2025 Rum Rendezvous
An exclusive tasting evening benefiting the Friends of the Cabildo. Held inside the acclaimed Dickie Brennan’s Palace Cafe – Wednesday, May 14, 2025 6-8 pm. Purchase your tickets now at $100 general admission, or $75 members and young adults (21-40) or calling (504) 523-3939 for sponsorship opportunities.
10 Louisiana Distillers, producers and Louisiana based Rum Brands will be featured. Food, oysters and libations will be flowing. Rum experts Wayne Curtis and Matt Pietrek (The Rum Wonk) will also be pouring and interacting with guests. An open bar will be available other drinks inlcuded.
Gold Sponsor: Bourgeois Bennett, LLC
Silver Sponsors: Villere & Co. | Dickie Brennan Restaurants | Terri Romano Marketing | Sterling Properties | Bourgeois Bennett, LLC | Sazerac Company
Louisiana Rum Producers, Blenders & Experts: Wildcat Brothers Distilling, Marsh House Rum, Myers’s Rum (Sazerac), Old Alker Distillery, Oxbow Rum Distillery, Atelier Vie Distillery, NOËL Family Distillery, Matt Pietrek (The Rum Wonk), Wayne Curtis (Garden & Gun) and more to be announced!
Neighborhood & Cultural Tours
Treme Cultural Tour
Saturday | March 30 | Friday – April 25 | 10am
Departure: Treme Coffeehouse (1501 St. Philip St.)
Black Pearl Tour
Friday | April 4 | May 2 & 9 | 10am
Departure: 7217 Perrier (Outside Tartine)
Bayou St. John Tour
Friday | April 11 | 10am
Departure: Pitot House Moss Street Entrance Gate (1440 Moss Street)
Esplanade Ridge Tour
Friday | April 18 | 10am
Departure: Pagoda Cafe
Battle of New Orleans Tour
Saturdays | April 19, May 10, June 14 | 10am
Departure: 1850 House Museum Store (523 St. Ann Street)
Lower Garden District Tour
Friday | May 16 | 10am
Departure: Muses Statue
Bywater Tour
Friday | May 24 | 10am
Departure: Bywater Bakery, 3624 Dauphine St.
FOC Concert Series 2024 – 2025
All Concerts at 7pm at the NO Jazz Museum 3rd Floor | 100 tickets/Show in the Atmos Digital Sound New Orleans Jazz Museum 3rd Floor Performance Space Venue
Individual Concert Ticket – $30 GA / $25 Members
The FOC Concert Series is supported by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation through the Community Sponsorship Grant Program. 100% of Grants Proceeds go to the musicians.
2024-2025 Season Completed Shows
60th Anniversary City Park Beatles Show w/The Walrus (Sold Out) | Prof. Longhair Birthday Show w/River Eckert (Sold Out) | Marcia Ball (Sold Out) | Mar. 14th | Johnny Sansone Band (90% Sold Out)
Upcoming Shows (Venue only Seats 100 Guests)
April 4th | The Iguanas (18 Tickets Remain)
April 17th (Thursday) | Sonny Landreth (4 Tickets Remain)
Fall Member Lecture Series
Free for Members w/Signup | GA $10/lecture or $25 for all Fall Lectures
Lectures at 6pm on Tuesdays
August 5 – The Native Acolapissa Indians of Mandeville of St. Tammany Parish – Jackson Cantrell
Spring Member Lecture Series
Free for Members w/Signup | GA $10/lecture or $25 for all Spring Lectures
Lectures at 6pm on Tuesdays
All March Lectures Conducted by Dr. Greg Beaman of Georgetown University
March 11 – Slavery in the Suburbs: Slavery and Real Estate in the Faubourgs of New Orleans (Recording Free for Members or $10 GA Donation )
March 18 – Rival Soundscapes of Civil War New Orleans (Recording Free for Members or $10 GA Donation )
March 25 – Rival Soundscapes of Claiborne Avenue: Music & Movements of the 1960
April 1 – Frenchie: The Story of the French-Speaking Cajuns of World War II – Dr. Jason Theriot
April 8 – Settling St. Malo: A History of Filipino Louisiana – Dr. Randy Gonzalez
April 15 – George Valentine Dureau: Life & Art in New Orleans : Howard Phillips Smith
Summer Member Lecture Series
June 17 – An History of New Orleans Creole Culture – Dionne Butler
June 24 – TBA: Creole History Lecture – Harold Marchand
1970 Jazz Fest Movies
Wednesday, April 23rd | 6:30 p.m. with John Pult and Band in a Pocket
Tickets: $25, Members $15 (Online Night Only, Tickets Limited to 100)
Join Friends of the Cabildo for a one-night-only screening of the Louisiana State Museum’s collection of seven different 16mm film reels from the 1970 Jazz Fest. Dillard professor Jon Pult will moderate the event with the Band-In-A-Pocket Jazz Trio performing live during sections of film without sound.
Don Perry, one of the founders of the New Orleans Jazz Club and a former WDSU cameraman filmed the first festival in 1970 and donated the reels to the Louisiana State Museum (LSM) in 1978. The LSM digitized the films in 2012 allowing them to be preserved for generations of Jazz Fest and music fans. The seven separate films show artists such as Duke Ellington, Pete Fountain, Danny Barker and Mahalia Jackson.
Neighborhoods of New Orleans Class
Tickets: Members $40 / $50 GA (All Classes Recording and Emailed the Next Day) | Lectures: May 19 (4pm), 20 (4pm), 21st (4pm & 6pm Classes), 27 (4pm)
Friends of the Cabildo and the Louisiana State Museum have joined its strong educational backgrounds to create the first Friends of the Cabildo Adult History Class beginning May 19th. Focused on the diverse and unique the five-part class will dissect the often debated and completely New Orleans distinct areas of the City. Beginning with the French Quarter and Faubourg St. Mary, each session will look at some of the different neighborhoods from the Garden District to Faubourg St. John to suburbanization of the 1950s.
May 19 (4pm) – French Quarter & Faubourg St. Marie
May 20 (4pm) – Downtown Neighborhoods (Treme, Marigny, Bywater, Lower 9th)
May 21 (4pm) – Garden District, Uptown, Carrollton, (6pm) – MidCity, Broadmore, Gentilly
May 28 (4pm) – The Suburbs of New Orleans
Previous History Classes Available To Purchase
Previously Recorded Classes that can be purchased for 6-month use (Educational Only)
- Researching Your New Orleans Property Seminar and History of New Orleans Architecture Lecture (3 Hour Class) ($25 Member – $35 GA)
- Founding of New Orleans Class (4 Classes, 8 Hours) ($30 Member – $40 GA)
- The Neighborhoods of New Orleans Class (5 Classes, 10 Hours ($40 Member – $50 GA)
- History of Carnival Class (4 Classes, 8 Hours): ($30 Member – $40 GA)
- History of Louisiana and New Orleans Music (3 Classes, 6 Hours): ($25 Member – $35 GA)
- History of Rum (3 Classes, 6 Hours): ($25 Member – $35 GA)
- Researching Your Cemetery Property (3 Classes, 5 Hours): ($25 Member – $35 GA)
- History of New Orleans Hip Hop (3 Classes, 6 Hours): ($25 Member – $35 GA)
We also have recorded all of our symposiums and over 75 lectures on Louisiana History and Culture!
Contact jason@friendsofthecabildo.org to purchase the recordings
Home Research Seminar with Robert Cangelosi
Saturday, June 28rd | In Person (Jazz Museum), Live on Zoom and Recorded | 10am – 12:30pm
Tickets: $35, Members $25 (In person or zoom same price)
Friends of the Cabildo will host “Researching Your New Orleans Property” Seminar with Robert J. Cangelosi, Jr., an Adjunct Lecturer at the Tulane University School of Architecture, and he will present an in-depth program on historic home research.
If walls could talk, you would know everything you wanted to know about your property, like who previously owned it, those who slept in it, how old it is, and what secrets it holds. Cangelosi, president of Koch and Wilson Architects, will outline how to develop the history of your property, using primary sources rather than oral traditions and secondary sources, which often are incorrect. Preparation of a “chain of title,” the essential first step in developing a history, will be discussed. The chain document the ownership of a property, which in theory, can be taken back to the early 1700s, during the French Colonial period. The “chain of title” relates to the property, not the improvements, and rarely will the chain alone indicate when improvements were made. Like history detectives, determining when improvements were done involves research into various records, including census, tax, water, building permits, contracts, city directories, newspapers, and more. This program will explain how these records can be used and where to find them.
The architectural style of the improvements can also help date a property. A concise architectural history of New Orleans will be included to help identify the architectural style of your property.
Yoga at the Cabildo
Yoga at the Cabildo will begin classes again starting Saturday, June 17th at 8:30 a.m. at the Cabildo (701 Chartres Street) on beautiful Jackson Square.
Layla Ross will be giving classes every Saturday morning for Friends of the Cabildo Members, locals and tourists.
Member cost for the class is $10 and non-members its $20. If you have a mat please bring one if not we have some available for free.
Second Thursday Lecture Series
Thursday,April 10, 6pm | Sponsored by Friends of the Cabildo
Join us for a virtual evening with Dr. Virginia Meacham Gould as she discusses her upcoming book with co-author Nathalie Dessens entitled Gentilly: A New Orleans Plantation in the French Atlantic World, 1818–1851(LSU Press, April 2025). This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Cabildo as part of the Second Thursday Lecture Series. It is free and open to the public, but registration is required. The program will take place on Zoom. Please register here and a Zoom link will be emailed to you on the day of the lecture:
Friends of the Cabildo Annual Meeting & Lafayette Exhibit Champagne Reception
Thursday | May 22nd | 6pm | Cabildo
All FOC Members are invited to the the Cabildo (701 Chartres Street) at 6:00 p.m. (Annual Meeting and Speaker 6:30 p.m.-7:15 p.m.) with Champagne offered offered before and after to see the newest Louisiana Museum State Exhibit on the Marquis de Lafayette’s multi-day visit to New Orleans in 1826. Along with the annual meeting business exhibit curator Randolph Delahanty will speak on the exhibit.
Spring 2025 Tertulia Gatherings
Come learn about Spanish Connections around a theme and hear local speakers and join the discussions as we host three (3) Tertulia this spring. Includes wine and stars at 2pm each Tertulias. Tickets are $20 for FOC/LMF Members and $30 GA. Guest speakers will come from local consulates, local universities and historians. Come join the fun and be part of the Tertulia
What is a Tertulia? A Tertulia is a social gathering with an artistic or literary focus, particularly in Spanish America or Iberia. It can also refer to an informal meeting where people discuss current events or the arts.
Fall 2025 – Schedule TBA
