The New Orleans Nighttime Economy Office ( O.N.E.) will release its first-ever business guide, a comprehensive guide for any business or performer (member of the nighttime economy) who works in the city.
O.N.E. has been pretty busy in the last few months. First, through working with consultant and music business information aggregator Sound Music Cities, they authorized and are maintaining a Music Census, for the city, using it as a basis to assess the strength of the city’s music economy and for planning and growth and to create relevant ongoing programs geared towards the New Orleans music ecosystem. O.N.E. also works for the entire hospitality industry, which of course, thrives at night.
O.N.E. just released a comprehensive 50-page report (available online here) that’s designed to make things easier, safer and more organized for anyone who participates in the city’s “nighttime economy”: hospitality workers (there are roughly 30,000 in the city), musicians, street performers, bars, restaurants, music clubs and venues and more. The Nightlife Business Best Practices Guide attempts to address many of the problems faced by everyone in the nightlife economy, including permitting, zoning, licensing, parking, sample business plans for restaurants, bars and music venues. It includes topics like:
How to Open a Nightlife Business: Step-by-step guidance on permits, inspections and licenses specific to nightlife operations.
Sample Business Plans: Real examples and fill-in-the-blank templates for bars, restaurants and live music venues as well as business plans for musicians and promoters.
Safety & Harm Reduction Tips: Best practices for keeping patrons and staff safe, including Narcan administration and overdose prevention.
Sound, Parking and Public Safety: Recommendations to minimize conflicts, ensure accessibility and operations in compliance with local laws and regulations.
Resilience Planning: Checklists and preparedness strategies to help nightlife businesses stay strong through hurricanes and other disruptions.
There is also a best practices guide for street performers and good parking practices.
The O.N.E. office will also soon announce that it is working with local parking companies to provide up to 1,000 parking spaces for hospitality workers, including musicians to make it safer for them and to provide some relief for people who work for hospitality businesses downtown and in the French Quarter. Users will have to apply through the business for whom they work to verify that they are employed at a nightlife business. Musicians will also be included.
Michael Ince, current director of O.N.E., urged all hospitality workers and musicins to get involved in the parking program. “Currently, we’re looking at about 1,000 spaces,” he said. “If we get those get used, we’ll have leverage to get parking companies to provide even more spaces for musicians and hospitality workers. More information is available on the O.N.E. website.
The O.N.E. office is also working on Musician Loading/Unloading zone formation, among many other projects.
O.N.E. is currrently working on partnerships with the Safe Bar Network to provide complying businesses with potentially lower insurance rates. The office is also entering into an agreement with the Loyola Music Business program to train sound engineers on sound abatement and best practices in classes at the university. The office is also providing Tune Up Grant Programs through a grant from Councilman Joseph Giarruso, III’s office. Hurry, if you are interested because grant applications close on August 31, 2o25. For questions and/or assistance with the grant application, please contact Julia Heath at [email protected].
