The 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 year-round community development programs in the areas of education, economic development, and culture. The Foundation also owns the broadcast license of radio station WWOZ. The festival is produced by Festival Productions, Inc. - New Orleans, as a contract service to the Foundation. Since 2006, the festival's main sponsor has been the Royal Dutch Shell (the oil company), and the festival's full name is now "The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell." Several of the stage names also reflect sponsors like the Acura Stage, the Sheraton New Orleans Fais Do-Do Stage, the AT&T/ wwoz Jazz Tent, the AIG, Gospel Tent.
The mission statement of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, Inc. is: “The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation Inc. promotes, preserves, perpetuates and encourages the music, culture and heritage of communities in Louisiana through festivals, programs and other cultural, educational, civic, and economic activities." The foundation's core values include cultural and social consciousness, service, education, and accountability and general responsibility. Strategic priorities include to strengthen the organization's governance, heighten the impact of all programs, increase efficiency and accountability, to diversify the funding base, to clearly communicate the image and identity of the foundation, to strengthen relations with constituent communities, and to work towards ensuring the foundation's stability in the future.
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.
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