Nancy Ochsenschlager, the former associate producer of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival who has served in various roles at the Fest for 45 years, has been honored with a Jazz Hero award by the Jazz Journalists Association. Initiated in 2001, the Jazz Hero awards honor “activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz who have had significant impact in their local communities.”
Born in 1939 and raised in Aurora, Illinois, Ochsenschlager attended the University of Michigan and graduated in 1962 with a B.S. in Nursing. She spent the next dozen years working in her chosen field and, in an early indication of her adventurous spirit, traveling the world, including journeys to Central and South America, Europe and Japan for multiple years.
In 1976, Ochsenschlager made a move that changed the course of her professional life—while selling neckties at the French Market and craft fairs she volunteered at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. At first she was a seasonal receptionist, but with her natural skills as an organizer and her gift for managing the details of event production, she quickly became the assistant to the fair director. After only four years, she was promoted to fair director, charged with much of the budgeting and operational aspects of the what grew to become one of the America’s largest and most vital celebrations and New Orleans’ signature music festival. She remained with Jazz Fest for the next quarter century, acquiring the title of associate producer along the way. Though she officially retired in 2005, she continues to work at Jazz Fest by assisting with some logistics during the event.
Working closely throughout the years with Jazz Fest Executive Producer George Wein and Producer/Director Quint Davis, Ochsenschlager has helped produce countless events worldwide, including the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals, the Saratoga Jazz Festival, both of President Clinton’s inaugurations, European tours, and countless other special events.
During her four-plus decades of devotion to New Orleans, Ochsenschlager has forged countless close friendships within the cultural community, especially with Mardi Gras Indians, brass Bands and second-line social aid and pleasure clubs. She is the godmother of Bo Dollis, Jr., the son of the late Big Chief Bo Dollis. In 2017 she was given a City of New Orleans Legend Award by Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
Since 2006, she has resided for part of each year in Guatemala. There she also finds time to serve on a community-focused board at the Amigos de Santa Cruz Foundation, which supports education and sustainable economic development in surrounding villages and a vocational school.
The Jazz Hero Awards will be presented at a virtual ceremony on Friday, April 16, at 2 p.m. CDT on YouTube and Facebook Live. Biographical profiles of the 2021 recipients may be viewed at the website for the Jazz Journalists Association.
