With great enthusiasm we’re pleased to share that the Incubator will be presenting interactive art making at the 2023 Jazz Fest! The Magical Mobile Art Cart will be featured at the festival in the Peace Garden near the Children’s Tent. We’re excited to be offering a variety of art making activities to all ages in the beautiful setting of this part of the festival. We’ll be facilitating weaving, printmaking, painting, and planting projects for festival goers to explore while listening to all the great music Jazz Fest has to offer.
About the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell, a/k/a Jazz Fest, is a 10-day cultural feast in which thousands of musicians, cooks and craftspeople welcome 400,000 visitors each year. The Louisiana Heritage Fair showcases unforgettable music on multiple stages, delicious Louisiana cuisine in two large food areas, and crafts artisans from the region and around the world demonstrating and selling their work. The Louisiana Heritage Fair is held at the Fair Grounds Race Course over the course of 2 weekends. They are April 28, April 29 & April 30 and May 4 – May 7, 2023. Visit their website here:
Jazz Fest History
In April of 1970, Mahalia Jackson, often called the greatest gospel singer, returned to her hometown to appear at the first New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. While attending the Louisiana Heritage Fair in Congo Square (then known as Beauregard Square), she and Duke Ellington, who also appeared at the event, came upon the Eureka Brass Band leading a crowd of second-line revelers through the Festival grounds. George Wein, producer of the Festival, handed Ms. Jackson a microphone, she sang along with the band and joined the parade… and the spirit of Jazz Fest was born.
This spontaneous, momentous scene—this meeting of jazz and heritage—has stood for decades as a stirring symbol of the authenticity of the celebration that was destined to become a cultural force.
Inspired by the spirit of Mahalia Jackson and the Eureka Brass Band back in 1970, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival continues to celebrate the culture of Louisiana with the combined fervor of a gospel hymn and the joy of a jazz parade.
Over the years Jazz Fest has received many honors, including being named the Festival of the Year four times by Pollstar magazine. The Wall Street Journal has said that Jazz Fest “showcases a wider, deeper lineup of essential American musical styles than any festival in the nation…” and which Life magazine has called “the country’s very best music festival.’’ And in reviewing the 2017 event, Jon Pareles said in the New York Times, “…whereas other major festivals tend to be brief invasions of their locales, Jazz Fest is an institution, inseparable from the city….”
Looking forward to making art with festival attendees!
NOLA Artist Incubator 