New Orleans musicians found a home here after Katrina. Now, it’s raising the next generation

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In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many of New Orleans’ jazz musicians left the city to seek safety.

With their exodus came a fear that the city’s musical culture and traditions could be lost. But a group of prominent musicians and producers got together to ensure that they could come home.

Out of the destruction of the storm, the Musicians’ Village was born.

Branford Marsalis of New Orleans’ famed Marsalis family, Harry Connick Jr. and Ann Marie Wilkins, who manages both musicians, partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build a neighborhood of affordable housing — totaling 72 single-family homes and 10 duplex units — in New Orleans’ 9th Ward for musicians and culture bearers.

The 9th Ward, which was heavily affected by flooding and storm damage, consisted mostly of low-income, Black households — an important factor for Musicians’ Village’s founder on where to build. Construction in the neighborhood began soon after Katrina in 2005, with the first houses ready for move-in a few years later.

Ellen Smith, one of those musicians, lost her home during Katrina and had to move temporarily out of the city. She sang alongside the late Bob French, a New Orleans drummer, and his band, ‘The Original Tuxedo Jazz Band’.

After couch surfing for a year, she was one of the first to move into the village in 2007, moving in on Mardi Gras Day.

The new house cost Smith $75,000. She said she was hesitant to move in at first because of the price, but she saw the vision for the neighborhood.

In 2012, the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music — named for the Marsalis family patriarch — opened at 1901 Bartholomew St. to anchor the community, offering a broad range of services to underserved youth and musicians.

Ellis Marsalis Jr. was a well-known pianist, but he was also a great music educator who dedicated his life to educating the next generation of jazz musicians. He taught at Tulane and the University of New Orleans and mentored artists like Connick, Donald Harrellson Jr., and Jon Batiste.

Smith not only still lives in her Musicians’ Village home, but she also now works at the center as an executive assistant and registrar.

“My work experience prior to that was waitressing in the French Quarter, and before that, I had been in the military. So my skills didn’t translate to doing the work that I’m doing now in the office,” Smith said. “So I went back to school at community college and studied office and business and a little music.”

This community is a hub for musicians to make music together, record and perform at the center, and even teach the next generation.

“I think it’s extremely important that kids who don’t come from money have some place to come where they can learn,” Smith said. “And this center is doing exactly that.”

At the center, kids learn how to read and write music, play instruments and record songs. They even get meals, help with homework, counseling and in 2019, the center partnered with Apple to begin offering coding classes.

Overall, the center has helped thousands of children and families in the 13 years since it opened. Because of it, New Orleans’ music culture is not just surviving, but thriving at Musicians’ Village.

“I think we’re in a good place musically and culturally because everybody sees the importance of passing it on and helping the next generation get up and get out,” Michael Harris, a bass player and singer living at Musicians’ Village, said.

“It was so much easier for a lot of people to just remain wherever they had relocated to… This incubator, this hallowed ground, sacred space, is a guarantor that the culture through the music and the arts will survive.”

This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.