User:Whodatmom/new sandbox

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest™ or Jazzfest™) is an annual celebration of the music and culture held at the Fairgrounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation owns the Festival and Shell presents the Festival each year. Today, Festival Productions, Inc produces and organizes the festival. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, as it’s known today, was founded in 1970 by George Wein, Quint Davis and Allison Miner in 1970. Initially, there were smaller scale attempts to create a Jazz Festival in an attempt increase New Orleans tourism. It wasn’t until George Wein was officially involved that the idea gained traction. The Festival brings in thousands of visitors to New Orleans each year to celebrate the rich cultural heritage, music, art and cuisine of Louisiana.

History
New Orleans, Louisiana, in the 1960s, was facing economic difficulties. Restaurants and hotels were struggling to keep a steady flow of business. Mardi Gras was not as popular as it would one day be and was typically enjoyed by a small group of citizens who were regarded as elite. Tourism eventually became the driving force behind solutions, and initial efforts to revitalize Carnival in New Orleans led to the creation of the first Mardi Gras "super krewe," the Krewe of Bacchus. The success Bacchus brought to the table made it clear that increased tourism was possible.

Jim Crow was active in the South in the 60s, and Louisiana was no exception. European brass instruments were available to enslaved people and when mixed with African rhythms, Jazz was born. Capitalizing New Orleans as the birthplace of Jazz was the top priority of city officials.

George Wein
George Wein, founder of the Newport Jazz Festival and the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, was raised in the Boston suburbs. His successful creation and implementation of music festivals gained attention by those invested in creating a Jazz Festival in New Orleans. Wein was contacted in 1962 by Olaf Lambert, manager of the Royal Orleans Hotel in the French Quarter neighborhood of New Orleans and asked to bring his festival model to the city. Wein met with Mayor Victor H. Schiro, Seymour Weiss, and a few members of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce about the proposition. It was decided that New Orleans and the South simply weren’t ready for a Jazz Festival. At this time city ordinances were in place that prohibited black and white musicians, tourists and locals from interacting on the scale that would be needed to revitalize the economy.

Initial attempts to create a Jazz Festival in New Orleans
Two years after the initial meeting, Lambert contacted Wein once more. He was asked to plan a festival that would take place in the spring of 1965. On January 9th, 1965, a group of football players arrived at the New Orleans International Airport for an All Star game. Event promoter Dave Dixon assured the players before they arrived that New Orleans would welcome each player regardless of race. Immediately after arriving in the city, it was clear this was not the case. Cab drivers and hotel owners would not serve the black players and blatant discrimination continued after their arrival. The game was moved to Houston, Texas, and fears began to arise that a similar situation would occur for visiting musicians.

In 1968, local businessman and President of the New Orleans Jazz Club, Durel Black, convinced the Chamber of Commerce it was time to start a Jazz Festival in New Orleans. The city was celebrating its 250th anniversary, and Black recognized the opportunity to promote the Festival alongside the anniversary. Wein was contacted once more and asked to develop the festival. George’s wife, Joyce Wein, was an African American woman. This was not common knowledge, and when discovered, Wein’s offer was taken away. A man named Tommy Walker was hired to fill Wein’s role. Walker had experience as the director of entertainment for Disneyland. Additionally, he worked with the New Orleans Saints to provide halftime show entertainment. Finally, some form of a Jazz Festival was planned. Concerts took place in the evening hours in 1968. "The International Jazzfest" was the chosen name, and headliners included Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and a variety of additional artists.

In 1969, a second International JazzFest took place. The second year of the festival had a negative return on investment despite another big name lineup. Recalling George Wein’s passion and abilities, Durel Black asked him to take charge of the festival and assured him that his interracial marriage would no longer be an issue.

Wein was prepared and motivated to get Jazz Fest to a successful place and had faith that the creation of the festival was necessary to protect the culture and heritage in Louisiana. Wein recognized the barriers to success that prevented the International JazzFest of 69’ to flourish. First, his experience taught him that the newer generation of festival attendees prefer to move around and enjoy music during the day. The format of the festival would need to be changed from the ground up.

Wein knew he would need to collaborate locally in order to create a successful festival. Wein contacted Allan Jaffe, director of Preservation Hall, in search of connections. Jaffe introduced Wein to Dick Allen. Allen was the curator of the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University at the time. Allen would eventually introduce Wein to Allison Miner, an employee of the archive, and Quint Davis, a student worker.

Barriers to success recognized by the Festival Founders

 * Jim Crow was still active in New Orleans.
 * Americans were not familiar with Mardi Gras Indians at the time.
 * Americans viewed Fats Domino, a pioneer of Rock and Roll, as authentic New Orleans music. Jazz was not yet common.
 * The board of Directors wanted a Festival that mirrored the Newport Model. Wein, Miner, and Davis would need to convince the board to allow them the freedom to redevelop the format of the festival. Wein saw New Orleans as unique and wanted a the festival to reflect the musical heritage of Louisiana properly.
 * Tickets would need to be inexpensive so that those whose heritage was showcased at the Festival could afford to attend the festival.

Implementing a new festival model
In 1970,  the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Louisiana Heritage Fair was planned and scheduled for April 22–26, 1970. Located in Congo Square, an area in the French Quarter where people of color would socialize and create music. Congo Square was located in what is now known as Armstrong Park and for a short time was renamed “Beauregard Square” after a confederate general. As political attitudes shifted, the area was once again referred to as “Congo Square.”

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was not always as successful as it is today. During the festival's early years, the founders were forced to take out loans in order to host the events. However, the financial obligations began to disappear when the festival started accepting sponsorships and various entertainment genres.

Jazz Fest Today
Due to the growth of the festival, it needed a much larger area to host the event. The catering manager at the New Orleans Fair Grounds Race Course in 1972, George Rhodes, was a lover of jazz music and supporter of the festival right from its conception. He agreed that as long as he would receive earnings from concessions, an exchange of services could be arranged. Rental fees to hold the festival at the Fair Grounds were traded for the concession revenue. The new location eventually brought in over 50,000 people to the City. With five stages and about 30 different musical acts, the festival successfully represented soul, rhythm and blues, and Jazz music.

Over the years, the Festival went through an identity crisis on stage and in the tents. Local African American activists accused the festival of exploiting it’s performers and under-representing the communities that made Jazz Fest possible.

Later in the 1970s Festival Productions, Inc took control of festival production. Internal conflicts arose which led to the 1982 Festival being void of any help from Quint Davis. In 1983, however, Davis came back on board and has produced the festival ever since. In the years leading up to the 2019 Jazz Festival attempts at diversifying the target audience have come and go, some working out and some not.

The Festival now brings in enough financial capital to fund year-round programming, a goal of festival founders, through its 501(c)3 organization. Further details can be found in the section on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation of this article.

short analysis with corrections
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival was founded in 1970 by Quint Davis, a native New Orleanian. Quint Davis, a white man, was well known for his relationship with the New Orleans, African American working class in the 1960s. Although segregation ended a few years prior, the unique history (Note to self- add what makes it unique)of African American tribes, traditions, and expressions remained highly ignored by many with New Orleanians, However, Quint Davis fell in love with the community and all that came with it: culture, music, attire, ambiance, and passion. The Inaugural New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival began as a non-profit, which took place in Beauregard Square. However, the city changed the name from Beauregard Square, highlighting the controversial Confederate General, to Congo Square, a name more suitable for the location and its participants. Congo Square remains a vital concept in Jazz Fest history, symbolizing a much-needed development amongst the racial divide and the birth of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival .Developing from Quint Davis' admiration of the African American community, the traditions and culture play a major role in the festival's purpose. Starting with the Inaugural New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, African artists maintain a heavy presence on the festival's performing roster. King Sunny Ade, Ali Farka Toure, Baaba Mal, and many others are just a few of the many African musicians who created historic performances on the Congo Stage, a stage recognized for its spiritual and historic essence.

Although Quint Davis played a major role in the establishment of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, George Wein is known for establishing the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation (See Below). George Wein, originally from New York, reached out to his friend and director of the Hogan Jazz Archives, Dick Allen. Allen introduced George Wein to Quint Davis and Allison Miner, and the establishment of the successful New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival was made.

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival was not always as successful as it is today. During the festival's early years, the festivals were forced to take out loans in order to host the events. However, the financial obligations began to disappear when the festival began accepting sponsorships and a variety of genres of entertainment.

Due to the growth of the festival, it needed a much larger area to host the event. The catering manager at the New Orleans Fair Grounds in 1972, George Rhodes, was a lover of jazz music and supporter of the festival right from its conception. He agreed that as long as he would receive earnings from concessions, he would exchange out the rental fees to hold the festival at the Fair Grounds. The new location, a horseracing track with a grandstand, would bring in 50,000 people over four days. With only five stages and about 30 musical groups, the festival represented soul and rhythm and blues music (note to self: change this sentence)

(Note to self/rearrange paragraph)The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival experienced many disasters throughout its existence. In 1993, the New Orleans Fair Grounds experienced a severe fire, which caused over $26 million dollars of damage. However, founding owners Quint Davis, Allison Miner, and George Wein utilized money from the foundation to assist in the rebuilding. Additionally, the festival lost over $1 million dollars after the spring rainfall deterred festival-goers from celebrating. However, there were some fans who decided to ride out the bad weather.

(note to self/give examples of racism)Prior to forming the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the City of New Orleans experienced some of the most tortuous racism the country had seen. The 1960s was a prominent time of segregation: White people and black people separated, Mardi Gras celebrated by only the elites of the city, and a lack of economic flow resulting from the divide.

In a small jazz club in Boston, Massachusetts called "Storyville," owned by founder of New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, George Wein, Elaine Lorillad discovered a legend. Socialite Lorillad hired Wein to produce a summertime festival in New Port, Rhode Island and a sister festival two years later. The publicity of George Wein's success caught the attention of Olaf Lambert, manager at the Royal Orleans Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, who requested that Wein travel to the city and begin plans for a similar festival in the Big Easy.

(note to self/fix paragraph)Having never been to New Orleans, George Wein prepared for a dinner that would change the city and its residents for the better. He met with the New Orleans Mayor Victor H. Schiro, a few members of the Chamber of Commerce, and the politically connected owner of the Roosevelt Hotel, Seymour Weiss. Unfortunately, the Jim Crow laws restricted the city's ability to provide a festival of such inclusion; hotels were not obligated to accept guests who were people of color.

(note to self/fix paragraph)It was not until two years later in 1965, when the Civil Rights Act was implemented,that George Wein received a phone call requesting he return back to New Orleans. However, a racial roadblock once again became a issue when black players from the American Football League were discriminated against and the reputation of the city was once again tarnished. .== History ==

Original article:
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, often known as Jazz Fest, is an annual celebration of the music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana. The term "Jazz Fest" also refers to the days surrounding the festival and the many shows at unaffiliated New Orleans nightclubs scheduled during the festival weekends.

Overview
Jazz Fest is held annually on the last weekend of April (Thursday–Sunday) and the first weekend of May (Thursday–Sunday) between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. at the Fair Grounds Race Course, a horse racing track in the middle of New Orleans.

The festival is a major tourist destination with economic importance for New Orleans rivaled only by Mardi Gras; the event brings to the city $300 million annually. Early Jazz Fests featured almost exclusively local acts. As the event's popularity grew, the festival expanded to include nationally known acts.

According to the official website, "the Festival celebrates the indigenous music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana, so the music encompasses every style associated with the city and the state: blues, R&B, gospel, Cajun, zydeco, Afro-Caribbean, folk, Latin, rock, rap, country, bluegrass, and everything in between. And of course there is lots of jazz, both contemporary and traditional."

Food, crafts, and attractions
The Festival also features a wide variety of vendors selling local foods and crafts. The official food policy of the Festival is "no carnival food" and there are more than seventy food booths with food items including: Mango Freeze, crawfish beignets, cochon de lait sandwiches, alligator sausage po' boy (sandwich), boiled crawfish, softshell crab po'boy, Cajun jambalaya, jalapeño bread, fried green tomatoes, Oyster patties, muffulettas, red beans and rice, and crawfish Monica. Vegan and vegetarian options are also available. All food vendors go through a strict screening process to ensure quality and sanitary food handling practices. In addition, most foods are made with fresh, local ingredients and are prepared by hand. All food vendors are small, locally owned businesses. Jazz Fest ranks second to Mardi Gras in terms of local economic impact.

There are craft booths throughout the grounds. The Congo Square African Marketplace contains pieces from local, national, and international artisans and has the atmosphere of a true marketplace. Many of the artisans utilize ancient crafting techniques. In the Contemporary Crafts area, one can find handmade clothing, leather goods, jewelry, paintings, sculptures, and musical instruments. Visitors can also watch demonstrations of metal, painting, pottery, and fiber works. Lastly, the Louisiana Marketplace contains baskets, hand-colored photographs, jewelry, and landscape-themed art.

One unique aspect of the Festival is the allocation of large areas for dedication to cultural and historical practices unique to Louisiana. These dedications depict many cultures that exist in the state, including both the Cajun culture and the culture of the descendants of native Canary Islanders, the Los Isleños, as well as many others. Some of the areas include the Louisiana Folklife Village, which focuses on state art and culture, the Native American Village, and the Grandstand. Many of the folk demonstrators have been recognized by the National Endowment of the Arts for their work.

In addition, parades are held throughout the duration of the event. They include parades by the Mardi Gras Indians, marching bands, brass bands, and social aid and pleasure clubs.

History
The Festival has been held annually since 1970 when it was founded by the New Orleans Hotel Motel Association to form "the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation" that owns the Festival, except 2020 when it was cancelled on what would've been the 50th anniversary. George Wein's Festival Productions was contracted to produce the Festival. Wein produced the Newport Jazz Festival (1954) and the Newport Folk Festival (1959) in Newport, Rhode Island.

To produce the Festival in New Orleans, Wein assembled advisers, among them Ellis Marsalis, Richard B. "Dick" Allen and Harry Souchon. Allen, the curator of Tulane University's Hogan Jazz Archives, recommended Archive employee Allison Miner and intern Quint Davis to Wein to help produce the first festival. Both Miner and Davis knew a great deal about jazz. They went to black clubs to hire performers rather than to Bourbon Street or other tourist destinations because it was at these clubs that live music was being produced. The first person the pair booked was Snooks Eaglin, a street singer who performed at the festival every year. After Wein established the Festival, Miner and Davis oversaw operations of Festival Productions Inc.-New Orleans for many years under the supervision of Wein and the Foundation Board. Quint Davis holds the position of CEO of Festival Productions, Inc.- New Orleans, while Miner is largely credited with founding the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Archive. AEG Live became a co-producer of the festival in 2004.

The Archive contains recordings from musicians interviewed at the festival, as well as other documents, photographs, and ephemera related to the Festival and the Foundation's holdings, including early WWOZ 90.7-FM recordings. It contains business records, photographs, video and audio recordings, as well as other artifacts. The Archive is open to the public by appointment.

When Miner died on December 23, 1995, the interviewing stage was renamed in her memory as the Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage. After Hurricane Katrina, the stage was temporarily merged with the Lagniappe Stage, which is housed in the Grandstand. However, in 2009, it was reinstated as a full stage.

Before the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, similar New Orleands jazz festivals were held in the 1960s. The first two were in 1970 and 1971 at Louis Armstrong Park, previously called Beauregard Square, in Congo Square and the adjoining New Orleans Municipal Auditorium. The 145-acre New Orleans Fair Grounds and Racetrack began to hold Jazz Fest in 1972. The venue is located at 1751 Gentilly Boulevard, approximately ten minutes from the French Quarter. The New Orleans Fair Grounds and Racetrack is a much larger venue than Congo Square and was chosen to hold the Festival when organizers realized how popular the event was. The first Jazz Fest, in Congo Square, cost $3 for admission and was minimally advertised, and had only a Gospel Tent and four open stages, many of which had no microphones. Musicians were housed in Davis' and Miner's homes; there was no money for hotels. The festivities started on Wednesday night with the Pete Fountain and Clyde Kerr orchestras playing on a midnight steamboat ride.

The first Jazz Fest lineup included Mahalia Jackson (who was not booked, but simply heard about the Festival and showed up to sing), the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Duke Ellington, Pete Fountain, Al Hirt, Clifton Chenier, Fats Domino, and The Meters This first lineup received an audience of 350 people, but the numbers grew every year, especially after the introduction of a limited edition silkscreen poster series in 1975. By the end of the 1980s, attendance peaked at 300,000. In 2001, when Louis Armstrong's centennial was celebrated, 650,000 people attended. The poster series has been very popular with collectors. The first poster was designed by Sharon Dinkins and Thorn Grafton. Posters feature a performer or the overall theme of the Festival, and all posters are commissioned by the Festival. In 1998, the Festival added the Congo Square poster series. Artists such as George Dureau, James Michalopoulos, George Rodrigue, Douglas Bourgeois, Duke Jupiter, John Scott, and Bill Hemmerling have been designers of the official festival poster. Congo Square posters have been created by Aziz Diagne, Elizabeth Catlett, Bill Pajaud, and Terrance Osborne. Osborne designed the poster for 2012 (as well as the 2007 and 2010 posters), which featured Trombone Shorty.

2020 edition
It was announced on 16 April 2020 that the 2020 edition would be canceled because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; the 51st is deferred to October 2021.

New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation
The Jazz & Heritage Festival is owned by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, which uses the proceeds from the festival for community development programs in education, economics, and culture. The Foundation also owns the broadcast license of radio station WWOZ. The festival is produced by Festival Productions, Inc. - New Orleans and AEG Live as a contract service to the Foundation. Since 2006, the festival's main sponsor has been the Royal Dutch Shell, and the festival's full name is "The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell". Several of the stage names reflect sponsors, such as the Acura Stage, the Sheraton New Orleans Fais Do-Do Stage, the AT&T/ wwoz Jazz Tent, the AIG, Gospel Tent.

The Board of Directors for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, Inc. is made up of four parts: the Voting Board (30 community members), the Executive Board (President, Vice-President, Secretary, etc.), the Advisory Council (20 non-voting members), and the Past Presidents Senate (15 members). In addition, the Board is split into various committees. Board members serve three year terms, though there is no limit placed on the number of terms. Elections are held annually. Advisory Council members may only serve for two consecutive three year terms, however. Governance does not change much from year to year. Board members are not officially compensated, but they are given perks such as dozens of free tickets. The foundation also owns multiple assets, including: the Jazz and Heritage Gallery, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Jazz and Heritage Radio WWOZ 90.7FM, the Jazz and Heritage Foundation Archive, the Jazz and Heritage Center, and the Jazz and Heritage Gala. Their educational programs include The Don Jamison Heritage School of Music, the Tom Dent Congo Lecture Series, and School Day at the Fest. Economic development for the foundation comes in the forms of community partnership grants (over $250,000 awarded in 2007), Raisin' the Roof (a program that assists southern-Louisiana musicians with home-buying costs), The Jazz and Heritage Music and Media Market, and the Jazz and Heritage Music Exchange. For cultural purposes, the foundation holds the Crescent City Blues and BBQ Festival, Fiesta Latina, the Congo Square Rhythms Festival, the Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival, Gospel is Alive!, Jazz Journey, the Treme Creole Gumbo Festival, and many others.

SInce 1979, the nonprofit arm of the organization has given over $1 million in grants to local schools, artists, and musicians.

Performers
The festival has featured a variety of musicians and performers every year since its founding, ranging from Louisiana musicians to international pop stars. Many popular New Orleans musicians have played annually for long stretches over the history of the festival such as the Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Ellis Marsalis, and The Radiators.

Applications to perform (from the general public) are limited to bands from Louisiana to promote and preserve local culture.

Stages and tents
There are 12 music stages and tents of various sizes, as well as two food stages, set up at the Festival. The following are the stages for 2015, and they are listed roughly in the order of capacity.