We added many

new features, including an internal messaging system,

allowing talent buyers to contact artists immediately. Artists

can now easily upload songs, photos and videos, or update

their bios and tour schedules. We also created a video

tutorial showing just how easy it is to set up a page on the

site. Watch it here.

JAZZ JOURNEY CONCERTS

The great saxophonist Phil Woods conducted an evening of

music inspired by the works of A.A. Milne (of “Winnie the

Pooh” fame) in a special Jazz Journey event at the New

Orleans Center for the Creative Arts in February 2010.

Donald Harrison, Jr. (pictured - photo by Zack Smith), one

of the most adventurous musicians working today, gave a

Jazz Journey concert in November in a touching tribute to

the legendary New Orleans-born drummer Idris

Muhammad.

JAZZ FEST EVENTS

The Blind Boys of Alabama (pictured) were the featured

performers at Gospel Is Alive, our annual Jazz Fest gospel

tribute that's also an outreach to senior citizens. The

Grammy-award winning group performed in a free concert

at the New Hope Baptist Church along with the Mahalia

Jackson Youth Choir.

The Jazz & Heritage Gala, our annual black-tie fundraiser

to kick off the Jazz Fest season, featured Dr. John in 2010

and raised more than $95,000 for the Heritage School of

Music.

We distributed more than 8,500 tickets to Jazz Fest through

our Community Outreach Tickets program. These tickets

are awarded through an application process to nonprofit and

social service organizations, which in turn distribute the

tickets to their needy clients. It's one way we help to make

sure that the greatest festival in the world is accessible to all.

FESTIVALS

The free community festivals produced by the Foundation

throughout the year keep getting bigger and better.

Our Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival in October

celebrated its fifth anniversary in grand style, with a massive

crowd of more than 15,000 people and performances by Taj

Mahal (pictured), Ruthie Foster, Barbara Lynn, Corey

Harris, Henry Gray and many more.

Our fourth annual Louisiana Cajun Zydeco Festival in

June featured Buckwheat Zydeco, Steve Riley and many

more performing to huge crowds.

We combined our Fiesta Latina and Congo Square

Rhythms festivals into one great weekend of world music.

And we closed the year with Kermit Ruffins, Big Sam’s

Funky Nation and Glen David Andrews, among others, at

our third annual Treme Creole Gumbo Festival in

December.

See photos from them all at our photo gallery, here.

JUNIOR BRASS BAND

Our Junior Brass Band - a new education initiative that we

do in partnership with Preservation Hall - teaches the roots

of the brass band tradition to kids ages 9 to 14. The class

meets Saturdays at the Jazz & Heritage Center. The Junior

Brass Band had its first public performance at our Treme

Creole Gumbo Festival in December. A special guest,

Branford Marsalis (pictured), sat in.

GALLERY EXHIBITS

The Jazz & Heritage Gallery, in the lobby of our offices on

Rampart Street, hosted a number of exhibits this year.

Brazilian photographer Alvaro Villela exhibited his work, as

did New Orleans photo-artist Gus Bennett, who showed a

montage of post-Katrina portraits called "Organic

Watermarks." We featured photos of Haiti before and after

the January earthquake in a show of works by Claudette

Smith-Brown. And the Gallery presented "Femme Fest

2010,” featuring works from more than 30 women artists,

including the quilt "Merging of Two Cultures" (pictured) by

Cely Pedescleaux.

FANS OF THE FEST

In March, we presented the great pianist and singer Henry

Butler in a special fundraising concert for our membership

organization, Fans of the Fest, in Washington, DC. Proceeds

from the event help to support the year-round programs of

the Jazz & Heritage Foundation.

GULF AID

The Jazz & Heritage Foundation was a principal sponsor

(along with our radio station, WWOZ) of Gulf Aid, the May

14 fundraising concert for victims of the tragic oil spill.

Headliners included Lenny Kravitz, John Legend, Mos Def,

Ani DiFranco and Terence Blanchard.

THANK YOU

In addition to all of the members of Fans of the Fest, we

thank these donors, funders and sponsors for their generous

support:

Abita Brewing Co.

Andrew Sabin Foundation

Arts Council of New Orleans

Carol Solomon

City of New Orleans

Crescent Crown Distributing

DirecTV

Goldring Family Foundation

Joseph W. Donner, III

Leslie Fund

Louis and Virginia Clemente Foundation

Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco Free LivingLouisiana

Disaster Recovery Foundation

Louisiana Division of the Arts

Louisiana Economic Development

Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities

Louisiana Lottery

Louisiana Office of Tourism

Louisiana Senator Edwin Murray

Mary Joy Ewell

Mignon Faget, Ltd

Miller Lite

National Endowment for the Arts

Peoples Health

Phish

Republic National Distributing Co.

Sabiston Consulting

Shell

Simons Foundation

South Arts

U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu

YOU CAN HELP

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and

Foundation, Inc., is the nonprofit organization that owns

the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by

Shell , and uses the proceeds from Jazz Fest - and other

funds - for year-round programs in the areas of education,

economic development and cultural events. For more about

the Foundation, please visit our web site.

You can help to support the year-round programs of the Jazz

& Heritage Foundation. Please make your tax-deductible

contribution here.

Thank you. Happy Holidays!

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The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc.

1205 N. Rampart St. New Orleans LA 70116 • Phone 504.558.6100