New Orleans Jazz Fest Volunteer Photographer Program

The Volunteer Photographer Program is a community outreach project of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation's Archive. The program provides documentation of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell for the Foundation Archive. The Festival is held at the Fair Grounds Race Course at 1751 Gentilly Blvd., New Orleans, LA on April 28-30 and May 4-7, 2023.

The program documents the festival beyond the stages and music to include the "internal culture" of Jazz Fest—the food, art, culture, and people who attend. Volunteer Photographers must be at least 18 years of age and can be student, amateur, or professional photographers. Selected photographers are responsible for managing and editing hundreds or thousands of digital images and providing all images taken at the festival to the Archive. The work is physically demanding, requiring photographers to walk many miles around the Fair Grounds Race Course in potentially hot weather, rain, or dust conditions. Photographers are responsible for their own photography gear. A mandatory meeting for photographers will be held the day before the festival starts to distribute photo pit passes and tickets. No more than 150 applications can be accepted. Applicants must submit 6 images as work samples.