Preservation Hall Foundation Announces Community Engagement Grants Honoring Creative Leaders
As the COVID-19 crisis continues to impact creative communities around the world, our mission to protect, preserve and perpetuate New Orleans music and culture has taken on a deeper meaning.
In an effort to empower and honor the incredible individuals working to enrich our city and the lives of its citizens every day, the Preservation Hall Foundation is proud to announce the awarding of 20 Community Engagement Grants to outstanding local leaders and creatives.
Recipients are recognized for the vital contributions they bring to the New Orleans creative community, ranging from non-profit and charitable work, community activism, support for the creative arts and more. The group includes artist Brandan “BMike” Odums of StudioBe, the all-female Pinettes Brass Band, the Louis Armstrong Jazz Camp, Mia X, and Dodie Smith-Simmons, noted New Orleans civil rights activist and one of the first Preservation Hall employees.
While our main objective throughout these past few months has been to provide ongoing financial support and resources to the Preservation Hall Collective of musicians, the wide array of New Orleans community organizations and culture bearers who make this city so great are also facing challenging times. Each awardee has received an honorarium grant to help them continue their amazing work in the face of COVID-19.
Preservation Hall has always been a space for inclusion, community and social change: now more than ever, we treasure the contributions of creative leaders working tirelessly to enrich New Orleans communities. We are honored to know these outstanding individuals, and we are proud to offer our support as a sign of gratitude for the many gifts they bring to the culture we hold so dear.
Please join us in honoring the 2020 Preservation Hall Foundation Community Engagement Grant awardees:
Brandan “BMike” Odums of StudioBe
Doratha “Dodie” Smith-Simmons
Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp
Monique Moss of Third Eye Theatre Interdisciplinary and Improvisational Performance Company
Music and Culture Coalition of New Orleans (MACCNO)
Nic Aziz of NOMA and Prospect New Orleans
Providing support during this time for the members of the Preservation Hall Musical Collective, as well as the greater New Orleans creative community, is an honor. We are so very thankful to the generous donors and hard-working partners who have made this all possible, and have allowed us to share resources beyond the members of the Hall’s Musical Collective as we face COVID-19 together.
Preservation Hall, alongside countless New Orleans music venues and creative spaces, remains closed in accordance with public health guidelines. Thanks to the outstanding individuals who make up this group of awardees, we are confident that as we chart a path forward, the creative community of New Orleans will not only be able to re-emerge, but re-emerge stronger than ever.
