The Challenge

In an era when public schools are forced to cut back on arts and music education, there is a need to offer projects which promote creative thinking and expressions. The New Orleans Arts and Cultural Host Committee, Jazz Camp faculty and staff are committed to providing young people with productive activities to keep them positively involved.  The discipline employed in learning music is a character-building skill, which is useful throughout life.

The New Orleans Arts and Cultural Host Committee has been presenting Jazz Camp since 2000 and enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship with many local, national and international organizations.  Through its long standing partnerships with the Orleans Parish Public Schools System and the University of New Orleans (UNO), Jazz Camp has been housed on the campus of Medard Nelson Elementary School since the camp's inception in 1995.  Nelson has been under the auspices of the University of New Orleans since 2005.   Jazz Camp's Production/Engineering workshop was sponsored and housed at the University of New Orleans Lakefront Campus Music Department for 5 seasons.  The Camp's culminating activity is held in the university's Performing Arts Center.

We are happy to announce Jazz Camp's relocation to Loyola University New Orleans in 2010.  A Jesuit run university, this education network is one of the largest systems in American higher learning institutions. Classes will be hosted by the Music and Fine Arts Department.  The Thelonious Monk institute is housed in Loyola's Music Department and has become a partner in camp activities.  

Funded and founded by Louis Armstrong through an allocation of $40,000 in 1969, the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation is one of Jazz Camp's strongest sponsors and supporters.   Other contributors have included Entergy New Orleans; ASCAP Foundation; Emeril Lagasse Foundation; the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation; Wynton Marsalis and the Higher Ground Katrina Relief Fund at Jazz At Lincoln Center;  George and Joyce Wein Foundation; Louisiana Endowment for the Arts; Festival Productions, Inc., Essence Communications; Arts France; AT&T and other philanthropic organizations.