What We Fund

Past Initiatives and Projects
 

2022

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• “Rose Crystal Tower” Sculpture
  This colorful sculpture by Dale Chihuly stands 22-feet tall and is composed of Polyvitro and steel.

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2021
 

• "Irma: My Life in Music" Documentary
  A documentary on the life and career of the legendary Irma Thomas

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2020
 

• FirstLine Schools / Louisiana Children’s Museum Partnership
  The Helis Foundation provided funding for a New Orleans school to operate and host in-classroom learning at the Louisiana Children’s Museum.
   

• Louisiana Culture Care Fund Established
  The Helis Foundation contributed a major gift to provide emergency relief grants to local humanities organizations impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
   

• Le Musée de f.p.c. Free School Tours
  The Helis Foundation supported field trips for 2,000 GNO students to the Le Musée de f.p.c. dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of free people of color.
   

• “Melvin Edwards: Crossroads” Exhibition
  Peer into Melvin Edwards’ world of twisting, sinuous metal and you will find a place of possibility, an environment where found objects expand—both formally and conceptually—beyond the boundaries of their given form.
   

• "Art of the City: Postmodern to Post-Katrina" Exhibition
  This exhibition featured the diverse perspectives of artists reacting during three decades of strife and progress in the layered city that fueled their inspiration.

 

2019

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• XULA Master’s Program in Curatorial Practice and Exhibition Management
  The Helis Foundation awarded a grant to Xavier University of Louisiana to develop a degree program leading to a Master’s in Curatorial Practice and Exhibition Management.
   

• ARCAthens Inaugural Residency Program
  The Helis Foundation joined ARCAthens as a Founding Patron in support of ARCAthens Pilot Program: Spring 2019.
   

• The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Box Set
  In celebration of Jazz Fest’s golden anniversary, venerable record label Smithsonian Folkways produced a comprehensive box set of 50 live recordings from the festival’s past. The music is accompanied by a 135-page book, filled with exclusive photographs.
   

• “Mickalene Thomas: Femmes Noires” Exhibition
  An exhibition of collages and montages by the New York-based Mickalene Thomas spanning new painting, film, and photography. The works include references to pop culture and the long history of Western and African Art.

 

2018

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• "WWOZ Tricentennial Music Moments"
  With the lead support of The Helis Foundation, WWOZ celebrated the New Orleans Tricentennial with the launch of a series of radio mini-documentaries celebrating the musical history and culture of New Orleans.

 

2017

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• "Solidary and Solitary" The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection
  This collection tells the history of art by African-American artists from the 1940s to the present moment.

 

2016

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• Gallier Hall Art Restoration
  In October of 2016, 2018 NOLA Foundation announced the launch of a $5 million dollar private fundraising campaign for the interior renovations led by a gift from The Helis Foundation.

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2015

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• "Guns in the Hands of Artists" Exhibition
  This exhibition featured over thirty nationally known artists who used decommissioned guns from the streets of New Orleans to create original works of art dealing with the issue of guns in our society.
   

• The Music Box Roving Village
  With lead support from The Helis Foundation, New Orleans Airlift’s interactive kinetic musical structures took up residence from April 5 – May 10, 2015 in City Park to host performances, artist talks, educational workshops and free interactive hours where members of the public could play the musical houses.

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2014

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• "30 Americans" Exhibition
  Minimalism, abstraction, conceptualism, performance, new media, installation art, identity politics, deconstruction, street aesthetics, and the return of figuration—every major development in contemporary art over the past four decades is represented.