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Celebrating Women’s History Month at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Celebrates Women’s History Month with Chanteuse: Celebrating New Orleans Women in Music concert series and the 11th Annual Femme Fest art exhibition in partnership with the Women’s Caucus for Art: Louisiana Chapter
Chanteuse – The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation presents the return of Chanteuse: Celebrating New Orleans Women in Music for Women’s History Month in March 2022. Chanteuse is an original concert series produced by the Foundation, featuring outstanding women vocalists at the George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center at 1225 N. Rampart Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70116.
This series of concerts focusing on women comes during a time when the lack of women in roles throughout the music industry has come to the forefront. Chanteuse is part of an ongoing effort by the Foundation to address inequities in the music industry. Tickets are $5 and all proceeds from the concert series directly support efforts of the Foundation. Doors open at 7pm and the concerts begin promptly at 8pm. Seating is limited, so please register in advance.
All performances will be livestreamed on jazzandheritage.org/live and the @jazzandheritage YouTube channel and Facebook page for free.
Please note that proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test performed within 72 hours is currently required for entry. Masks are required for guests at all times.
2022 Chanteuse Concert Schedule: Friday, March 4 at 8:00 pm – Kristin Diable (🎟 $5) Saturday, March 5 at 8:00 pm– Leyla McCalla (🎟 $5) Friday, March 11 at 8:00 pm– Robin Barnes & the Fiya Birds (🎟 $5) and Saturday, March 12 at 8:00 pm– Quiana Lynell (🎟 $5)
11th Annual Femme Fest – The Foundation also presents the 11th Annual Femme Fest, a statewide group visual arts exhibition featuring women artists in Louisiana sponsored by the Women’s Caucus for Art of Louisiana. Femme Fest opens with an artists reception on Friday, March 4 from 6pm to 9pm, and will be available for viewing on weekdays from 10am to 4pm, March 4-31, 2022 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Gallery at 1205 N. Rampart Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70116. Admission is free and open to the public, the exhibition will be held in adherence to public health guidelines established by the City of New Orleans.
ABOUT THE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FOUNDATION
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation invests proceeds from Jazz Fest and additional funds that we raise for year-round programming in education, economic development and cultural enrichment. Education programs include the Don “Moose” Jamison Heritage School of Music, the Tom Dent Congo Square Lectures, the Class Got Brass competition for school brass bands, a youth audio workshop program, youth vocal workshops, and more! Economic Development initiatives include the Community Partnership Grants, the Catapult Fund accelerator program and Sync Up entertainment industry workshops. Cultural enrichment programs include the Jazz & Heritage Concert Series and annual Foundation Festivals: the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, the Congo Square Rhythms Festival, the Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival and the Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival. Importantly, these are free programs that the Jazz and Heritage Foundation has developed over many years to ensure that we give back to Louisiana. The Jazz & Heritage Foundation also owns radio station WWOZ 90.7-FM and the Jazz & Heritage Archive. In late 2014, the Foundation opened the George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center – an education and community facility named for the late Jazz Fest founder George Wein and his wife Joyce. In March of 2020, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation established the Jazz & Heritage Music Relief Fund – a statewide relief fund to support Louisiana musicians who were affected by the pandemic. In the last two years the Jazz & Heritage Foundation has been able to provide relief funds of more than $2 million dollars supporting musicians, music industry gig workers, Black Masking Indians and other indigenous cultural practitioners. To learn more about the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, please visit us online at www.jazzandheritage.org
ABOUT THE WOMEN’S CAUCUS FOR ART (WCA)
In 1972, the Women’s Caucus for Art (WCA) founded an organization to strengthen the role and address the status of women in the arts without regard to race, religion, or gender. Since its inception, the WCA has been an activist organization, championing the contributions of women in the arts profession. In 2006, the Louisiana Chapter of WCA was rejuvenated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as artists struggled not just for continued income but for survival in the wreckage that ensued. Members of the local art community came together, resulting in a national tour of New Orleans women artists sponsored by participating WCA chapters. And so, a second WCA chapter in New Orleans was born into a changed economic environment.
Refusing to be stopped by the closed doors of the traditional markets of galleries and museums, women expanded their art opportunities by creating new marketplaces. Even if the women developing the contemporary art marketplace do not identify as arts activists per se, they certainly created new opportunities for women in the economy and new career paths for women. Today, many women support themselves with their art and crafts by creating new venues. Young artists continue to flood into the state, bringing with them their education, their talent and their energy. They have bought property and set up galleries and studios, where women-owned art businesses are key to the vitality of New Orleans and Louisiana.