Our Story

Hi, my name is Dana Reed and I am the director of Kid's Play NOLA.  Kid's Play NOLA is a non-profit organization that brings FREE arts education to children and youth living in New Orleans. This summer, we are introducing a new and exciting arts camp to the local community. We will be partnering with the New Orleans Dance Festival at Tulane University. The New Orleans Dance Festival has been "celebrating the African presence in American dance" for 15 years by bringing guest arts from Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, and the Congo and by providing drumming, dancing, and singing classes.

This is the first time the dance festival will be partnering with a youth organization to share resources and space. Each of our 50 students will receive daily dance, music, and theater classes.  In addition, there will be daily workshops from professional New Orleans artists in second line dancing, West African dance, and visual arts that each student will have the opportunity to experience.

Kid's Play NOLA will also be a part of a spectacular performance called Maafa Celebration. This celebration happens once a year to memorialize slaves who died in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade route.  This performance starts in New Orleans Congo Square with a beautiful ceremony honoring the deaths. The performers then precess through the streets of the Treme and French Quarter to the ferry to Algiers where slaves were once traded. At the end of the precession, lunch will be served at the Ashe Cultural Arts Center.  The Kid's Play NOLA students will open up the ceremony with a themed performance entitled "Parade" which celebrates the New Orleans' tradition of second lines and parades.  The entire Maafa Celebration will be free and open to the public.  Our students will experience firsthand the rich history and culture of New Orleans and how it relates to their daily lives and celebrations. 

Our organization accepts all children interested in the arts. 

The Impact

Bringing this camp to the children of New Orleans opens closed doors not only for the participants but for their families too. New Orleans has such a rich and vibrant musical and artistic culture that is seen on a daily basis at festivals, on the streets, and in the lives of its citizens. Kid's Play NOLA provides an outlet where students can feel the drumming with their hands and body and connect with the places where it all originates. 

The community can see young children participating and learning about such an important event in our city and country. Students will gain respect and pride for where they come from as well as develop an understanding of what and where their ancestors and current traditions come from. It is so important for these children to grow up and be nurtured in the best possible artistic community.  New Orleans is a cultural city because of where the people come from and what they are continuing to do.  In order to keep the music alive in this city, we MUST support and encourage our youth.  If we don't do this, there could be no singing in the streets of New Orleans.  

What We Need & What You Get

Help us get some drums for our music program. 

We need to raise $5000 to purchase hand drums for our music program.  This amounts to only $100 per child.  We must raise all $5000 or we receive nothing. We need your help desperately!

Currently, we have funding to run our summer camp, but no funding for musical instruments.  Our students have drum sticks, and we bang them on buckets.  Each student needs to learn the value of an instrument, build confidence, and feel important while playing one. Our music class needs drums! This gift would not be a one time gift, as drums can be used year after year and pass through the hands of many future New Orleans Musicians.

By helping us, we will send you rewards:

$25 or more  Program acknowledgment

$50 or more All the above +video thank you by kid's play NOLA artists

$100 or more All the above +a t-shirt with Kid's Play NOLA logo

$500 or more All the above +Copy of Kid's Play NOLA original book, The Alligator in Love

$1000 or more All the above +Performance video of the Maafa Celebration

$2500 or more a All the above +CD of drumming of our music class

$5000 or more All the above +an original one of a kind artwork by the Kid's Play NOLA students

Other Ways You Can Help

GET OUR CAUSE OUT THERE!  Send it to friends and have their friends send it to their friends and so on.  Make our campaign your breakfast, lunch and dinner conversation!  Every time you hear a drum, think about how you can help us by sending our link to one more person. 

Twitter, facebook, and you tube us every day.  Send our message to your friends everyday.  It is important to the music, art, culture, and spirit of New Orleans that we get our youth some DRUMS!!!