Community Partnership Grants
2025-2026 Grant Recipients
Since 1979, the Jazz & Heritage Foundation has invested proceeds from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell directly into the community with grants to fund projects that support the foundation’s mission.
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation has awarded $1.4 million in Community Partnership Grants. Overall, 87% of applicants were awarded grants of up to $5,000. As always, the Foundation funded mission-aligned funds projects: music and arts education, documentation of Louisiana cultural traditions, and presentation of local artists and performers.
2025-2026 Grant Statistics
- More than 600 Louisiana organizations, creatives, and culture bearers received a Community Partnership Grant.
- 100% of the Education In-School applicants received funding.
- Applications were received from all over Louisiana- from Caddo Parish all the way to Plaquemines Parish.
- This year, awarded grants ranged from $1000 to $6,000; the average grant award was $3,000.
2025-2026 Community Partnership Grant Recipients
Education In-School grants were awarded to schools providing arts instruction as part of the school day.
| Music | John F. Kennedy High School | New Orleans |
| Music | Golden Meadow Middle School | Golden Meadow |
| Music | McMain Secondary School | New Orleans |
| Multidisciplinary | St. Augustine High School | New Orleans |
| Visual Arts, Photography | Riverside Elementary | Pearl River |
| Visual Arts, Photography | The Willow School | New Orleans |
| Visual Arts, Photography | Magnet Academy for Cultural Arts | Opelousas |
| Theatre | Ouachita Christian School | Monroe |
| Theatre | George Washington Carver High School | New Orleans |
| Theatre | Estelle School | Marrero |
Education After-School grants were awarded to non-profits that present after-school and summer educational programs in the arts.
| Creative Writing and Literature | By Grace | New Orleans |
| Culinary Arts | Son Of A Saint | New Orleans |
| Dance | The Purple Print Dance Foundation | New Orleans |
| Dance | New Orleans Dance Collective, Inc. | New Orleans |
| Theatre | Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carré | New Orleans |
| Dance | Friends of NORD, Inc. | New Orleans |
| Music | Jazz In The Arts Foundation | Lake Charles |
| Music | Kids’ Orchestra | Baton Rouge |
| Music | The Master’s Touch Youth Academy | Ponchatoula |
| Cultural Heritage, Folklife | Creole Wild West | New Orleans |
Jazz & Heritage Presenting grants were awarded to Louisiana-based non-profit arts organizations that present festivals and other cultural events and hire local performers.
| Cultural Heritage | Asian Pacific American Society, Inc. | Metairie |
| Cultural Heritage | Bayou Regional Arts Council | Houma |
| Dance | Louisiana Folk Roots, Inc. | Lafayette |
| Dance | Mélange Dance Company | New Orleans |
| Music Concert | New Orleans Chamber Orchestra | New Orleans |
| Music Concert | Acadiana Center for the Arts | Lafayette |
| Music Festival | BlackAmericana Fest | New Orleans |
| Music Festival | Film Prize Foundation, Inc. | Shreveport |
| Music Performance Series | Jazz in the Park | New Orleans |
| Music Performance Series | Ecos Latinos Performance Series | New Orleans |
Louisiana Cultural Equity Arts grants were awarded to Louisiana-based non-profit organizations, artists, and others who create new artistic works or otherwise document or exhibit artworks that reflect, interpret, document, or preserve the indigenous culture of Louisiana.
| Archiving, Web, Oral, Podcasts | Julio Clotter | Garifuna Roots – A New Orleans Cultural Documentary |
| Archiving, Web, Oral, Podcasts | Eric Cager | Conversations with the Arts and Cultural Community |
| Art Creation | Jelinda Gibson | African Dance Warriors |
| Art Creation | Nicole Ockmond | Louisiana Musicians |
| Documentation | Roderick Rideau | Zydeco & Jazz: Heartbeats of Creole Culture |
| Film | Marion Forbes | The Untitled Papa Joe’s Project |
| Exhibition / Performance | Kate Walter | Marais Baroque Ensemble Concert Series |
| Exhibition / Performance | Herreast J. Harrison | Inaugural Big Chief Donald Harrison, Sr. Festival of Literature and Afro New Orleans Culture |
| Music Recording | LeTrainiump Richard | SACRIFICE |
| Music Recording | Mark Anthony Thomas | The Mark-Anthony Thomas Project |
Media & Documentation grants were awarded to Louisiana-based non-profit organizations, artists, and others who create new artistic works or otherwise document or exhibit artworks that reflect, interpret, document, or preserve the indigenous culture of Louisiana.
| Archiving/Web/Oral | New Orleans Video Access Center (NVAC) | In Our Own Image: Preserving New Orleans Culture Through Community Media |
| Archiving/Web/Oral | Ponderosa Stomp Foundation | A Closer Walk |
| Documentation | The Ella Foundation | Notes From Ella |
| Documentation | Louisiana Creole Pedagogical Resources | Anon Sharé: Lessons in Louisiana Creole through Song and Story |
| Art Creation | N’awlins Institute of Art | Women In The Movement Music Tribute: Voices of Courage |
| Music Recording | Louisiana Cultural Music Preservation Foundation | Preserving Louisiana Music |
| Exhibition/Performance | Black Heritage Gallery | Timeless Footprints |
| Exhibition/Performance | Dillard University | Fever: Preserving Sacred Memory and Indigenous Healing in 19th-Century New Orleans |
| Film | New Orleans Film & Video Society, Inc. | Louisiana Films at the 2025 New Orleans Film Festival |
| Exhibition/Performance | Friends of Culture | Bayou Bacchanal |