Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne’s Music Ambassador Project and Sweet Home New Orleans’ Seal of Approval program both aim to revitalize the Louisiana music scene and broaden the audience for New Orleans music beyond the state. Sweet Home New Orleans focuses on bettering the livelihoods of musicians here in town by soliciting musicians and concertgoers to nominate local music venues for its Seal of Approval initiative while the Ambassador Program seeks to pay musicians for appearing at music festivals outside Louisiana and promoting Louisiana music.
The Seal of Approval program is designed to highlight music venues who deal fairly with New Orleans musicians and pay professional wages. The Seal of Approval will let musicians and concertgoers alike know that a music venue contributes positively to the local cultural economy and, in turn, to the overall economic growth of the city.
Sweet Home will apply what they call a “data-driven approach” to the program, using four weighted criteria to develop a weighted 30-point metric for assessing the business practices of each nominated venue. Those four areas of assessment are:
- Financial Compensation
- Venue Sound
- Marketing Practices
- Social Responsibility
And anyone seeking to nominate a venue can do so here: www.sweethomeneworleans.org
The Lieutenant Governor’s Music Ambassador Project operates on a statewide basis, and the program is accepting applications at www.crt.la.gov/tourism/musicambassador. Because Lt. Governor’s office is aware that visitors travel from far and wide to experience Louisiana music, they created a program to pay musicians for appearing at approved events outside the state. In order to participate in the program, artists receive:
- An award for display from Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne
- A stipend per performance, based on event attendance
- A link to his or her website on the state’s own music website, www.louisianasoundtrack.com
- Promotional items including bandanas, and guitar picks bearing the Program’s motto: “Pick Your Passion”.
As proof of performance, artists are invited to submit a one-minute video shot from the audience’s perspective showing the artist throwing Pick Your Passion items to the crowd, a display of the program’s removable decal on the bass drum, and artists inviting the audience to visit and enjoy Louisiana music, cuisine and culture.
Qualifying festivals must take place outside Louisiana, be more than 3 years old, and boast a 2012 attendance of more than 10,000 people.
Through the Seal of Approval program and others like it, Sweet Home New Orleans hopes to create economic incentives which will encourage venues who do not qualify for the Seal Approval to change their business practices for the better, while the Music Ambassador programs offers incentives to artists who play at large festivals beyond the state. Together, these programs offer real forward progress toward better treatment for Louisiana musicians.
–Alex Jennings
