In the 1970s, a festival organizer came to explore New Orleans as the site of a dance, drama, opera and classical music festival. The response he received, says Tulane University Music Professor John Baron, was shocking.

The city that had given the world Louis Armstrong, Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Tennessee Williams was—at best—apathetic in its support of such an endeavor.

After the disappointing reception in New Orleans, the organizer did find a community which agreed to host the fes...