MusiCares brings Mindful May wellness event to New Orleans

MusiCares is turning mindfulness into something music workers can actually use: a free, four-hour wellness stop in New Orleans on Tuesday, May 19, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation. Framed for Mental Health Awareness Month, Mindful May is built less like an awareness campaign and more like practical infrastructure for a high-stress industry that runs on late nights, irregular income, and constant travel.

The New Orleans setting gives the program added weight. MusiCares is placing the event in a city it describes as both the birthplace of jazz and a place where music workers have repeatedly shown resilience, especially after Hurricane Katrina. The venue connection matters, too: the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation says Jazz Fest has been around since 1970, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors, and generates about $350 million a year for the local economy. MusiCares says the 2026 event is being presented in collaboration with Sweetwater, and it will include a speaking appearance by New Orleans artist PJ Morton.

This is the third year for Mindful May, and the format has clearly settled into something bigger than a single wellness pop-up. MusiCares launched it in 2024 at the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles, where music professionals could access mental health assessments, yoga, massages, chiropractic sessions, custom ear plug fittings, a tea blend station, and a Pressed Juicery stand. The second annual gathering moved to Riverside Revival in Nashville on May 21, 2025, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., adding a group sound bath, massage therapy, holistic chiropractic services, mental health providers, custom ear mold fittings, a guided tea ceremony, a meditation station, and refreshments.

That expansion tracks with the pressure MusiCares says it is seeing across the field. The organization says it has provided more than $135 million in direct assistance overall, including over $17 million in the prior year for year-round services and disaster relief. Its 2025 Wellness in Music Survey drew nearly 3,200 participants, a record for the survey, after the 2024 edition found that 78 percent of respondents earned $100,000 or less annually, 69 percent could not comfortably cover expenses through music alone, and 65 percent doubted their future in the industry.

MusiCares also points to a larger support system beyond Mindful May. The group says it offers 10 free, confidential virtual emotional support and addiction recovery groups each week led by licensed clinicians, along with its Resilience on the Road toolkit for touring professionals. In that context, the New Orleans event is not just a wellness afternoon in a festival city; it is a free, time-limited reset for people whose work rarely gives them one.