Sweet Home New Orleans serves the 4,500 musicians, Mardi Gras Indians and Social Aid & Club Members who make up New Orleans’ unique musical and cultural communities.
Sweet Home’s musician clients range from older jazz legends who are trying to retrieve royalties owed from decades old recordings to young brass band players working on their first contracts or help repairing or replacing an instrument. Many have toured the world, some play every night of the week in the clubs on Bourbon or Frenchmen streets, some teach, some play on street corners and in public parks passing the hat to make ends meet. Our musicians are the backbone of New Orleans’ hospitality industry, creating the soundtrack of our streets and the basis of our reputation around the world.
Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs are a huge success story of New Orleans revitalization, with a volume of 92% of pre-Katrina levels compared to an 80% return for the general population. Clubs have attracted new members, with an increase of children participating 11% above pre-Katrina levels. Second Lines strut, stroll and weave weekly from September through June in various neighborhoods around New Orleans. As detailed in Sweet Home’s 2010 Report, Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs are also crucial to the stabilization of New Orleans; drawing members of disenfranchised communities into the mainstream, providing opportunity and reducing the attraction of harmful activities. Club members lift the spirits of their communities, provide identity and solidarity for their neighborhoods and deliver concrete services to those in need. Clubs provide mentoring and tutoring services, look after elderly neighbors, donate school uniforms to needy families; they conduct voter registration drives and anti-violence demonstrations in some of the toughest neighborhoods in the city.
Mardi Gras Indians are the most visible members of our cultural community, their towering colorful suits a high point of Mardi Gras, St. Joseph’s Day and Super Sunday as well as parades and events throughout the year. Visually and musically, their culture presents Native American, African, and Caribbean influences in a mixture that is quintessentially New Orleans. The time and effort put into creating an Indian suit is enormous, hours of sewing and beading every night throughout the year and generally a cram session in the weeks before Mardi Gras day. Communal sewing sessions reinforce group cohesion and cultural continuity, providing Indian tribes with a strong sense of identity and are a practice tribe members universally credit with teaching them discipline and patience.
New Orleans music and culture are historically passed down from parent to child, from master to apprentice. The most important transmitters of these art forms have been practitioners for decades, if not their whole lives, and have not only mastered their technique but convey the context and meaning of the traditions to their students. In many cases, those best able to ensure the continuity of New Orleans music and culture in this way have faced the greatest challenges over the past few years.
Thanks to the help of our many donors and supporters, we have been able to help thousands of musicians, Mardi Gras Indians, and Social Aid & Pleasure Club members. Here you can learn more about these culture bearers and their importance to New Orleans. As often as possible we will provide you with a new profile on a one of the many talented individuals whom you have helped us serve.