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New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Announcement
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New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc. April 21, 2015
OPENING APRIL 29 AT THE JAZZ & HERITAGE
GALLERY: "CREATING CONGO SQUARE - JAZZ
FEST AND BLACK POWER"
The opening reception for the exhibition "Creating Congo Square: Jazz Fest and Black
Power," will be on Wednesday, April 29, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Jazz & Heritage
Gallery (1205 N. Rampart Street). See below for details.
As the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell celebrates the 35th
anniversary of Congo Square, a new exhibit at the Jazz & Heritage Gallery allows festivalgoers and the public to explore the struggle that resulted in building that first Black Art
space at the festival.
The exhibit, “Creating Congo Square: Jazz Fest and Black Power,” will hold its opening
reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29. The exhibit features excerpts from oral histories with members of the Afrikan-American
Jazz Festival Coalition, who advocated to launch the Koindu marketplace, which later
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New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Announcement
became Congo Square. Portraits of the founding vendors, archival photos from the
festival, official documents, and newspaper clippings help tell the story from the late
1970s. The exhibition is a collaborative effort between community members, the New Orleans
Jazz & Heritage Foundation Archive and two anthropologists, Helen Regis of LSU and
Shana Walton of Nicholls State University. Regis, who has interviewed many of the
vendors and founders featured in the exhibit, said this presentation is part of a long-term
ongoing documentation project.
“People today can’t imagine Jazz Fest without Congo Square,” Regis said. “But bringing
the Koindu marketplace to life took a great effort by many people. It wasn't just about
adding black vendors. It was about changing the structure of the festival and its
governance.”
Foundation Archivist Rachel Lyons noted that the documentation project is in its initial
stages. People are invited to share their memories, interview suggestions, or photos from
early Koindu with her or the exhibit researchers.
The exhibit will be on display until through July 31 and is open free to the public between
10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday-Friday. For more information, call the New Orleans Jazz &
Heritage Foundation at 504-558-6100, or email [email protected].
Photo: Harold Baquet
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The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc.
1205 N. Rampart St. New Orleans LA 70116 • Phone 504.558.6100
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