3rd Katrina Anniversary Report

CONJURING UP NIMBLE SOLUTIONS TO THE WOES FACING NEW ORLEANS MUSICIANS

By: Bethany Ewald Bultman
President/CEO
NOMC and NOMAF
neworleansmusiciansclinic.org
New Orleans Musicians' Clinic
New Orleans Musicians Assistance Fdn.

Thanks to the Normal Appeal and other worldwide donors/stakeholders of the New Orleans musicians advocacy organizations more than 75% of the pre-storm 3500+ musicians and tradition bearers have returned to New Orleans. The challenge we at NOMC/NOMAF (New Orleans Musicians clinic and our sister organization, New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation) face is how we are going to keep them alive and sustain them during these lean times post Katrina.

With only 60% of the pre-katrina population back in town, the glacial economic recovery and the sharp downturn in projected conventions, we are challenged to both create and fund gigs to sustain our musicians. As a matter of fact, we have “invested” more than $100,000 in direct gig payments to musicians of $100 per man per gig since January 2008. We fund elder musicians to play at senior centers, brass bands to be musical mentors in schools, weekly gigs at St. Anna's and dozens of community events. (Don't local audiences realize that many of the bands are only paid a small percentage of the take at the door or what's in the meager tip jar?)

Pre-Katrina, the dirty little secret of New Orleans world famous music industry was that most of our more than 3500 musicians endured an epidemic of poverty and health care outcomes rivaling most Third World nations. . Since its founding in 1998, the NOMC's mission has been to sustain these musicians in mind, body and spirit by developing access to primary care, preventative health services, and social and occupational outreach, regardless of their ability to pay for these life preserving services. We had 1200 musician patients. 93% of them lived below federal poverty guidelines

Then in August 2005 the fragile reality of our beloved music culture was revealed when the world watched as legend Fats Domino was rescued from the roof of his 9th ward home. As 80% of the city was covered with water for nearly one month, NOMC staffers found ourselves without working cell phones, access to our LSU.edu based email accounts or our NOMC website, patient medical records and our Hibernia bank account. I don't need to tell you that it seemed hopeless.

The impact of Hurricane Katrina on the psyche of New Orleans musicians has been immense, and their needs continue to increase. It is O'Henresque: musicians pawning their newly donated instruments to pay for a used car to take them back and forth to gigs. Lack of dental care causes them to loose teeth which impedes their ability to play their horns. They end up living in the car without gas money to drive to our health clinic to get their blood pressure medication.

Each day we ask ourselves, “what can we do to make certain that Jazz does not die on our watch?” The fact is, New Orleans must realize that our musicians' livelihoods are as fragile as our wetlands. Unless New Orleanians create a viable 21st century WPA or Marshall Plan, playing live music will become a luxury that our musicians cannot afford. This is where you, as our donor and our partner play a vital role in sustaining Jazz in its birth city.

Meeting Our health care challenges

New Orleans' warm, erotic humid climate, the wild foliage, the sensuous aroma of sweetolives and rifts of Jazz and funk combine to evoke a unique place and a culture, notunsympathetic to the weaknesses of the flesh. At The New Orleans Musicians Clinic(NOMC est. 1998), the United States' only comprehensive health clinic for musicians,we are faced with sustaining a unique population during the hard times we all wrestle withsince the 2005 floods. Having the Normal Appeal donors assist us means a great dealto us.

For more than ten years, we have proudly served a “challenging' population ofmusicians who personify a cluster of characteristics including “creative” and “sensitive”with shades of “deviant” and “non-conforming.” Add to this a predilection for riskybehavior and a lifestyle with a wide acceptance (and even reliance) on illicit drugs, alcoholand sex. And lastly, a historical low priority on personal health and a distrust ofconventional medical care. Although New Orleans musicians are celebrated around theworld, at home they have a history of living hand to mouth, outside mainstream socialand economic systems. Many of them pride themselves in existing in a cash-only economy, not having a bank account or paying taxes. Hence they are in effect excludedfrom the American health care delivery system.

Before Katrina, many of the more than 3500 musicians working in New Orleans sufferedfrom health problems related to living in “below 3rd world poverty,” working late hours,separations from their families while being on the road and uncertain financial futures.Today, there are less than 1800 musicians in New Orleans who are now struggling for asmaller piece of the pie, as there are very few gigs, and a lower pay scale for those fewmusical jobs. Stress from losing their homes, their neighborhoods and their income frommusic is taking a tragic toll.

At the NOMC we are just one of the 10 or so musician advocacy groups determined topreserve our dense cultural landscape. Yet, our task is one of providing a hand to hold inthe dark times, to be both culturally sensitive and to keep our musicians alive. Whether itis conventional counseling for individuals or group sessions for bands, psychiatric medsmanagement or therapeutic drumming circles or detox acupuncture, the NOMC isacutely aware that musicians and the tradition bearer community must reach out to usbefore there is a crisis. Since January we have added a new Behavorial Health department to create a team approach to helping our musicians cope.

Please make donations to: neworleansmusiciansclinic.org