Eleven years ago, a light bulb went off in Annie Avery’s head that prompted the first occasion of the Ladies in Red event to honor New Orleans jazz musicians. This year, another light bulb went off: for the first time, music organizations and venues that have contributed to the preservation of jazz history are being recognized as well.

This year's Ladies in Red honorees.

“As a committee, we were talking one day, and we said, ‘Come on, we have got to say thank you,'” says Janie Blackmon, a Ladies in Red committee member and executive board member at the Preservation Resource Center. “It should have a long time ago, but we realized that without the venues, we’d have no musicians.”

A committee made up of jazz musicians, professors and historians has chosen OffBeat Magazine and its publisher, Jan Ramsey, Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro, and Preservation Hall in conjunction with its 50-year anniversary as 2011’s Heritage Supporter Honorees. The 2011 Individual Honorees include Maynard Chatters, Thais Clark, Wendell Eugene and Daniel Farrow. The awards presentation and gala takes place this Friday at Generations Hall.

The Ladies in Red gala premiered in February, 2000 in honor of Black History Month and as a means of raising funds for the efforts of the Preservation Resource Center (PRC) and its African American Heritage Preservation (AAHP) program.

As the director of the African American Heritage Preservation program, Avery and the PRC originally recognized the need to raise awareness about the fragile state of architectural structures in our city that once housed jazz greats when they visited the past home of Louis Armstrong in 2000.

“Jazz started here with Louis Armstrong. We went to the site of his, and we saw a need to preserve our history,” says Blackmon. “People come into town for all these festivals, and musicians who live here, and once lived here, have gone on to be great. We did not want to lose that history.”

All proceeds from the Ladies in Red event support the AAHP program, which has successfully revitalized three homes that previously belonged to jazz musicians, starting with the home of trombonist Kid Ory in 2002. The program has also restored 280 homes since Hurricane Katrina and has boosted awareness of such locations through walking tours and classroom teachings.

Blackmon says the Ladies in Red event is a special celebration because it honors those who are still alive and contributing to jazz culture. “We just want to say thank you, and we want the young people in this community to say thank you to those who paved the way,” says Blackmon. “We realize if we do not preserve the history it will go away. We honor our living. You know we honor people when they are gone. We dance in the street and we honor, but what a blessing it is to say thank you while you can still smell the roses.”

Thais Clark, Wendell Eugene, Daniel Farrow and Maynard Chatters are living jazz legends who are optimistic about the future of music in New Orleans. At a Jazz Foundation benefit concert in 2008, Clark was one performer who vowed to help uplift New Orleans with her music.

“I’m here to help the Katrina people and victims and musicians do whatever they can, to step up to the plate. No matter what, we are with you. That’s joy to my heart because New Orleans is still in mourning, but as the cloud is lifting, it is getting better,” said Clark in an interview with WGNO after her performance.

Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro and Preservation Hall are being honored for their unwavering commitment to music in New Orleans. They opened their doors after Katrina and welcomed musicians into their venue to keep jazz alive at a time when there were limited customers.  OffBeat is being recognized for continued assistance to the artistic community.

“After Katrina, we didn’t know where the musicians were, what was going on, and OffBeat researched that. Their expertise and passion for jazz kept us in the loop, kept everyone producing. Snug Harbor and Preservation Hall said jazz is not going to die in the city, it lives with art,” says Blackmon.

“We get to say thank you OffBeat, thank you OffBeat staff. Thank you Snug Harbor and Preservation Hall for keeping the doors open. Thank you Thais Clark and all the great musicians who all over the country, people know us, but we at home get to say thank you. It’s a fundraiser because of what we are doing with the money, so it’s a win-win.”

Tickets for the 11th-annual Ladies in Red event can be purchased online or by calling 504-581-7032. The Patron Party will begin at 7 p.m. with music by the George French Band and guests Lars Edegran, Albinas Prizgintas and Clive Wilson. At 8 p.m., the George French Band will be joined by the Brass-a-Holics, a go-go/brass/funk band, for the gala, and the awards presentation will start at 8:30 p.m.