Just over one year old, the Music and Culture Coalition of New Orleans (MaCCNO) — a community group formed as a result of the sporadic City enforcement of live music mayoral permits in the summer of 2012 — is taking its monthly teach-in series to a more analytical, even scientific, level this week. On Wednesday, November 13 at 5:30 p.m. the organization hosts “MaCCNO Mythbusters: The Science of Sound” at Café Istanbul inside the New Orleans Healing Center, a free public educational forum exploring how sound is projected, measured and absorbed.
Acoustician Dave Woolworth is among presenters on November 13.
The catalyst to host such an open community forum on this topic is the City of New Orleans’ decision to revise the current municipal noise ordinance, as well as begin strictly enforcing live music permits, over the course of the past year. After employing an intensive sound study of noise (mostly music) in New Orleans by the Oxford Acoustics architectural sound systems firm, the City released the firm’s report on sound in New Orleans, as well as their expert’s recommendations for revisions to the current noise ordinance. One of the noteworthy recommendations in the report was an advisory to alter noise ordinances violations from criminal to civil offenses. Violating the current New Orleans noise ordinance is presently a criminal offense.
As such a vast percentage of the city’s economy is based in music and performance, including street buskers, such enforcements on music both in clubs and in the street have affected many New Orleans musicians, performance artists, and venue owners. The MaCCNO collective developed as a resource for local artists and small business owners to obtain information on navigating permits at City Hall, ordinance petitions, related policies and becoming more active in neighborhood associations. In addition to general community meetings twice monthly, MaCCNO also hosts teach-ins one per month to help educate community members on New Orleans music and entertainment policy. Past teach-ins have included forums on “How to obtain your live music permit from City Hall” and “What does the New Orleans CZO and ‘Arts and Culture Overlay’ mean for me?,” among others.
This month, MaCCNO offers an opportunity for community members to learn about the science that was used by Oxford Acoustics to generate its recommendations to City Hall on what the New Orleans noise ordinance and live music permitting policies should look like. Wednesday evening’s talk aims to decipher the rhetorical din surrounding the noise ordinance and make abstract concepts and legal speak more digestible for those these policies will affect. In doing so, MaCCNO “hopes to further the discussion around the sound ordinance and find practical, viable solutions that preserves the culture of this city and allows all citizens to reside and thrive in our historical neighborhoods.”
"The Science of Sound" is topic at Wednesday's MaCCNO teach-in.
Presenters at the panel include Oxford Acoustics acoustician Dave Woolworth, members of the Young Fellaz Brass Band, Jules and Juliette of the New Orleans band FireBug, and more. Panelists will present “real world” examples of sound situations in New Orleans, and potential solutions will be discussed. Scientific technicalities such as decibel levels of typical sounds and instruments, as well as broader considerations like what is classified as “noise” in a bustling city, will be explored.
MaCCNO Mythbusters: The Science of Sound takes place Wednesday, November 13 from 5:30 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at Café Istanbul (2372 St. Claude Ave.). The event is free and open to the public. More Info: www.maccno.com
