The Jazz & Heritage Foundation has hired Don Marshall, whose latest job as Director/Professor of the Graduate Program in Arts Administration and previous experience as director of the Contemporary Arts Center, Executive Director of Le Petit Theatre, Chairman and Co-Founder of New Orleans Film and Video Festival, Executive Director of St. Tammany Art Association as well as founder of the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival (whew!) gives him massive experience and qualifications for the job. The executive director candidates were evaluated by a national executive search firm in New York, and out of 100 candidates, Marshall was selected as the top candidate.
Marshall and I discussed the problems of the Jazz Fest and the Foundation (which according to its most recent financial statement posting on guidestar.org was $1.2-million in the red), the relationships between the Jazz & Heritage Foundation (the non-profit that Marshall will manage) and Festival Productions New Orleans, led by Quint Davis, which produces the entire event.
What about your background makes you the most qualified for this gig?
Being a native New Orleanian, I understand the complexities of this community, and have worked with a large spectrum of musicians, artists and arts organizations. While I haven’t been totally focused on music, I’ve still been involved with our music for a long, long time. I practically grew up in Preservation Hall, listened to Oliver Morgan, Irma Thomas, Deacon John and all the beloved musicians in this culture.
This is my first opportunity to be involved in the music community, which I’ve always wanted to do. On the business end, having been involved with start-up organizations, organizations with financial difficulties, and working through those problems has given me a clear understanding of the challenges we face.
What problems do you see in the administrative areas of the Foundation?
Other than the financial difficulties (I can’t go into hard figures because they’re still resolving issues from the past Festival), while it’s not fantastically rosy, it’s still very manageable with smart financial management. Our biggest challenge is in maintaining our goodwill and integrity through a difficult financial time. We are honoring commitments, seriously looking at musicians who were cancelled on the second Friday. Up until now, no one has addressed them individually. We’re working on doing that to open up communications to let them know that we do care and we’re working to resolve the issue. Right now, we’re trying to come up with a resolution that’s fair to everyone. We have to prioritize our obligations—we’re committed legally to some and we are honoring them. Some of the musicians signed contracts which weren’t so great, but our organization is there for the music community and we are looking for ways to honor our obligations to them.
What problems do you see in the Foundation itself?
Our biggest challenge is to unite the Foundation board into a unit that’s working together. Because of things that have happened over the past few years, we need to resolve staff/board issues that exist. As Executive Director, it’s my responsibility to assist the board to come together as a united front as we attempt to go to year-round programming…with enhanced fundraising efforts and membership to the Foundation.
The Foundation has never solicited membership?
The Foundation has never turned to the community for financial support. Most non-profits get their funding from corporate contributions, grants, foundation support. In the past the Foundation has never had to turn to this. This is a “brave new world” for us.
What about the Foundation Gala (which charges $500 per ticket)?
I’m not sure how much the gala makes for the organization. It’s finally gelled into a major event in the community—but it’s not that old of an event. We’ll be developing new special events to help our programs like the Heritage School of Music, the Archives…these will have their own targeted fundraising.
What about the Foundation’s relationship with Festival Productions (FPI)?
I feel that there has not been strong leadership on the Foundation side. More open communication between the Foundation and Festival Productions is crucial, especially in both artistic and financial areas. FPI does marketing, sponsorship, booking, public relations. For the most part, the Foundation hasn’t really been involved. There’s been some input on the booking (but not done in a structured way—board members are just asked who they would like to see—not a process that encourages deep thinking).
There needs to be a much more open sharing of information between the two entities.
What are the challenges with the Jazz Fest itself? Has all the Festival planning been left to FPI?
Well, personally—I believe the Foundation board has to be on the planning process as well. All of us would like to see the festival move ahead and grow creatively. Some of the problems we see now may be a result of financial considerations, but it’s time to move forward to create a more cohesive artistic vision…maybe going back to the roots of the Festival itself.
I feel that each area of the festival should be a mini-festival unto itself…like the Fais Do Do stage—you should feel like you’re in southwest Louisiana, which includes the food, dance, culture and a lot more. I realize that there are some issues with the site itself and the additional costs of doing differently—for example, you might need to pay for more equipment to provide it. There may be some financial considerations that would prevent this at first, but at least those new types of ideas should always be on the table. Let’s say if you’re into blues, let’s do T-shirts that focus on the blues, learning experiences, on the culture, barbecue, soul food, dancing…the culture that goes with the music should be a part of the stage.
Do you think the Jazz Fest should expand its focus to more types of Louisiana music than are currently presented? How about rock at the Fest?
Yes, that even applies to rock bands. We have to look at how rock fits into the Southern roots music that comes from Louisiana. Certainly we had Louisiana Hayride! We have to look at other cities, like Athens, Austin, Memphis, they are all part of Southern music culture. The festival needs to focus a little bit more on the music that’s grown in the southeastern region. We have to deal with country and bluegrass. We need to look back at our original mission of showcasing our culture and heritage, see how it’s influenced Southern roots music and focus on it. Alison Krauss would be great at the fest. How about Brooks and Dunn—they’re from Louisiana.
How about rap?
If rap is coming from our Southern roots, then to me, it needs to be considered for presentation. I’m a big fan of alternative music and we need to be supportive of the young musicians who are moving forward and creating new music. Music doesn’t stop evolving. We can’t just be a museum. Of course, we need to be even more supportive of our traditional musicians in jazz, R&B, and be even more creative in how it’s presented.
How will you deal with Festival Productions? Will they continue to produce the Fest?
FPI has had multi-year contracts with the Foundation in the past. We are in the process of negotiating a new contract for next year with an option to renew.
At the same time, our contract with the Fair Grounds is only for one more year. We hope to be able to continue to have it there, but it’s very much up in the air. There’s always a possibility that we’d have to move it. Different board members have looked into other areas, like City Park. But we would like to remain at the Fair Grounds; we have a great relationship with them and it’s a wonderful facility.
What changes can you foresee for the upcoming 2005 Festival? For future festivals?
I’m hoping we can work closer with Festival Productions to bring back that sense of wonder that we all experienced at our first Jazz Fest. Because of my background in the visual arts, I’d like to see more participation in that area. I also feel the Grandstand has been underutilized (for financial reasons). As far as my vision, what we do in the Grandstand should be a prototype of our Southern Music Museum for this city. What we present there should be able to be taken to another location year-round. I feel strongly that the Foundation should be involved in creating a music “experience” to help people get educated about our music. Everyone sees the value of something like this to our city and state, but there may be some financial resources that are waiting out there that could finance some of this. We need to explore ways of expanding our ticket sales…
Like reducing the ticket prices?
We don’t want to turn off our supporters, but we have to look at actual ticket sales. Community outreach tickets should be reaching deeper into the community. Too many tickets are given out to people who could afford to pay for them, and they’re not being paid for.
All board members will have to accept a fund-raising responsibility in the future, with the staff providing the structure for successful development programs. But that’s something that’s going to be pretty new for this organization.
What new programs would you like to see instituted by the Foundation?
I am looking a year-round programming—producing new events—educational programs and festivals. The most obvious possibilities are different festivals throughout the year, a Blues & Barbecue Festival in October; a Latin Jazz Fest that could possibly take place at Lafreniere Park to go “to” the Hispanic Community, since many Hispanics live in Jefferson Parish; numerous other types of festivals. Smaller events, concerts. Nighttime concerts don’t necessarily have to happen during the Jazz Fest.
We need to be more creative in the way we think about this Festival. We need to get more creative “juice” back into this festival. Look at Coachella, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits. We could tie in ideas with the environment to prevent coastal erosion and even health, since we need to help support the Musicians Clinic.
We are seriously looking into partnering with other organizations’ activities. One of the biggest changes you’re going to see is that we’re looking to partner with everybody. There can be a lot of exciting programs that can come out of these partnerships, with possibly other producers, with universities, other non-profit organizations.
We want to continue our relationship with FPI, and it’s my feeling that we should all be working together to see that people in our industry are employed full-time, with health care and benefits. Because we haven’t been able to provide serious “real” jobs—not just seasonal part-time jobs at the Festival—people leave the city. Increased programming may allow us to do this, and of course provide musicians with regular work. It’s really economic development in a bigger, broader way.
Will there be more transparency in the way the Foundation is run, i.e., will information on where the funds go be made more readily available to public scrutiny?
Definitely. We’re looking for more transparency across the board. The schedules and infrastructure to do this have not always been there in the past. We’re moving towards a new day in the relationship between the Foundation and FPI where we honor and respect each other as equals. It hasn’t been that way in the past.
NEW MUSIC BIZ CHIEF
In other news significant to New Orleans music, the Loyola University New Orleans College of Music announced the appointment of multi-Grammy winning producer John Snyder as the Conrad N. Hilton Eminent Scholar in Music Industry Studies. Snyder replaces Dr. Scott Fredrickson.
Snyder’s experience ranges from holding a music education degree and a law degree, to being an independent record producer. He has overseen legal and business affairs, publishing, manufacturing, distribution, and artists and repertoire operations. Snyder, under the tutelage of Herb Alpert, served as director of Horizon Jazz Series for A&M Records. He later served as director of jazz production for Atlantic Records, where his responsibilities included production and packaging, promotion, publicity, and marketing. Snyder has produced nearly 300 recordings since 1977, of which 34 were nominated for Grammy Awards and of those five won Grammys. His record label clients have included A&M, Atlantic, Fantasy, Musicmasters, Concord, RCA, Sony, Antilles, Verve, Private Music, Telarc, GRP, Elektra, Rounder, Columbia, Evidence, and Justin Time.
Snyder is the founder and president of the Artists House Foundation, a nonprofit music company dedicated to creating educational presentations in several areas, including instruction for instruments, master classes, careers in the arts, and legendary performers.
The Hilton Foundation’s $1-million grant was the lead gift in the endowment of an educational venture designed to enhance both Loyola’s position as the educational arm of the New Orleans music industry as well as to promote future economic development in the city of New Orleans. Hilton’s gift was matched by grants from Louisiana’s Board of Regents and the Baldridge Foundation to fully endow two chairs in music industry studies. Snyder joins Dr. Jerry Goolsby, who holds the second endowed chair.
