INNOVATORS Gold Award - New Orleans City Business

NONPROFIT
PHOTO BY FRANK AYMAMI
Tipitina’s Music Office Co-Op technical director Todd Souvignier, left, and board member Dean Dupuy have helped create a statewide network of work force development and technology centers for musicians,
as well as artists in films and digital media.
Tipitina’s Music Office Co-Op
Key innovation: a statewide network of work force
development and technology access centers for people
in music, film and digital media
Biggest client: musicians statewide
Where they’re based: New Orleans
Top executive: Roland Von Kurnitowski, owner of
Tipitina’s and founder of Tipitina’s Foundation Inc.
Year introduced: October 2003
MAKING IT IN the music business requires a lot more
than talent. It requires business and marketing skills and
access to technology many artists can’t afford.
Thanks to the Tipitina’s Music Office Co-Op, musicians,
as well as artists in film and digital media, can access
a statewide network of work force development and technology
centers that offer a unique economic development
opportunity for creative entrepreneurs.
“Being a talented performer, having a good voice and
being able to write a song … that and 50 cents will get
you a cup of coffee,” said Todd Souvignier, technical
director of the Tipitina’s Foundation Inc.
The fact is, in a city that has built an international reputation
on its music culture, many musicians live in
poverty, earning an average annual income of $15,800 for
a household of 2.5, Souvignier said.
“The co-op offers one proven, tangible way of reversing
that trend one artist/entrepreneur at a time.”
Since the co-op formed in October 2003, its 1,200
members statewide have reported significant increases in
their income.
“The average increase among members who reported
music income, after using the co-op for a year, was in the
range of 28 percent to 30 percent pre-Katrina, and 9 percent
post-Katrina,” Souvignier said. “That 9 percent is
still a pretty good revenue increase in a downturn market.”
Scott Aiges, director of programs, marketing and communications
for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage
Foundation and former head of the New Orleans Mayor’s
Music Office, conceived the program.
The co-op is supported largely by the Tipitina’s
Foundation, a New Orleans-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit
that supports Louisiana’s music culture. The state funds
roughly one-third of the co-op’s annual budget, but that
is scheduled to gradually decline until the co-op is selfsupportive
by 2010, Souvignier said.
At co-op locations in New Orleans, Baton Rouge,
Shreveport and Alexandria, members have access to the
Internet and office equipment, as well as the latest technology
to support music, film and digital media.
After Hurricane Katrina, the co-op was a “durable and
useful platform” for members to re-establish their business
connections, retrieve mail, use computers and connect
with other people, Souvignier said.
“We helped pre-screen people for housing and things
like that,” Souvignier said. “If we can provide a platform
not just for our members but for other nonprofits that
serve our members, how cool is that”
Three new co-op locations will open soon: in
Lafayette later this year, and Lake Charles and Monroe in
2009.•
— Angelle Bergeron
New Orleans CityBusiness 49A