Annika Mengisen
NEW ORLEANS -- I hoped that New Orleans' new slogan "Back in business" would hold true as the streets flooded with rainwater my first day there. Sure enough, by that evening the water receded, and the next day shone brightly as the second weekend of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival kicked off, whose slogan proclaimed "Move your body and your soul!"
Soul is something New Orleans has no shortage of. I saw it in the cab driver who pointed out the water marks left on buildings by devastating Hurricane Katrina, while he joked about sitting on his couch watching one of the walls of his home float away. A crowd stomped it out in time to the raucous sounds of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and I heard it in the tone of Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu's voice as he addressed the press with a zydeco band as backdrop. Besides renewing that spirit that has kept New Orleans afloat through hardship, this year's Jazz Festival highlighted the most important force behind Louisiana's economy: its culture. According to the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, tourism in Louisiana (pre-Katrina) was a $9.4 billion industry in 2004. This year, the 38th annual Jazz and Heritage Festival held on April 27-29 and May 4-6 brought about 350,000 visitors and had an economic impact of about $300 million for the city of New Orleans. "What you see out here is a great economic engine," says Landrieu. A study commissioned by Landrieu, released in February, showed that close to two-thirds of New Orleans' musicians have returned since Katrina, and 160 performing arts venues have reopened. If Louisiana wants to get back in business, however, it has to support the backbone of New Orleans: the cultural economy.
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