New Orleans Jazz Festival - Same Spirit. Higher Prices. Worth Every Damn Note

Jazz Fest tickets got you side-eyeing your wallet? Yeah… we hear you. But in this episode of Philanthropy N The Black, we break down why that price tag isn’t just about music—it’s about mission.

We unpack the real story behind the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival—from its $3 beginnings in 1970 to today’s $100+ experience—and explain how those dollars flow back into the community through the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. We also clear up the confusion around Festival Productions, Inc. and its role in producing the festival, showing how this public-private partnership keeps the culture alive and financially sustainable.

This episode is real talk about cultural economics—how your ticket supports local artists, funds education programs, preserves New Orleans traditions, and keeps a globally recognized cultural institution rooted in the community it represents.

Because Jazz Fest isn’t just a vibe—it’s a funding engine.

• If it feeds the culture…
• If it funds the community…

Then yeah… it’s worth every damn note. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Yes, yes, yes, this is the boy excellent, and we are back with another episode of Philanthropy and the Plague. Another goal is to help many plant to stay in the flag not only financially, but socially and morally. And this is a one of gonna be one of my favorite, most favorite episodes because we're talking about one of my favorite things. Festival. Applause for the festival. In Louisiana, specifically New Orleans, but Louisiana in general. It is festival season. And I am a festival here. I am a virtual festival groupie. I'm a festival 304. I don't even know what that means. So if it's something bad, I'm sorry, y'all. But the kids, the kids, y'all. Listen, it is festival season, and I saw a post online where folks were going in with a specific festival in our city, the the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Foundation, where people were just somebody posted the pricing over the years, and folks went nuts. They were not happy. So I'm gonna put that up on screen for you. And for those listening, I'll go ahead and read off some of the prices for you. Now, again, this is one-day ticket prices that had people just going bonkers. So here are the prices, guys. If you're watching, you can see the graph that I the graphic that I saw online, but I'll read a few. 1970. It's an old festival, it's a great festival. Um $3. $3 to get in in 1970, right? 20 2005 was 35 booms. 2019 was 85. 2024, again, single-day ticket admission, 105. And then 2026, we're talking, I guess, anywhere from 135 to 169. And listen, I I get it. I I know that's a lot. I I get it. And I could tell you it's inflation, I could tell you it's tariffs, I could say, you know, what insurance. The idea of why it is expanded financially in the sense of um, you know, charging, we're gonna get into that and we're gonna talk about the foundation that owns the festival because I want folks to understand that it is absolutely a 501c3, and it's important that to for me, I think, when it comes to these festivals like um the International Louisiana D Louisiana Festival, in Lafayette, I believe, the Tickfall Italian Festival, all of these festivals are great and should be a part uh supported. Strawberry Festival and Ponchatula, so on and so forth, uh Crawfish Festival, there's uh one outside of Belle Chase, there's one in St. Bernard Parish, so on and so forth. But but this festival in in particular, it's important for you to think about it this way. Yeah, you see the price jump and you go, what? But you have to look at the price jump and think about this. It started from a small gathering, kind I believe in Congo Square, right? So you're in Congo Square, but now it is a global cultural institution, absolutely a global cultural institution. It was like a local stage, you know, local artists, all the things we love here in the city. And then it became something for thousands of artists, vendors, and just experiences when it comes to the culture that um is unmatched. It went from simple entry to a full-scale economic and cultural ecosystem. The prices didn't just go up, the value expanded. Let me make it plain, Chris Breezy around here floating on the clouds and over audiences' heads and such. And then you got Usher Raymond. They were great individually doing their tours, but now they're together breaking people, and it's a it's a the value has expanded. And you think I'm gonna pay Usher Raymond $2,000 to put these cherries in my woman's mouth? Boy, I'm a grown man. If you don't get up out of here with that, I don't know what you're talking about. Hey, listen. You know, you're killing me. Shout out to OG murder. Listen, Usher, chill with the cherries. All right, just fly around. But the pricing is intentional, right? But the way you read those comments online, you know, my people in New Orleans, y'all, we are so funny. Those comments online, it's too high. It's cashless. How much is the food? This is what you guys remind me of.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

How much for an order of ribs? Uh 250. 250? How many ribs do I get with that? Uh five. Five. So I guess that's about 50 cents a rib, huh? Yeah, about two. Let me get one. Right on. One order. One order ribs. No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

No.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

One rib.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

One rib. Stop it. Listen, support, support our vendors out there. You see the shirt I have on, right? Vulcan sausage. If you out there, please pick me up something from their uh booth and bring it on over. Absolutely. But please understand that you're not buying a ticket, you're funding a mission. I think that's the first thing I want folks to understand about the ticket pricing. Okay, and I'll get into some other things in a second, but understand the ticket prices are you're funding a mission of an organization that does things in the the community that I love, that we should love as people in this work or people from this area or people who love the culture. Absolutely. So the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, I'm sorry, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, they own the festival. And the money that they raise through these efforts, sponsorship, ticket sales, merch, all the things, they go back into music education, cultural preservation, local artist grants, youth programs, and workforce development. So when you talk about, you know, I'm not gone. I've been when it was free, when there was no gate, and you could bring an house cooler. Shut up. Alright, just shut up, drop a bomb for shit. I didn't mean to laugh, but I did want to drop a bomb. So drop a bomb for shit. It was free. You know what was free also? Water was free back in the day from my grandmother's hose. But you know what? Nah, I pay for bottle water. But listen, staying on point. So when you skip things like these cultural events and activities, to me, you're hurting community programming. That's what it means to me. And I I want to be clear and clear up the confusion and say, when I see posts online when people are going like, it's a money grab. The people online is, I mean, the company's taking the money and this and that. I'm just like, it's enough of that. Like, come on, man. Let's break it down real quick. Festival Production Inc., that that's the for-profit part of this. What I'm about to describe as a triangle offense, right? Festival Productions Inc. runs the operation, they run the operations of the festival. They book talent, they produce the experience. That's Festival Productions Inc., that's the for-profit part of this thing. They are they um put on the um Newport Jazz Festival um for years, and I don't know if they still do it, but it's a wonderful festival as well. So they're professionals at putting on festivals. It takes a lot to do what these folks are doing. The foundation, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, they own the festival. They receive the net proceeds from the festival because again, it's a foundation, it's a for nonprofit. The foundation is they have to pay their staff and take care of their bills, right? So their net proceeds goes back into the community. So, but those two, the company and the the for-profit and the non-profit is like kind of a public-private partnership to me that's done right. And then there's a third layer to this, as I said, is a triangle offense, a company called AEG Presents. Now, there's all kinds of controversy around this organization and what it is and it's not and what it supports and doesn't support politically. Google it yourself. This is not a political show, this is a show about nonprofits. So, to me, when you have AEG Presents, the foundation, and also Festival Productions Inc., you have a cultural plus business and you have sustainability. That's what that produces to me. And I think that is important for all of us to understand when you look at those ticket prices, whether you go or don't go, I'm just breaking down how this thing works. This is cultural economics, and I'm no economist. I went to school for business and nonprofit sector work. But for you to understand that the Jazz Fest creates jobs, there are job listings before and after this festival all over the place. They are always hiring for folks to help out, whether it's a high-level or low-level um position. When you go to their website, there are always jobs. It's a job creator. Number two, it's a business booster. I told you about this shirt I have on. I know you can't see it if you're listening, but it's Focusons Sausage, the Creole folks, the light, like skinned folks. They're out there every day. They even shut down their business on St. Bernard to be out there. It is a business booster. So those companies or I'm sorry, those um vendors and businesses receive a big boost by you spending that money, whether it's cashless or not. So please stop complaining about that, first of all. You really want to walk around with $500, $5,000 in your pocket, get out of here. All right, it's a cultural preservation machine, right? You see our Mardi Gar Indians, you see our social aid and pleasure clubs, you see Terrence Osborne and his wife, you see local artists, uh craftsmen, you see all that. And it is lastly a fundraising engine. So you have thousands of musicians, dozens of local food vendors, artists, craftspeople, culture bearers. This is not Coachella. I know you want it to be Coachella, but it is not, it is not Essence Fest, it is not Taylor Swift, it is an New Orleans, New Orleans's economy in motion. That's what this is. It is not just a concert. So to me, and I want you to take this with you, it's the same spirit. To me, the organization has the same spirit. The high the prices may be higher, but it's worth every note. And I mean that in a cultural musical sense. Every dollar is worth every note that you hear out there. Because what has not changed about the festival, to for in my opinion, and I'm sharing this with you, what hasn't changed is the culture, the people, the purpose. That has not changed. What has changed is the scale of it. It's larger, people. It is everything's larger. I went to the Budweiser Superfest in the 80s. New edition, uh Luther Vandros, I might have been $10, $15. You know how much that ticket will be now? Come on now. Let's the scale has changed, the impact has changed. More money, more ability to fundle into the community through their programming. The responsibility to sustain it has changed. I want people to understand that. Like, listen, when you go to their website, there are all kinds of free programming programs they have in the community that they do for kids and adults. And it's beautiful. From you have vocal lessons from artists in New Orleans to your kids, you have beat production and how to make music for kids 8 to 18. You have a school that's for free. Like, listen, their building is on ramp art. It's the forget the name of it, but go to the the the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Foundation and you'll see the name of the building in the program. I think it's absolutely astounding. So listen, the next time you see a ticket that is 150 prices, know this.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Yesterday's price is not today's price.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Point.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Yesterday's price is not today's price.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Big facts. Big facts. So when you see that $150 ticket price, please don't just see a price. I need you to see that 150. Put it in your mind like this. The $150 for festival, the ones that are free, and even the ones that cost $150. Put this in your mind. Those dollars are absolutely it is funding music programs, right? It exposes a kid to culture. It pays our artists fairly. You don't hear those people complaining about what they get paid at Jazz Fest, do you? And if they are, I haven't heard it. But they get paid fairly. And it preserves our traditions. Because supporting Jazz Fest is not just entertainment. Here's the kicker. Here's the philanthropy and black part. Supporting Jazz Fest is not just entertainment, it's intentional philanthropy, whether you know it or not. You pay that 150, you see a thousand artists on one day. Think about that. Philanthropy and the Black, folks. That is our episode for today. Listen, I love festivals. I want you to enjoy a festival. I want you to stop complaining. Everything's high. Look at it. You gotta put gas in that car, don't you? I mean, you don't have to go to jazz fest, but you gotta put gas in that car and you're gonna do it. But this is something that gives back to our community. I think they do it well. I might be biased, but at the end of the day, I'm a festival head, I'm a festival 304. Woo-doo hoo! It is what it is. So listen, remember Philanthropy in the Black is about helping, working with, talking about how to keep nonprofits in the black financially moral and social. And when it comes to festivals or anything that's related to New Orleans, Louisiana, or the sector of nonprofit, remember if it funds the culture, it means the community.