NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The nonprofit that runs the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival says it has given $700,000 in community partnership grants to 254 programs and projects.
The Jazz and Heritage Foundation said Monday that recipients include the Jazz In the Park concert series, a feature-length documentary on Allen Toussaint, educational programming at the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music and a new recording of transcriptions from a classic 1920s jazz band.
The grants use Jazz Fest proceeds.
The foundation said in a news release that 286 people, schools and groups applied, and just under 89 percent received anywhere from $275 to $4,000, with an average of just under $2,800.
Totals have risen from about $498,600 in 2014 to $601,300 last year and $709,500 this year. The average dropped from last year's $3,000, because the number of applications went up 26 percent.
This year's grants were in four categories: Nonprofit groups that hire local performers for festivals and other cultural events; artists and others who create new artistic works or otherwise document the local culture; schools providing music and art classes as part of the school day; and non-profits that present after-school and summer educational programs in the arts.
Applications are scored and ranked, and those with the highest scores get the largest percentage of the requested amount. The highest possible request is $5,000.
