The foundation also bought property to house the Heritage Music School, which has provided free jazz classes to local students since saxophonist Kidd Jordan launched the program with the foundation's help in 1990.

And with housing costs at an all-time high in Katrina's aftermath, the foundation assists local musicians through housing subsidies and financial education. It helped 20 musicians buy homes in Musicians' Village, a Habitat for Humanity project initiated by singer Harry Connick Jr. and saxophonist Branford Marsalis.

The foundation also provides $300,000 in annual community partnership grants to dance troupes, theaters and educational-outreach programs.

For all their talent, New Orleans musicians seldom excel at marketing themselves. Hence the foundation's annual Sync Up entertainment-industry conference and the Jazz & Heritage Talent Exchange, an online database.

"We're using new technologies to take the foundation into new directions," Aiges says. "But maybe more importantly, we're leveraging our brand value to focus the entertainment industry's attention on Louisiana's independent musicians."

To get involved and for more information, visit JazzandHeritage.org.