Quarterly Newsletter: End-Of-Year
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WHAT A YEAR! Friends, we have loved seeing you at the Hall, at our events in New Orleans and around the country, and in the community this year - and wanted to give you a snapshot of some of the incredible impacts you have helped the Foundation generate in 2024. Please take a moment to review these powerful impacts and take pride in this important work.
7,545 New Orleans students experienced free concerts and workshops, learning about their city's music and history alongside Preservation Hall musicians.
We entered 2024 with a focus on engaging more local students. Thanks to the unyielding dedication from the Programs team, we were able to connect with local learners more than ever before through year-round educational programming. Preservation Hall musicians and local students played music, engaged in dialogues, made DIY instruments, led secondlines, and celebrated the incredible music and culture that we know and love here in New Orleans.
219,129 total students served through interactive workshops, cultural excursions & school visits.
Thanks to collaborations with local and national organizations, our educational efforts impacted over 200,000 students this year. From Pres Hall Lessons workshops with teachers, to Kids in The Hall field trips, to free community concerts, we’re proud to bring the rich knowledge of Preservation Hall musicians to classrooms and communities nationwide. We strive for these programs to inspire and empower the next generation both creatively and in their everyday lives.
$9 Million Raised and Pledged towards our $25M Pass It On Campaign Goal.
The Foundation has also been deep in planning and preparations for our new home, which we expect to open in 2025. Ambitious programmatic and impact goals require ambitious resources, so our team is laser focused on our Pass It On campaign to renovate, populate and animate this amazing new space. The expanded campus will meaningfully enrich visitors' experience and our mission to protect, preserve and perpetuate New Orleans music and culture. Click here for more information about how you can support the campaign at any level.
$51,430 given in Community Engagement support to local nonprofits, culture bearers and community leaders.
As an organization we are constantly seeking to recognize and uplift our peers- this year we were thrilled to support 30 individuals, cultural institutions, and projects dedicated to enriching and strengthening the New Orleans cultural community. We also hosted our first ever Community Engagement Mixer Series in an effort to introduce these incredible awardees, who went above and beyond our expectations, sharing resources and sparking impactful conversations on their shared aspirations for the future of New Orleans.
$311,500 provided in Legacy Musician Support & 2 new members inducted into our Legacy Program.
In October we celebrated beloved members of the Preservation Hall musical community Mari Watanabe and Dodie Smith-Simmons for their invaluable contributions to New Orleans music, culture, and traditions. These 2 women have forged remarkable paths for themselves as musicians and culture bearers and have inspired generations beyond to follow suit. The Legacy Program honors trailblazers and their outstanding contributions with a monthly stipend and access to support, resources and benefits, and a health care fund.
This year, the archives team has made significant strides in preserving and documenting the massive collection of historical items left by decades of musical legacy. On top of installing a rigorous climate monitoring system to ensure longevity for thousands of artifacts, the archives team has connected with leaders in the field nationwide and engaged in educational programming to inspire and empower future archivists.
62,000 Users & Educators accessed free Preservation Hall Lessons & Resources.
This quarter we published a handful of new free digital learning resources, including our Brass Bandbook (Intermediate) which contains arrangements of classic New Orleans songs by Preservation Hall musicians Mark Braud and Meghan Swartz. This sheet music, along with our other digital resources, is available for free to bandleaders and music teachers worldwide, empowering them to bring the sounds and history of New Orleans into the classroom.
Every year and every day, we are grateful for our community of friends, partners and supporters, but never more so than now, on the precipice of our exciting new chapter.
Thank you for making our work possible.
Help us amplify the next generation of New Orleans musicians and keep our traditions alive.
Thanks for Staying Connected!
Keep up with the Foundation's day-to-day activities via our social media accounts below or check out our website.