Make Music NOLA

Make Music NOLA is at a crossroads.  We are a progressive, culturally relevant, equitable music program that has continuously grown for the last ten years.  We now have teachers with advanced degrees and years of teaching and touring experience interested in working with us full time.  Additional funding would allow MMN to retain extremely talented and committed staff members at an increased capacity.  There is also a huge demand for our programs, we are expanding to add a high school course for college credit at Bard Early College New Orleans, workshops at Alpha Phi Alpha headquarters in East New Orleans, and an additional school program site.  During COVID-19, MMN students participated in virtual workshops with students and professional musicians from all over the country.  Additional funding would allow our students to travel, and for professional musicians to visit New Orleans.

Not only are we supporting the next generation of New Orleans musicians, but are also supporting the current generation and providing them with an opportunity to pass on their skills and knowledge.  There are many local legends that need a space for their stories to be told, Make Music NOLA strives to create those spaces.  

My career began as a professional musician in Los Angeles, teaching in programs similar to MMN in Compton, CA and South Central Los Angeles.  I loved performing and touring, but more than anything, I was really passionate about working with kids. I later went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Arts Administration.  I spent my time in graduate school working on projects with the US Department of State’s Cultural Programs Division and the Organization of American States.  I wanted to be in a place where music was alive and part of everyday life.  So I moved to New Orleans.  When I was offered the job at Make Music NOLA, my team and I did not have a plan to create a large music program throughout the city, what we had was a love for our students, our city, and the music of New Orleans. That spread like wildfire.  As we move forward into the next decade at MMN, my work is not only focused on creating additional opportunities for New Orleans youth to grow, thrive, and succeed, but for local musicians to have a space to share their expertise and to tell and pass on their incredible stories. 

New Orleans has the highest poverty rate of any metro area in the United States.  Currently, 44% of children in New Orleans live in poverty, an increase from pre-Katrina levels.  Make Music NOLA provides access to music education, at no cost,to students from low income families. Our programs are located in marginalized communities to reduce barriers to transportation, make programming accessible, and stengthen relationships. Every student enrolled in the program attends classes three days a week for four hours.  MMN’s after school programs primarily serve two areas, the Treme and Central City.  Over a third of the residents living in both neighborhoods do not have access to transportation and are also living below the poverty level.  As the birthplace of American music and the oldest black neighborhood in the country, Make Music NOLA currently offers programs at the historic Bell School. In addition to providing after school and Saturday programs in these neighborhoods, Make Music NOLA also holds community events and public performances that are open to everyone in the area. Our vision is a New Orleans where young music students are valued and celebrated as central and essential participants in the civic and cultural landscape of their city.

Just by existing, Make Music NOLA challenges equity in education in New Orleans.  People expect New Orleans kids to learn to play brass instruments, but that’s not for everyone.  Playing a string instrument allows a young person a different set of opportunities.  Currently, less than two percent of musicians in professional orchestras are people of color.  Less than one percent of music performed by professional orchestras is composed by a person of color.  Make Music NOLA’s students are 99% BIPOC and our entire orchestra curriculum focuses on music by composers of color and New Orleans music.  Our entire curriculum leaves out the standard orchestral canon and focuses on music that is culturally relevant to our students.  MMN’s work is unique because students are given the space to be creative and innovative thinkers, not just to be able to perform specific pieces of standard repertoire.  In addition to group instruction, we also offer creative composition and arranging classes.  Our students are composing and performing their own works from an early age.  Additionally, MMN’s theory curriculum is taught entirely using New Orleans music. Make Music NOLA challenges the status quo of traditional music training.  

Make Music NOLA is having an impact on humanity by training and supporting the next generation of New Orleans musicians.  Through accessible music education, we are preserving a part of history and creating the future of local music.   Students from marginalized communities have less access to music education and instruments.  All of our students are studying and performing early New Orleans jazz tunes, pre-jazz tunes, and classical music by free people of color from the South.  MMN also provides our students with a supportive community and access to working with high-level musicians, including members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, nationally commissioned composers with PhDs, and many more. Make Music NOLA has been effective because we are still working to meet the demands of our community.  I remember looking at a graduating eighth grader's resume, he had performed for Todd Rundgren, opened for Big Freedia, played at the finish line for an 80,000 person foot race, played live on two radio stations, and at City Hall with the Batiste family.  He may not have gone to Juilliard to study cello, but it opened up a world of opportunities for him that otherwise would not have been available.