Very good. For decades, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival has cultivated and preserved the unique music, food, and art tradition of the beautiful city. The birthplace of jazz from its beginning in Congo Square in 19 in 1970 with historic performance by Mahalia Jackson to now sharing our culture with hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world, Jazz Fest seamlessly blends local names and national acts, offering something for everyone to enjoy. It has been *** beacon in our city, rich musical culture today. including an incredible lineup and performances, world renowned cuisine, and immense cultural experiences. Jazz Fest truly showcase the very essence of New Orleans. On behalf of Mayor Latoya Cantrell, I must also recognize the critical work the New Orleans Jazz Heritage Foundation does year round in support of our culture bears. Let's give him *** bam, 123. Their work preserves our culture and uplifts our artists in supporting this community in *** meaningful way, ensuring that the legacy of the festival extends far beyond the stage. Mayor Latoya Cantrell sends her best wishes for *** festival that continues to capture the hearts and soul of our city. Thank you to Shell. Let's give him *** band. 123 and all the festival sponsors, 123. Continuing to invest in the city of New Orleans, our people, our rich, unique heritage. Working stronger together, we must keep the culture of New Orleans alive. Investing in our culture means investing in our people. The city is bursting with excitement for the 54th Jazz Fest. Let's make this truly *** spectacular event. Viva Mexico, 123. Thank you. Oh. Thank you, Julius. Well we could give us also special thanks to the City Council of New Orleans. Without the city council of New Orleans, we really couldn't operate *** big festival like this in this city. Uh, we're happy to have with us today the councilman of District E who's written *** poem about Jazz Fest, Oliver Thomas. Well, first of all I wanna thank New Orleans and Company, Shell, uh, all of the, uh, sponsors, uh, the Jazz Fest Foundation, and everyone who puts on this great festival. Uh, no political speeches, but as someone who grew up in the culture from the music to the Mardi Gras Indian tribes, I'm the only elected official who's been, uh, the king of two social and pleasure clubs, buck jumpers and Treme sidewalk steppers. My family, we thought we would celebrate this 54th anniversary like this. Jazz Fest is *** cultural and musical explosion. Since the first one, Quin when organizers had the notion. That you can combine all the things that make us unique. Folks from all over the world would come here to seek. The flavor, Walt, the recipe, the beat, even if they couldn't pronounce Chappaulla Street. So thousands flock here annually. Our flavor, rhythms and flow when they learn to trust. So every time around this time we saw the rest of the world that ain't nobody quite like us. Well, also essential for the city of New Orleans is the New Orleans Police Department, one of the best in the world. New Orleans police superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick and our fire chief Roman Nelson are both here with us today. Where are y'all at? Thank you. So this is, this is fantastic. Shell has been the presenter of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival since 2006, almost 20 years. Our presenter is truly *** fantastic partner, so we're pleased to welcome today the executive vice president of the Shell exploration and production company, Gulf of America, Collette Hursti. Thank you. If I can just make sure to get everybody's attention in the back. I know everybody is very excited, um, *** couple of things that I just wanted to start out with. First of all, um, we had *** wonderful band that kicked us off, and this is really what this is about. This is about the music. I think the musicians are still here with us and I love the, the band. So if on the count of 3 we can get *** ban for the musicians 123. Alright, wonderful. So my name is Colette Hurstius and I'm the senior vice president for the Gulf of America for Shell. I was born and raised here in New Orleans, not too many streets away from here, and I'm grateful to be here again this year, gearing up for another fabulous partnership between Shell and Jazz Fest, *** partnership that keeps adding value for Shell and importantly for the foundation. Last year thanks to to the additional work that Shell has done to expand recycling across the fairgrounds, Jazz Fest became the largest cultural festival ever to achieve the Evergreen certificate for the council for Responsible Sport. In the theme of this, I'm gonna count to 3 again. 123. Together we recycled nearly 100 metric tons of waste. As I was getting ready for today, I was struck by the fact that 20 years ago I was pregnant for my first child. I was also very, very, very early on in my career. And that child today is in his 2nd year of college, and the idea of standing here with all of you was truly inconceivable. Now just let's do *** *** bit of *** reflection backward. 20 years ago, like every other New Orleanian, I was living in the before world. In my family, we call it the pre-K world. Getting excited to park at my parents' house and walk to the festival and soak up the sounds and the smell and the music and all of the fun that I still love sharing with my three boys today. No one had *** clue then that on August 28th. Our world would be completely different. It's still hard for me to talk about. The suffering and the hardship caused by Hurricane Katrina that day in 2005 divided our lives into pre-K and post-K. So many were exiled. And we work to rebuild our homes, our lives, our communities, and most importantly, our culture. Shell made some bold decisions in the post-K days. Decisions that were surrounded by people and experts. Declaring that New Orleans was dead. Never to recover. I actually had people ask me if they should move the city upriver. Hard to imagine. I've never been so proud to work for this company, and when we doubled down, when Shell doubled down and decided that we were coming home to our New Orleans headquarters, even when so many of our competitors made that decision to leave, we decided to help our employees and communities rebuild, and we truly understood that none of that hard work mattered if we didn't take *** bold step to secure our culture. And so, our special relationship with Jazz Fest, as it's only presenting sponsor in history, raise rose out of those floodwaters. Recently, we bet on New Orleans again by taking the bold step to have *** new modern office building rising up on the River District to serve as the Gulf of America's operational headquarters and will move in in 2027. Every day over 3000 people in our wonderful state go to the offices downtown and also go to different locations across the Bayou region and to offshore platforms in the Gulf of America to work and to deliver energy to our country and to our citizens every day. Over these 8 days of Jazz Fest, the people and the artists of Louisiana and New Orleans will show the world that 20 years into its post-K era, it's not the tragedy that defines us. Instead it's the culture, the music, the spirit, and the joy of this community that makes this place home. If I can get one more bam, 123, bam. New Orleans proud to call it home. Thank you, coed, and it is *** great thing that the festival is the first to be honored in in in that way for our sustainability and it was really Shell who came to us and said we're gonna make this happen and, and they are making it happen and they're paying for it. The new. Thank you. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is owned by *** 501c3 nonprofit foundation, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation. The CEO of the foundation is Blake Anthony Johnson. Blake. Good afternoon. We can do one more time. Good afternoon. I love this. OK, my name is Blake Anthony Johnson. I'm the chief executive officer for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Foundation. The mission of the foundation is to promote and preserve the music culture and heritage of communities in Louisiana and we bring this mission to life year round through our festivals, our programs, and other cultural, educational, civic, and economic activities. Jazz Fest is iconic in itself and is singular because it allows the foundation to directly reinvest in the communities of artists, creative. The city and region that makes the festival possible in the first place and so I wanna thank our sponsors. I wanna thank our producers, our board of directors, many who are in the room, our team of professionals on our staff, our volunteers, and all of you for making the start of this jazz fest season successful again. So please check us out at jazzinheritage.org to see what we do for the other 50 weeks of the year and thank you again for celebrating with us. Take care. Thank you, Blake Anthony, *** great addition to, to our community. Now our wonderful new partner here at the Fairgrounds is Cathy Breeding, the vice president and general manager of the Fairgrounds Racecourse and slots, Cathy Beating. Hi everyone, I am Cathy Beating. I'm the vice president and general manager here at the fairgrounds. Welcome to the fairgrounds. I am one of the newest members of the Fairgrounds team. I took the reins here about 6 months ago, and it looks like my timing was spot on. We just completed the 153rd thoroughbred racing season here at Fairgrounds, capped off with the 112th running of the Louisiana Derby last Saturday. We had record breaking crowds. We're sending *** beautiful horse named Tiztastic to the Kentucky Derby. And we had absolutely gorgeous New Orleans weather. I'm also happy and proud to be with you here today to mark my official transition. From Jazz Fest guest to Jazz Fest supporting partner, but first, I have *** confession. I'm from South Florida and I grew up listening to and frankly wanting to be Jimmy Buffett. I had the pleasure of seeing right at 40 Buffett concerts before he left us, and my recollections of those concerts range from seeing him in the cheapest seats available which was behind the stage at the at the Sundome in Tampa. To several more enjoyable shows here at the fairgrounds. Sometimes the sun was shining, and sometimes there was some liquid sunshine. But regardless, it was clear to all who attended. That Jimmy had an unparalleled and lasting love for the city of New Orleans, Quint Davis, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Listening to his voice resonate with love while standing alongside hundreds of thousands of other Buffett fans at the fairgrounds and field remains one of my most endearing memories. Similarly, the bond between fairgrounds and Jazz Fest is one forged over decades and many, many experiences as we welcome our partner, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival back to the fairgrounds from the bottom of our hearts we wish Quint, Heather, and the entire Jazz Fest team *** happy, safe, sunny and successful Jazz Fest. Thank you. Thank you, Cathy. Well, for the 2nd year now, they're the sponsor of the super popular Expedia Cultural Exchange Pavilion. Please welcome David Reed, the market manager for Expedia in New Orleans. Good afternoon everyone. My name's David Reed, and I'm one of the local market managers with Expedia Group, proudly based here in New Orleans. Expedia and my local colleagues are thrilled to be the official travel sponsor for Jazz Fest for the 2nd year in *** row. I've lived in New Orleans for only just about 8 years now, and I moved here because I love New Orleans. We all know it's *** special place and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and foundation is *** huge part of what makes it so special here. I still remember my first trip to Jazz Fest, the energy, the music, the spirit, the food, the incredible people, all of it, to me it's like *** microcosm of everything that I love about New Orleans and what I think makes it so special. It left *** lasting impression on me and still every single year I always look forward to grabbing my mango freeze and my roast beef po poboy and discovering my next new favorite artist and just spending *** couple of days dancing or cooling off in the gospel tent with some of my friends. And so for that reason I'm thrilled to be *** part of this partnership and on behalf of Expedia Group, uh, I wanna thank, uh, Quint Davis, the rest of the sponsors. I wanna thank the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Foundation. And I also wanna thank all of our hotel partners who worked with us on our Jazz Fest campaigns to provide lodging options to our Jazz Fest travelers. Your support has been instrumental to the success of this partnership, and we look forward to the continued relationships and to continuing to strengthen our commitment to the city of New Orleans. Thank you all so much. Thank you. Well last but definitely not least, the hospitality without the hospitality industry in New Orleans. We would just close up shop. The man in charge, Walt Legere, is the president and CEO of New Orleans and Company, and he really does keep the city afloat. Walt, nice to have you. Thank you, Quint um, takes all of us to keep it afloat, and we're just happy to be *** part of an incredible team that includes the incredible folks at the Jazz and Heritage. Foundation and of course the festival that brings it to life each and every year. So thank you to all the sponsors and all the partners, the mayor and the mayor's office, the city councilman, the city council, of course the foundation, uh, Shell, and so many others, um, it's, it's *** thrill to be with you today. This is one of the great days. It's where you finally flip the switch and you know that um not only is Jazz Fest coming but that Jazz Fest is here. So we gather to celebrate this day each and every year in *** party, of course, to kick it off and showcase not just *** festival but the festival, one of the most iconic festivals anywhere on the planet, year in and year out. Showcasing the incredible talent of the people of our community and our state, our music, our culture, our food, um, but more important than all of that, the people that make it all so special. Jazz Fest brings us together as *** reminder that not everywhere um our things. going as well as they are here where we can continue to gather in community in very special ways throughout the course of the year whether it's Mardi Gras, whether it's Jazz Fest or whether it's one of the other iconic events that bring us together in community and we have to hold on to that and continue to celebrate it. I wanted to share with you that since 2022 our our team at New Orleans and Company has been on *** mission to uh achieve uh an incredible. Goal of ours and that is earning designation by UNESCO as *** creative city of music um for those of you not familiar with UNESCO, it is the United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization that for years has recognized cities around the world who use culture and creativity to drive positive change and to bring people together. How can New Orleans not be on that list? Well, when we found out that we weren't, we decided that we needed to go ahead and check it out. And so in concert with many partners across the community, we have pursued designation through *** variety of ways. And this year during Mardi Gras we received the call that New Orleans. is just one of two cities to be moving forward in this prestigious application process and we're now pending before the international board at the United Nations to be one step closer to celebrating the culture, our musicians, and our traditions on an even larger international stage. In my mind, Jazz Fest is living proof that we deserve this honor. It is *** celebration and it demonstrates that music isn't just *** part of our city, but it's the very essence of our city. Even our airport is named after one of the most famous New Orleans musicians, Louis Armstrong. Music fills our streets, our celebrations, our homes, and our hearts. I'm grateful for some incredible artists who are helping us along the way to tell this story, folks like John Batiste and Wendell Brunius, Bruce Derepont, Mia Borders, Bruce Sunie Barnes, and others who have joined us on this advisory council, and we invite everyone who loves New Orleans music to join us in this effort. We particularly thank the city of New Orleans, Mayor Cantrell, and the New Orleans Tourism Culture Fund, and Lisa Alexis for being *** part of this journey. What would Jazz Fest be though without incredible food? Crawfish Monica, crawfish bread, Cochon delay po'boys, my favorite soft shell crab po'boys, um, and so much more from so many local restaurants, so many vendors, and of course so many people who work to make this possible. It's no wonder that this year Time Out magazine recently named New Orleans the best food city in the world for 2025. And by the way, no other US city made the list. This is *** testament to our restaurants, to our chefs, to the people working in these places all across our community, uh, to our culinary community, and to the people who are the background of that industry, um, deserving of praise and celebration and thrilled to be able to celebrate it once again. The sounds of this city don't stop at the festival gates though they spill out onto the streets of New Orleans and of course they resonate around the globe. So hopefully soon we'll be able to say that the United Nations has recognized us as *** UNESCO creative city of music, officially recognizing what we all know that music is the heartbeat of our community and that New Orleans is the heartbeat of the world. Thank you. Thank you, Walt and uh all the people at uh New Orleans and Company that worked so hard to. Get us all of our great uh conventions and. In groups into town. OK, the cubes. You all know who's playing on what day, but you don't know when and you don't know where and you don't know what the shows are. Jazz Fest 2025 will present 650 performances from 14 stages plus 45 parades and over 20 powwow dances like no other festival. 585%, 560 of the groups are from home, giving us, yes, that's right. Nobody else could do that. Giving us these great combinations of New Orleans and national guest talent, especially on the first Saturday, April 26th, which is New Orleans Jazz Fest message to the world. OK, on one end of the show Gentilly stage is Kermit Ruffin, Preservation Hall, Irma Thomas. Hello Irma and Harry Connick Junior at the other end is Rebirth, Big Freedia, Tank and the Banggers, and Little Wayne. Hello world New Orleans is calling to you. No other city has so many high level talent music artists on the last day of the festival, on the last show. Is Ziggaboo, George Porter, Galactic, Lenny Kravitz, and Trombone Shorty. That's Jazz Fest. Alright, anyone that's been in the festival knows about the food, which is as great as the music as you all probably already been hitting it, but joining us here today are samples from some of the best music festival menu in the world. Let me say that again, the best music festival menu in the world. So wanna give special. Thank you, Michelle. I wanna give *** special thanks to John Kalua, Yolanda Casby, Dana Han, and our new vendor Chetwan Smith for providing the taste of Jazz Fest today. As always, the festival's three major craft areas contemporary crafts, Louisiana Marketplace and Congo Square, African Marketplace will all constitute one of the most respected national arts and crafts fairs in America. Now the complete listing of of the cubes, the complete listing of all the food, complete listing of all the crafts is up now, right David? is up now on NOjazzfest.com and it's coming soon on the Jazz Fest app, but it's all up there right now. Um, so at this time it's time to unveil the 2025 official Jazz Fest poster which features Tank and the Bangass performing at the festival in *** painting by James Michalopoulos. We're honored to have them here with us today, I believe both James and Tank are here, is that right? Wow Awesome. Alright, will you all unveil your poster. OK, there you go. We're also unveiling the 2025 bayou wear. Um Which comes in Hawaiian shirts and dresses and shorts. No, it looks like they're ready. So once again, here's Mariachi Jalisco to celebrate Mexico and start the countdown y'all for Jazz Fest 2025. Bam! Happy Jazz Fest.