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Elizabeth Hart, attending the festival with her husband Doug, watched Thibodeaux's performance and the couples dancing as she tapped and swayed to the beat. "It's just so unique," said Hart, of High Park, N.Y, of the songs. "We've been to New Orleans often, but never to the festival. It's a great event, very well organized." Proceeds from the festival benefit the nonprofit New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, which works to fulfill the festival's grass-roots mission to stimulate the music culture in Louisiana and reinvest in the community with music education programs, said Don Marshall, the foundation's director. In its humble beginnings, the festival featured only a handful of acts and drew only about 350 people to Congo Square. Now, more than 40 years later, a festival horde packs the Fair Grounds Race Course. There are 12 music stages and countless other presentation areas for cultural demonstrations, including exhibitions by Native Americans and cooking demonstrations by some of the area's renowned chefs. In recent years, the festival has drawn nearly 400,000 visitors over the course of the two weekends. The festival's growth has allowed the foundation to provide $500,000 in grants each year to other nonprofit organizations supporting the arts, as well as to writers, artists, photographers, filmmakers and education programs. "I haven't seen another model like this anywhere," Marshall said. "This festival has grown to the point where we're able to generate revenue that allows us to establish free music education programs, housing initiatives and lecture series. One of the best things we do is the grant program." Before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Marshall said, the foundation offered roughly $100,000 in grant money every other year. But with the need for music and cultural redevelopment so strong after the storm, the foundation restructured its grant program to make more money available. "We're really committed to keeping the culture alive, and we believe helping musicians and all artists is pivotal in making that happen," Marshall said.
[Associated
Press;
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