The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation celebrated 254 Community Partnership Grant Winners at a ceremony at the George & Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center on Monday, October 10. Over $700,000 was awarded to the grant recipients in four categories:

- Louisiana-based non-profit arts organizations that present festivals and other cultural events and hire local performers (75 of 82 applications received funding)
- Artists and others who create new artistic workers or otherwise document the local culture (56 of 70 received funding)
- Schools providing music and art classes as part of the school day (54 of 56 received funding)
- Non-profits that present afterschool and summer educational programs in the arts (69 of 78 received funding)

Since 1979, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation has reinvested the proceeds from Jazz Fest directly into the community — in the form of grants to arts and educational organizations — to support projects that reflect the Foundation’s mission. Grant recipients in the 2016-17 cycle include the Donald Harrison, Sr. Museum, the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame, Warren Easton, Homer A. Plessy Community School, NOCCA, Ashe Cultural Arts Center, Creole Wild West, Louis Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Black Men of Labor, Arts Council New Orleans, FestiGals, Louisiana Children's Museum, New Orleans Film Society, University of New Orleans Music Department, and dozens of others. Awards range from $275 to $5000.

"It's an honor and a privilege to be able to support the great work that is being done by so many people in our community," said Donna Santiago, president of the board of directors of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. "These are truly your Jazz Fest dollars at work."

Find out more about the grant and how to apply for the 2017-18 cycle at the Jazz & Heritage Foundation's website.