Brian Savegar Diabetes Fund

The Brian Savegar Diabetes Fund supports peer counseling between musicians who are successfully managing their diabetes and musicians who have recently been diagnosed. Musicians enrolled in the program also serve as “good health” mentors for children at New Orleans schools.

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MUSIC IN SCHOOLS

Music-In-Schools - an outreach program of The New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic Gig Fund - is a multi-faceted mentorship plan designed to perpetuate the legacy of indigenous New Orleans music through education in the schools. The program has several goals designed to assist New Orleans’ struggling musician population:

• Heal our musician population by employing them to serve as lifestyle mentors and thought leaders in the schools of their community. This will positively contribute to their mental well-being, which is the most significant health issue facing musicians coping with life in post-Katrina New Orleans.
• Educate local children about the significant role music plays in our daily lives and our local culture. From Mardi Gras Indian beats to traditional jazz music, New Orleans music is the seed that flowered all American music.
• Create employment opportunities for NOMC clinic members. Musicians are the most vital contributors to our local culture. If musicians cannot make a living here, the roots of New Orleans’ culture will be lost.

Ensure that the legacy of New Orleans music continues to thrive with future generations. As it has been for many generations before, children hold the key to New Orleans’ music future. From high school marching bands comes brass bands, from street corner bands to performing at Jazz Fest, the legacy must continue…and thrive.

Music In Schools is a collaborative effort between various non-profit education-based organizations and individuals dedicated to the preservation of the arts in New Orleans. Collaborative partners include The Musicians Performance Fund, AmeriCares Foundation, Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans, Communities In Schools, The Carrollton Rotary Club and other educational and musician advocacy organizations.

Established in 1998, the NOMC is an innovative not-for-profit occupational medicine and wellness partnership offering comprehensive health care sponsored by Daughters of Charity Services of New Orleans and the LSU Healthcare Network. Dedicated on May 2, 1998, NOMC became the first such health initiative of its kind in the United States to address the health needs and wellness of musicians and their families, a historically under-served segment of the Louisiana population. Since Hurricane Katrina, NOMC has broadened its mission to address the new challenges that affect the health of New Orleans musicians including lack of employment opportunities, housing problems, financial difficulties, and mental stress caused by grief and loss. For more information, please call (504) 415-3514.

Photo by Syndey Byrd.