Musicians' Village

Musicians' Village (New Orleans, Louisiana) is a new neighborhood built around a music center where musicians can teach and perform. Musicians Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis teamed up with Habitat for Humanity International and New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity to create the village for New Orleans musicians who lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina.

Per February 2007, the Musicians' Village is "the largest-scale, highest-profile, and biggest-budget rebuilding project to have gotten underway in New Orleans post-Katrina."^[1]^[2]

Story of the project

Habitat for Humanity and New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, working with Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis, announced their plans in December 2005 for a “Musicians’ Village” in the Crescent City.

The initial idea

The initial idea for the project came from Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis, honorary chairs for Habitat for Humanity's national hurricane rebuilding program. When they returned to their hometown several weeks after the storm and were trying to come up with ways to help. "I had been kind of coming up blank. The problem is so massive, it's hard to know where to begin," Connick said. "As we talked, we both realized we should really stick to what we know, which is music." Sharing the idea with Jim Pate and with the members of New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity (NOAHH), made the big idea into a big project, in New Orleans.

The village and the home-replacement project are initiatives that reach beyond the mission of the nonprofit that for the past 22 years has been building only single-family homes for low-income residents on vacant lots, according to The Times-Picayune.^[1]

Habitat began building in March 2006. Branford Marsalis said on the March 2 Larry King show, "we started moving dirt on the project two days ago, so we hope to have a significant number of homes up by the end of the year."

Harry Connick, Jr. about the initial idea, video clip at music.msn.com

Two projects known as one

The Musicians' Village is a project of New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity. Another Habitat project, in the same area, is the Baptist Crossroads Project.^[3] The idea of bringing music back to New Orleans was popular, and by September 2006 the entire area, including the Baptist Crossroads project, was known and referred to as Musicians Village. ^[4] The Baptist Crossroads Project was thought up in 2004, by David Crosby, pastor of First Baptist Church of New Orleans, and initially planned to build 40 houses, a $3 million project, funded in part by a $1.5 million matching grant from Baptist Community Ministries. After Hurricane Katrina hit, they partnered up with Habitat for Humanity New Orleans,^[5] and the building began on June 6, 2006.^[6] Thirty homes were completed between June and August 2006, and Baptist Crossroads hoped to build 100 houses in the same area over the subsequent two years, according to project coordinator Inman Houston.^[7]

Music

NBC live performance

Before construction had begun, Brian Williams and the NBC Nightly News crew met with Harry Connick, Jr., Branford Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity (NOAHH) Executive Director Jim Pate, and NBC Universal Chairman and CEO Bob Wright, in the Upper Ninth Ward, Jan. 23, 2006.

A raised platform, instruments, microphones and amplifiers were put up, and Connick, Marsalis and other musicians warmed up by playing themes to television shows—before giving a live jazz performance.

Home building events

The keys to the first 3 houses were given out on June 1, 2006. New homeowners Fredy Omar con su Banda and Jerome Deleno "J.D." Hill - with "J.D. and the Jammers" - played for the 300 or more people who had gathered for the dedication ceremony and party.^[8]^[9]

His Royal Highness Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway, toured Musicians' Village on October 15, 2006, and was treated to jazz music by new home owner Larry "Steamboat Willie" Stoops on the front porch of a newly built house. (Photos)

Buildings

Some of the early houses built at Musicians' Village, in the Upper Ninth Ward

Homes being built as part of the Musician's Village Project on 06/01/2007.

New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity (NOAHH) plans to build 70 single-family homes, as well as 5 two-family homes for older musicians and a music center in the core area of the Musicians' Village.

NOAHH hopes to build as many as 250 to 300 houses in the neighborhood surrounding the core site, if enough land is acquired.

The houses are designed with two, three, and four bedrooms. Homes are being built a foot above the flood level in the area, 5 feet (1.5 m), 7-inches off the ground. Habitat will use a total of seven different traditional New Orleans facades that will sometimes be flipped left to right.^[10]

Ellis Marsalis Center for Music

A centerpiece of the village will be the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, dedicated to celebrating the music and musicians of New Orleans and to the education and development of homeowners and others who live nearby. The center will feature indoor and outdoor performance spaces as well as practice rooms and classrooms. The outdoor events must end by 10 p.m. The center will have 51 off-street parking spaces.^[11] The center will be managed by the nonprofit foundation New Orleans Habitat Musicians Village Inc.^[12]

It will be a two-story center. It will have a 170-seat theater and performance hall with movable seats, including dressing and practice rooms. A courtyard with a retractable roof will be between this center and a smaller community center that will contain meeting rooms, offices, classrooms and a community Internet room.^[11] Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis have been "heavily involved in the design process" of the center, according to Jim Pate.^[8]

The multipurpose music center was originally meant to be constructed near Roman and Bartholomew streets, adjacent to the two-family homes for elderly musicians. However, new plans indicate it will be built at the intersection of North Bartholomew and North Prieur streets, so it can be within view of a planned toddler park. The park will be 70-by-110-foot (34 m), and may be built in November.^[12] Tentative plans call for a 5,000- to 8,000-square-foot (15,000-square-foot?^[13]) center with a 100- to 200-seat interior performance area as well as an outdoor performance area.

In week 15 (April 2007) the plans for the building won approval from the City Planning Commission.^[11] Engineers began grading the site in May, 2007.^[13] The groundbreaking was kicked off on September 13, 2007, with a celebration that included performances from Bob French and the Original Tuxedo Band and Shamarr Allen Combo, with guest artists Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis sitting in.^[14] The Ellis Marsalis Center for Music opened at the end of August 2011 in New Orleans’s Upper 9th Ward.^[15]

Location

Musicians' Village is located in the Upper Ninth Ward, New Orleans, Louisiana.

On Friday, January 6, 2006, the governing board for New Orleans public schools approved the sale of 8 acres (32,000 m²) of surplus property in the Upper 9th Ward to the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity. New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity was the only bidder for the advertised property. The board unanimously approved the $676,500 sale.

The core property was a residential area for decades and the former site of Kohn Junior High School, which was razed. The land covers two city blocks bounded by North Roman, Alvar and North Johnson streets. It also includes parts of three other blocks along what once was Bartholomew Street—the stretch between North Johnson and North Derbigny streets.

New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity's Executive Director, Jim Pate, says the particular neighborhood had some flooding, but not severe flooding. "It's safely within a fairly secure levee system that's going to be rebuilt very nearby. And it's a neighborhood that has all the services in — power, water, sewer."

Who can live in Musicians' Village?

Habitat is an equal opportunity housing organization, and non-musicians will also live in the village. Musicians are given no priority for housing over any other applicant. However, musicians who lived in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina and are in need of safe, affordable housing are encouraged to apply for the program.

The selection process is based on three basic criteria: Need for Shelter, Ability to Pay, and Willingness to Partner. This is true for all Habitat communities, not just Musicians' Village.

Jim Pate reminds potential applicants that Habitat is not a giveaway program. Each homeowner is responsible for paying an interest-free mortgage, normally for 20 years. Volunteer support and donations allow the housing to be sold at an affordable price. The average mortgage payment is about $550 a month. Homeowner families also contribute 350 hours of "sweat equity" in the form of labor on the construction of their homes and other Habitat homes.

Musicians interested in living in the village should call Habitat's homeowner hotline, according to Jim Pate.^[16]

Musicians are often paid in cash and have not always filed tax returns, and Habitat is working with musicians to find new and innovative approaches for income verification. Habitat for Humanity’s Family Services Coordinator, Sarrah Evans, explains that for one applicant, she photocopied a spiral-bound notebook of upcoming gigs to verify upcoming income. Musicians who have received a denial letter are urged by Evans to call Habitat's offices, where the Family Services staff will explain, step-by-step, how to address any application or credit issues. Gambit Weekly, in January 2007, wrote that Connick and Marsalis had hired Jackie Harris, (former director of the New Orleans Music and Entertainment Commission), to work with applicants who had failed to qualify, and try to help them improve their credit scores and reapply. The article also wrote the phone number musicians can contact Harris at.^[17]

As of January 2007, 30 musicians have been officially accepted as Habitat partner families, with an additional 120 working their way through the process.^[18] When construction is completed, the majority of those whose houses will make up the core will be musicians.

Applicants are ineligible if they have open collection accounts on their credit report, federal judgments or tax liens, etc.^[10] Applicants are also ineligible if they have bankruptcies within the past two years. If Applicants have declared bankruptcy, it must have been discharged at least two years ago. The nature of home-ownership makes these restrictions necessary, as property could be seized for payment of past debts.

Volunteers

Musicians' Village, signs from volunteer groups.

"We are thrilled at this opportunity to play a central part in the rebuilding of New Orleans," said Andy Lee, a vice president of New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity's governing board. "As soon as we acquire title to this property, we will move forward with plans to bring in thousands of volunteers from across the country to work alongside our homeowners."

Jim Pate, executive director of New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, "We'd hope some of our musician partner families could do some of their sweat equity by doing performances or concerts for some of our volunteers."

Many thousand volunteers have and are taking part in the project. Nearly every day of the week, hundreds of volunteers from around the country, and from all over the world, can be found carrying wood, hammering and sawing.^[19] Many groups have also volunteered at the Village, including the Mighty Sound of Maryland Marching Band in January 2007.

President Bush volunteers

President George W. Bush is greeted by the New Birth Brass Band on August 29, 2006, at the Habitat for Humanity's Musician's Village.

Politicians George W. Bush, Kathleen Blanco, Ray Nagin and Bill Jefferson volunteered at the Musicians' Village on April 27, 2006. Put on tool belts and hoisted triangular roof beam sections up to workers scampering across the wooden skeletons of new houses. Then they went inside the framework, talked with individual volunteers, before Nagin and Bush climbed up and started hammering nails handed up to them by Blanco and Jefferson.^[20] Hootie & The Blowfish brought their entire band and crew down to New Orleans for 5 days of building houses, on October 16–20, 2006.^[21] Former president Jimmy Carter worked in December 2006.^[22] Barack Obama took part in painting a home, held discussions, received a tour of the area and was entertained with music by J.D. Hill.^[23] His Holiness Karekin II, Leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, helped build a home on October 17, 2007,^[24] and senator John Edwards helped out on January 30, 2008.^[25] Edwards also held a ten-minute speech where he announced his withdrawal from the 2008 United States presidential race.^[26]

Photos: President Bush Volunteers in New Orleans

Funds

Habitat for Humanity has sold this poster on eBay where 100% of the sales benefit the Musicians' Village. Harry Connick, Jr. said in an interview: "It's of a drummer named Bob French. Now, I've been playing with Bob since I was five years old. Here's Bob, close to 70 years old, sitting there with a snare drum in his hands, surrounded by, on one side, a house that's collapsed on top of a car. Here's a musician who doesn't have a house, doesn't have anything anymore, who's a hero of mine".

Habitat for Humanity accepts donations at their website.

Proceeds from the benefit concert From the Big Apple to the Big Easy held in 2005, were directed toward the Musicians' Village as part of the event's overall commitment to support long-term rebuilding efforts of the Gulf Coast region.

Events have been and are being held by musicians and others to benefit the project, as well as personal donations.

A few early examples

New Orleans artist Fredrick Guess Studio and Café Amelie - special gallery opening and benefit. Sunday, April 9, 2006^[27]
German Seaside Jazzmen – a Dixieland band from Norden - benefit concert. March 2006^[28]
Ellis Marsalis - "Musicians Village" fundraiser in Calgary, March 24, 2006.^[29]
The Washington DC music community - concert From the Beltway to the Bayou featuring Eric Hilton from the Thievery Corporation, KidGusto, and DC area Dj's and musicians, on March 27, 2006.^[30]
Funk jam band Electronik Church announced Feb. 27, 2006, a nationwide music tour for the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity’s Musicians’ Village.^[31]
KFOG - (San Francisco / San Jose) announced a promotion to benefit New Orleans Habitat during Mardi Gras weekend 2006.^[32]
Gregg Stafford (trumpeter), joins the Heritage Hall Jazz Band and Jewel Brown (former Louis Armstrong vocalist) for a fundraiser February 18, 2006 in San Diego.^[33]
Chairman of NBC Universal, Bob Wright made a major personal contribution, enough to build an entire house.
The Click Five - proceeds from selling limited edition, glossy photos on tour over six months, and proceeds from a pre-Mardi Gras concert sponsored by local radio station B97, on February 27, 2006.^[34]
The Pajama Game, starring Harry Connick Jr with Kelli O'Hara & Michael McKean - 5 benefit performances. (Proceeds will benefit the Actors' Fund of America, the New Orleans Habitat Musician's Village, and the Roundabout's Education Program and Musical Theatre Fund.) June 13-17th, 2006.
Ivan Neville and his group Dumpstaphunk - benefit in Auburn, Alabama, on April 19, 2006.^[35]
Dave Matthews Band - $1.5 million dollars challenge grant. Contributions will be matched dollar for dollar through the grant, raising the total donation potential to $3 million. April 26, 2006.^[36]

Albums

Funds raised through recordings such as Hurricane Relief: Come Together Now, and Our New Orleans: A Benefit for the Gulf Coast, benefit the project.
Alex Pangman & Colonel Tom Parker of the Backstabbers - proceeds from a 78 rpm recording, and proceeds from the Record Release Party, in Toronto, Canada.^[37]
A portion of the royalties of Harry Connick Jr's albums Oh, My NOLA and Chanson du Vieux Carre will be donated to Musicians' Village, including all royalties from the CD single "All These People".^[38]
An independent music label, Sugarfoot Music, has released a double-disc called For New Orleans (full name: For New Orleans: A Benefit For The Musicians' Village Habitat For Humanity). The artists are donating 100% of the profits to the Musicians' Village. Thirteen of the 30 tracks are previously unreleased. The album includes Jeff Buckley's unreleased recording of "I Shall Be Released" (sung over the phone on live radio).^[39]
All proceeds from the sale of The Marsalis Family's Music Redeems goes directly to educational programming at the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music.

Awards

In 2010, the founders of the Village were awarded the Honor Award by the National Building Museum for their work in civic innovation and community development.^[40]

In 2012, Connick and Marsalis received the S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.