For years, OffBeat supported the establishment of a Nighttime Economy office…because, frankly, we needed it. Luckily, it was established during the last mayoral administration, and since then, New Orleans Office of Nighttime Economy (O.N.E.) has made a lot of strides in supporting and developing programs for the music ecosystem community. But’s it’s still difficult for a city government to understand what should be done to create an environment where everyone prospers, especially in a city that still perceives its musical culture as background music to a party or consuming alcohol—except during Jazz Fest. Achieving goals that affect not only musicians and bands, but restaurants, bars, music clubs will improve our music economy and also be beneficial to visitors.
Julia Heath, Policy and Outreach Manager for O.N.E., who is highly experienced in developing music policy along with director Michael Ince, has written a great substack piece on what could happen in New Orleans, if O.N.E. can continue its mission successfully. She is a woman after my own heart who can see the difference that government can bring to the table vis a vis music community development and successful policies that impact everyone in the music ecosystem.
Pay attention! Here’s an excerpt from her latest communiqué:
Lack of funding, policies that almost happen and then don’t, City staff with vision who burn out and leave, frustrating permitting processes, spreadsheets, meetings with people with personal agendas, explaining the value of investing in music over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
If you work in or around government long enough, it becomes so easy to lose sight of what any of it is actually for. At a certain point, I realized I needed something clearer – a way to cut through the noise and remind myself why any of this matters. Not in policy language, but in real life. So I wrote this:
Imagine New Orleans in 2035.
You’re walking down Frenchmen Street and see musicians unloading gear with ease into venues that are protected forever by a cultural land trust. A few blocks away, a recording studio founded by recent college grads is hosting a listening party for a rising hip-hop artist. At a late night community café, a jazz trio plays in a pop-up showcase using a limited performance permit that allows non-traditional venues to host live music without excessive red tape.
This isn’t a rare night. It’s just another Thursday.
What made this possible wasn’t just creativity or tradition – it was commitment. A decade ago, New Orleans made the decision to stop taking music for granted and to treat it as essential. Through the implementation of a $1/ticket Music Industry Development Fee on large-scale concerts and events, the city established the Music Industry Development Fund, a self-replenishing public investment tool that now supports artists, local showcases, venue preservation, licensing education, and professional development programs. This Fund has not only stabilized our music economy, it has created new engines of revenue, tourism, music export, and job creation.
Today, music businesses are being started, and staying, in New Orleans. University students now see a future here, not just a training ground. Artists are finding clear pathways to licensing opportunities, regional touring, and creative collaborations through physical and virtual music hubs. New Orleans-based managers, producers, and independent labels are building sustainable careers, not just off the city’s legacy, but off its renewed ecosystem. What was once informal and improvised now coexists with infrastructure that works without compromising the city’s soul.
Our artists are not just performing here. They’re generating publishing income, launching startups, and creating IP that circulates globally. New Orleans is no longer just “where music comes from.” It’s where music is going. Jazz still thrives, but so do bounce, hip-hop, punk, indie, and genre-defying sounds rooted in the rhythm of the streets.
City government now treats music as a core sector of economic development. Permitting is clear. Mediation works. Venue owners and cultural producers have the tools they need to operate legally and sustainably. And the term “live music venue” isn’t up for debate, it’s protected, defined, and honored. We’ve preserved the soul of this city not by freezing it in time, but by making sure it can breathe, adapt, and keep playing.
This is our vision for New Orleans in 2035: not a monument to what music used to be, but a living, working ecosystem where culture leads, policy follows with purpose, and everyone has a seat at the table.
This is the point. This narrative will vary from city to city, but I think a throughline we can all recognize is that none of this can happen by accident. None of this will happen because New Orleans is recognized as a “music city” by tourists and even by locals. This will happen because of strategy and commitment to work together towards a shared goal.
I wrote the above narrative initially as an introduction to the New Orleans Music Industry Strategic Plan, but it does still stand alone in terms of focus. That project ended up merging into the broader New Orleans Nighttime Economy Strategic Plan, which is divided up into 5 “pillars,” with Music Industry Development being one of them. For those who haven’t read the plan, the Music Industry Development work is broken down into a series of specific tools and programs that span workforce development, policy, infrastructure, and funding.
Take a few minutes to read the plan and pay attention to the strategies contained in it. We need to get proactive, so that the entire city can continue to successfully burnish its reputation as a “Music City.” Since Ince and Heath have run O.N.E., their office has produced numerous helpful and interesting documents geared towards improving New Orleans as a more successful music and nighttime-oriented city, all of which are available on their website. They also have sponsored the New Orleans Music Census, a first-of-its-kind document outlining the state of New Orleans music and musicians from an economic viewpoint.
Another suggestion: require the New Orleans Cultural Tourism fund devote a chunk of money to specifically market the city as a music and cultural mecca to dampen the city’s reputation as a party city. Hopefully, that will entice a different kind of visitor to the city: one that’s more affluent, culturally-minded, and one that will be able to support and enjoy New Orleans as a center of culture, not just party-til-you-drop destination. Our celebrations could be presented more as cultural events, rather than “party city.” New Orleans & Company does use music and culture in its promotional push (their music main push is during NOLAxNOLA in September and October), but overall it’s a small part of the city’s promotion. What I am suggesting is to make it a year-round, specifically-targeted campaign to affluent travelers that includes local music, museums, art, dance and cultural attractions.
