The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of visitors to New Orleans each year. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation Inc., as it is officially named, was established in 1970 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (NPO). The Foundation is the original organizer of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell Oil Company, a corporate financial sponsor. The Foundation was established primarily to redistribute the funds generated by Jazz Fest into the local community. As an NPO, their mission further states that the Foundation "promotes, preserves, perpetuates and encourages the music, culture and heritage of communities in Louisiana through festivals, programs and other cultural, educational, civic and economic activities". The founders of the organization included pianist and promoter George Wein, producer Quint Davis and the late Allison Miner. In addition to the Festival, the organization's other assets include radio station WWOZ 90.7 FM, the Jazz & Heritage Foundation Archive and The George & Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center. The Foundation also raises funds by holding the Jazz & Heritage Gala every year and provides several educational programs and a variety of more targeted festivals. Because of concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 marked the first year in the fifty-year history of Jazz Fest that the two-week festival has been cancelled. It was originally rescheduled to take place October 8–17, 2021, but later cancelled completely. 2022 saw its resumption after a two-year hiatus. Background In 1962, Olaf Lambert, the manager of the Royal Orleans Hotel in the French Quarter contacted George Wein, a jazz mogul and founder of the Newport Jazz Festival and the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island and asked him to bring his festival model to New Orleans. Wein met with Mayor Victor H. Schiro, Seymour Weiss a hotel executive and civic leader, and a few members of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce to discuss the proposition. They decided that New Orleans and the South were not ready for a jazz festival. It was a time in the city's history that was fraught with racism and segregationists reminiscent of the Jim Crow era. City ordinances were still in place that prohibited interaction between black and white musicians, tourists and locals and