New Orleans Artists Against Hunger and Homelessness

New Orleans Artists Against Hunger and Homelessness (NOAAHH) provides grants to local organizations that feed and shelter people in metro New Orleans.  With an all-volunteer board and no overhead, they fulfill the dreams of music legend Allen Toussaint, who along with Aaron Neville, created NOAAHH in 1985.  Their goal was simply to get people in need the help they need.  Over the years, NOAAHH has given more than $3 million to feed and shelter our neighbors. To date, NOAAHH has assisted more than 50 charitable groups that are experienced in providing food and shelter to those in need. Join NOAAHH in keeping the legacy of caring alive! Click on the image to find out more; to donate, click here.

Voice of the Wetlands

Voice of the Wetlands was established in 2004 as a volunteer-based non-profit, focused on driving awareness about the loss of the wetlands in southern Louisiana. VOW was started by musician Tab Benoit who was born and raised in Houma, LA – one of the communities born of the wetlands. A coalition of local artists and business leaders recognized the urgency to save their homes and the culture of southern Louisiana.

Since its inception, VOW has hosted a number of efforts including an annual free, 3-day festival since 2004, and a bold initiative of taking over 50 New Orleans musicians to perform at the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions. In addition, VOW has been represented to the federal government by Tab Benoit during sessions on Capitol Hill in 2008. The sessions focused on the urgency of restoring and the need to preserve the Louisiana wetlands.

Voice of the Wetlands takes an active role in driving awareness to restore the wetlands from a local to a national level. The organization prides itself in maintaining a mission that addresses all aspects, causes and solutions.Voice of the Wetlands is the only cultural preservation and wetlands restoration organization comprised of members who were born and raised and continue to live in the communities created from Louisiana’s wetlands.

Click on the image to find out more; to donate, click here.

Music and Culture Coalition of New Orleans (MACCNO)

Since 2012, the Music and Culture Coalition of New Orleans (MACCNO) has been organizing, empowering, and advocating with New Orleans’ musicians, artists, traditional culture bearers, and other members and allies of the cultural community.

MACCNO’s roots lie in a community meeting called by prominent musicians in order to address a crackdown on small New Orleans music venues carried out in advance of New Orleans hosting Super Bowl XLVII.  At this meeting, it quickly became clear that the problems extended far beyond the silencing of a few music clubs.  Complaints included an unclear permitting process and overly restrictive zoning ordinance that drastically limited live music citywide; police harassment of brass bands and street musicians; widespread financial instability and lack of economic opportunity for the cultural community; political disenfranchisement of musicians, artists, and culture bearers, and many more. Realizing that such a broad range of topics could not be adequately resolved in even several such meetings, a core group of participants continued to meet weekly to strategize, and MaCCNO was born.

Today, MACCNO maintains their grassroots ethos and approach as they work at the intersection of culture, policy, and social justice.  While they continue to address immediate issues like the loss of live music permits and the inconsistent enforcement of street performance laws, they know that for New Orleans’ culture to survive and thrive—and for musicians, artists, and traditional culture bearers to enjoy a good quality of life—they must address the larger systemic issues they face, like the lack of affordable housing, low wages, and a massive income disparity.  They also know that no one knows the issues the cultural community face, and the solution to those issues, better than the members of cultural community themselves.  They work everyday to make sure those voices are heard, and that the solutions become reality.

The Music and Culture Coalition of New Orleans is a registered 501c3 non-profit corporation, and all donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Click on the image for more information, and to donate, click here.

Ellis Marsalis Center for Music

The Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, the centerpiece of Musicians' Village, is a 17,000 square foot facility that serves as a performance, education and community venue. The Center includes a 170-seat performance hall, recording studios and teaching facilities for individual and group instruction, and a gathering place for the community. The Center’s Youth Programs provide a safe, positive environment where underserved children and youth develop musically, academically and socially. Adult Programs provide a range of resources to low-income adult musicians across the Greater New Orleans area. And their Community Programs serve as a community hub for the Musicians’ Village and surrounding 9th Ward.

Thank you for considering a donation to .

Donations to the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, a 501(c)(3) organization, support programs and operation of the Music. For more information, click on the image; to donate, click here.

Preservation Hall Foundation

Since its founding in 1961, Preservation Hall has been dedicated to preserving New Orleans musical traditions. From its inception, founders Allan and Sandra Jaffe fostered a community of inclusion, committed to the preservation of New Orleans Jazz and to caring for elder musicians. More than 150,000 visitors attend memorable shows 360 nights each year. While the building may not have changed much over its history, the Hall ensures that musical traditions are revered and celebrated, while allowing it to breathe and evolve with the contributions of subsequent generations, and raise up those who play and appreciate it.

The Preservation Hall Foundation, founded in 2011, is based on the ethos, values and practices of Preservation Hall and brings them to life in classrooms, detention centers, concert venues, and community centers around New Orleans, the nation, and the world. The Foundation protects, preserves, and perpetuates the musical traditions and heritage of New Orleans through its four program areas: Education, Community Engagement, Legacy and Archives. We believe that tradition is not just a static body of knowledge, but it is the personal bond between generations of practitioners that allows culture to be transmitted and made meaningful in the present.

Education: primary activity is developing educational programming that targets troubled areas in new orleans with no current music programs in their schools. Outreach: extends traditional jazz music and culture outside of new orleans. Activities include free performances at schools, libraries and other public spaces as well as lectures and master classes in academic and professional settings. The long-term goal is to contribute to the larger body of knowledge and practice that protects the transmission of local cultural traditions worldwide. Click here for more information.

French Quarter Festivals, Inc.

French Quarter Festivals, Inc. (FQFI) annually produces three festivals: French Quarter Festival, Satchmo SummerFest, and Holidays New Orleans Style. FQFI is a 501c(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the Vieux Carré and the City of New Orleans through high quality special events and activities that showcase the culture and heritage of this unique city, contribute to the economic well-being of the community, and instill increased pride in the people of New Orleans.

French Quarter Festival was first produced in 1984 as a way to bring residents back to the Quarter; following the World’s Fair and extensive sidewalk repairs in the French Quarter. More than 20 stages throughout the French Quarter celebrate local music and represent every genre from traditional and contemporary jazz to R&B, New Orleans funk, brass bands, folk, gospel, Latin, Zydeco, classical, cabaret, and international.

New Orleans great restaurants serve food and beverages in Jackson Square, the Jazz Museum at the Mint, JAX Brewery, and Woldenberg Riverfront Park during French Quarter Festival weekend; Satchmo SummerFest hosts New Orleans restaurants with Louis Armstrong-inspired dishes and great local cuisine. Louisiana restaurants are invited to participate in these festivals. FQF employs more than 1,700 local musicians during Festival weekend, and hosts over 60 local restaurants which make up the “World’s Largest Jazz Brunch” at the Festival. FQF employs only local companies during the Festival (sanitation, stages, sound, security, etc.). All money spent to produce the festival stays within the local economy.

French Quarter Festival has been consistently voted “favorite festival”, “favorite food festival”, and “favorite event open to the public” by locals. Click here for more information.

Trombone Shorty Foundation

In New Orleans, music is everywhere: the clubs, the churches, the streets, the schools, and in the air. It’s celebrated as an essential part of life—past, present and future. Louis Armstrong said it best: “What we play is life.” America’s original musical art form—jazz—originated here, and over time so did many other styles-rhythm and blues, funk, and rock and roll. Through the years these traditions have been handed down from one generation to the next. New Orleans musicians understand the importance of teaching the younger ones this heritage, allowing them to carry on the city’s vibrant musical culture that continues to make our city such an exceptional place.

The Trombone Shorty Foundation proudly contributes to this time-honored tradition of passing it on. Although many kids in New Orleans play an instrument, it’s a select few like Troy “Trombone Shorty” who have the opportunity to pursue music as a career on a national stage. The Foundation strives to preserve and perpetuate our way-of-life by instilling an understanding of the importance of our musical culture in the next generation of New Orleans musicians—empowering them to play it forward. Click here for more information.

New Orleans Musicians' Clinic & Assistance Foundation

The New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic has provided medical care to musicians and performing artists in New Orleans for more than 21 years. They offer occupational and comprehensive health services for musicians, performers, cultural workers and tradition bearers of New Orleans (Mardi Gras Indians, Social Aid & Pleasure Club Members). They serve any patient over the age of 19 and their family, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. Their mission is to keep New Orleans music ALIVE by sustaining members of New Orleans’ traditional music cultures. They do this by providing cost-efficient access to comprehensive and preventive health care, wellness education, mental health services and social services.

The Musicians’ Clinic is funded through donations and grants to the New Orleans Musicians’ Assistance Foundation. Due to the fact that most of the NOMC’s funding comes from individual contributors, we have the freedom to focus on what matters most – providing quality care to the performers who keep New Orleans’ culture ALIVE, regardless of their financial situation. NOMAF is the 501(c)3 non-profit organization which supports and expands the mission of the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic. Click here for more information.