This Awards Ceremony is Welcoming A New Class of Musicians

Google the Preservation Hall Foundation and some of the first words you’ll come across are these: protect, preserve, and perpetuate.

For the Preservation Hall Foundation, those three words define a mission. From hosting Kids in the Hall to donating instruments through the Sousafund, down to the Legacy Program, the Preservation Hall Foundation is impacting local musicians at every step of life. They’re doing it for the culture. With their upcoming awards and presentation event, the Foundation is asking you to join in that celebration. We present the Legacy Award and Sousafund Presentation Ceremony.

The Legacy Program and Sousafund

This Tuesday, September 17th, the Preservation Hall Foundation is honoring a class of culture bearers both new and old. Through their Legacy Program, the PHF works the mission of protection. Providing economic support and benefits, The Legacy Program assists elder musicians within the Preservation Hall Collective to continue pursuing their craft into their later years. In just the first four years, the program has already distributed $150,000 indirect financial support to these musicians. Legacy Program Master Practitioners and Hall Fellows preserve local heritage by becoming stewards of education initiatives at Preservation Hall. It’s into this cultural circle-of-life that the 2019 Sousafund recipients enter. 

If you’ve been following along this summer, the Sousafund Program probably sounds familiar. If you haven’t, then it might just sound like a clever play on words. It is much more, and you can read about it in full detail here. In 2018, the PHF began donating upright basses and sousaphones (tubas) through the Sousafund program. The instruments are given to music students who demonstrate an interest in pursuing their art as a career, thus perpetuating New Orleans music culture. This year, the Sousafund will grow. Five musicians are joining the Program, blazing a fresh path with these traditional brass and jazz instruments. Nothing could be better for the city’s heritage than to have its own home-grown players picking up the mantel. 

Awards Ceremony Details

The Awards and Induction ceremony for the Legacy & Sousafund Programs will take place at Hotel Peter & Paul in the Marigny (2317 Burgundy St). Doors will open at 4:30p. The Preservation Hall All-Star Band will open the ceremony at 5:00p, playing for a quick fifteen before the beneficiary awards begin. The Sousafund class will start, followed by the welcoming of four musicians into the Legacy Program: Lawrence Cotton, Rickie Monie, Tom Sancton, and Clive Wilson. Immediately after this honor, the All-Star Band will kick back up for a few more tunes. Hotel Peter & Paul has a wonderful cafe and restaurant, so be sure to check out the Elysian Bar for some great food and drink while you kick back and listen to the sounds of the city, brought to you by the indomitable Pres. Hall Family. 

Have any tips on upcoming events, music, or restaurant releases? Email to brich@riverbeats.life