JAMNOLA

What JAMNOLA does

JAMNOLA (Joy Art Music — New Orleans) operates a permanent immersive cultural art experience in the Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans at 940 Frenchmen Street. The venue features 29-30 original exhibits showcasing New Orleans art, music, food, and theatrics, created by over 100 local artists and cultural collaborators. The experience is self-guided with on-site human "Storyteller" guides and is augmented by a digital companion (JAM App) accessible via QR codes, which delivers curated playlists, cultural context, and behind-the-scenes stories for each exhibit. The company is operated by IJAM, LLC and was co-founded in 2020 by Chad Smith and Jonny Liss, alongside creative partners Catherine Todd and Collin Ferguson (co-founders of the Where Y'Art Works artist platform), with Joan Coraggio as VP of Partnerships.

JAMNOLA generates revenue through four primary streams: (1) timed-entry ticket sales priced from $22.99 (children) to $36.99 (adults), with a 50% weekday discount for Louisiana residents; (2) retail merchandise through The Jam Shoppe, both on-site and via a Shopify-powered online store, including a "Designed for Good" charitable line where $10 per qualifying T-shirt is donated to Louisiana nonprofits (Roots of Music, Trombone Shorty Foundation, WWOZ); (3) private venue rentals for corporate events, birthdays, and celebrations; and (4) school and group field trip bookings at $20-$23 per student with a 15-student minimum. The go-to-market motion combines direct-to-consumer ticketing, influencer collaborations (VIP tours for content creators), earned media coverage in Forbes, NYT, Condé Nast Traveler, The Washington Post, and NBC's Today Show, and a community Krewe loyalty program.

The business is asset-light in technology (no proprietary AI or platform stack — the core is physical exhibits and a QR-triggered web app) but asset-heavy in cultural capital: deep community embeddedness through charitable partnerships ($34,820.50 donated to date), the Black Masking Indian Co-Op retail partnership, and the Where Y'Art Works pipeline that has reinvested $3.2M into the regional creative economy. The company has 11-50 employees, no disclosed institutional funding, and is privately held.

Name

JAMNOLA

Legal name

IJAM, LLC

Website

https://jamnola.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

JAMNOLA operates a permanent immersive cultural art experience in New Orleans featuring 30 exhibits created by 100+ local artists, serving tourists, locals, school groups, and private event clients through ticketed entry, retail, and venue rentals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Immersive Cultural Experience

NAICS

Amusement Parks and Arcades (7131), Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Cultural & Community Festivals (Ticketed) (THAJAFAI)

Keywords

• Immersive art experience
• Cultural attraction
• Interactive museum
• Local artist collaborations
• Experiential tourism

Headquarters

HQ city

New Orleans

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Visitors purchase timed-entry tickets to the immersive experience. Standard pricing ranges from $22.99 (kids 3-12) to $36.99 (adults), with discounts for Louisiana residents (50% off on weekdays), students, seniors, military, and first responders. Tickets are non-refundable without purchase protection.
2. Retail Merchandise (The Jam Shoppe): On-site and online gift shop selling branded apparel (tees, trucker hats, hoodies), accessories (socks, keychains, magnets, enamel pins, flags), drinkware, and cross-body bags. A subset of products are charitable items where a portion of proceeds is donated to local nonprofits.
3. Private Event Rentals: JAMNOLA functions as an event venue available for private bookings including corporate events, birthday parties, and celebrations. Event inquiries are submitted via a website form, with pricing negotiated individually.
4. Group/Field Trip Bookings: Organized school and large group tours with discounted group rates. Minimum purchase of 15 student tickets required. Chaperone pricing is separate ($12 per chaperone). Group bookings are excluded on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

JAMNOLA operates an immersive cultural funhouse experience in New Orleans featuring 29-30 original exhibits showcasing local art, music, food, and theatrics through installations created by over 100 local artists and collaborators. The timed-entry ticketed experience is paired with a companion digital JAM App (QR-code storytelling), an on-site gift shop (The JAM Shoppe) offering branded and charitable merchandise, plus private event venue rentals and school/group field trip programming.

Product overview

JAMNOLA (Joy Art Music - New Orleans) operates as a single unified experiential product centered around its cultural funhouse attraction on Frenchmen Street in New Orleans. The core offering is an immersive art and music experience featuring 29-30 interactive exhibits created by over 100 local artists and collaborators. Supporting products include The JAM Shoppe (retail gift shop), field trips and group tours, private event rentals, an influencer program offering VIP tours, and a digital companion app. The company functions as an attraction-based experience rather than a platform with modular products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• JAM Shoppe: The official gift shop of JAMNOLA featuring merchandise inspired by New Orleans culture, including apparel, accessories, and artist-made products.
• JAM APP

Products and services

• JAMNOLA Cultural Funhouse Experience A timed-entry, self-guided immersive cultural experience featuring 29-30 original exhibits showcasing New Orleans art, music, food, and theatrics, created by over 100 local artists and collaborators. Designed for all ages, fully air-conditioned and ADA/wheelchair compliant.
• The JAM Shoppe (Retail Gift Shop) On-site and online retail store selling branded apparel, accessories, and charitable merchandise, including the 'Designed for Good' collection that donates $10 from each qualifying T-shirt to Louisiana nonprofits.
• Field Trips & Large Group Tours Educational group tours for schools and youth organizations with discounted weekday/weekend pricing, requiring a minimum of 15 student tickets, with separate chaperone pricing. Available Mon, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun (excludes Tuesdays and Wednesdays).
• Private Event Venue Rentals Full and partial venue buyouts for corporate events, milestone celebrations, birthdays, and product launches, with custom pricing negotiated through a dedicated inquiry channel.
• JAMNOLA Gift Cards Digital and physical gift cards redeemable for JAMNOLA cultural funhouse tickets, sold directly through the ticketing website.
• Influencer VIP Tour Program Complimentary VIP tours offered to social media influencers, vloggers, and nano/micro-influencers (up to 10 guests) in exchange for creating and posting social media content about JAMNOLA.
• JAM App (Digital Companion) A companion digital web app accessible via QR codes at each exhibit, delivering curated playlists, deep-dive cultural stories, and behind-the-scenes content that extends the physical experience with multimedia.

Quantifiable outcome

• 4.8-star average rating across 2,000+ Google Reviews and TripAdvisor reviews, indicating high customer satisfaction
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• PFLAG New OrleanscoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 June 2025Every June, JAMNOLA donates $1 from every ticket sold to PFLAG New Orleans, a volunteer-led nonprofit supporting LGBTQ+ families in Southeast Louisiana for over 40 years. This partnership is promoted on the JAMNOLA website and ticketing page, encouraging visitors to 'celebrate Pride, support community.' It is a seasonal, recurring partnership tied to Pride Month.
• Roots of Music FoundationcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerThrough the Jam Shoppe's 'Designed for Good' charitable merchandise line, $10 from each Roots of Music T-shirt sold is donated directly to support the foundation's youth music education programs. As of the source date, $18,390 has been donated through this program.
• Trombone Shorty FoundationcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerThrough the Jam Shoppe's 'Designed for Good' charitable merchandise line, $10 from each Trombone Shorty Foundation T-shirt sold is donated to fund youth music mentorship programs in New Orleans. As of the source date, $8,840 has been donated.
• Friends of WWOZ RadiocoreGTM or Marketing PartnerThrough the Jam Shoppe's 'Designed for Good' charitable merchandise line, $10 from each WWOZ Groovapedia T-shirt sold is donated to Friends of WWOZ Radio to support New Orleans community radio. As of the source date, $7,590.50 has been donated.
• Black Masking Indian Co-OpcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJAMNOLA provides a permanent retail home for the Black Masking Indian Co-Op at its Jam Shoppe location, ensuring master artists have a year-round platform to sell their work. 100% of sales proceeds go directly to the creators. This is one of the three charitable pillars of the Jam Shoppe.
• Krewe du VieuxminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKrewe du Vieux donated Bar Flys parade float elements (glittering, jazz-playing insect sculptures from their 2014 parade) to JAMNOLA, which were installed as a new exhibit in winter 2026. The exhibit comments on the 2014 New Orleans noise ordinance battle and the city's defense of its live music culture.
• Where Y'Art WorkscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWhere Y'Art Works is the artist platform co-founded by JAMNOLA co-founder Cat Todd, which has connected over 200 local artists with commercial projects and reinvested $3.2 million into cultural economies across Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It serves as the primary talent pipeline for JAMNOLA's 100+ artist collaborators.
• ricRACKminorOthersA local sewing and textile reuse nonprofit in New Orleans. JAMNOLA team member Shel Roumillat serves as manager of the ricRACK retail store. RicRACK is listed as a community partner on the JAMNOLA website.
• Louisiana Children's MuseumminorGTM or Marketing PartnerJAMNOLA partnered with the Louisiana Children's Museum to launch a 'Sunday Funday Kids Combo' in October 2025, offering combined admission to both attractions for $22.99 per child (reg. $42.79), a nearly $20 savings per child.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Sloomoo Institute: Sloomoo Institute is a multi-city immersive experience with strong social-media and influencer marketing. It is comparable to JAMNOLA in GTM motion, pricing, and reliance on Instagram-driven foot traffic.
• Museum of Ice Cream: Museum of Ice Cream operates a multi-city portfolio of ticketed, interactive, experiential installations. It competes for the same tourist and group-outing demand as JAMNOLA, with a similar playbook of branded merchandise and event rentals.
• Candytopia: Candytopia operates a multi-city chain of immersive, ticketed, interactive installations. It targets a similar all-ages, group-outing, social-media-driven customer base as JAMNOLA.
• WNDR Museum: WNDR Museum is an interactive, artist-driven immersive experience in Chicago and Boston. It shares JAMNOLA's positioning as a local-artist-curated, photo-ready immersive venue, although at a larger venue scale.
• ARTECHOUSE: ARTECHOUSE creates tech-driven, immersive art exhibitions combining digital media and physical space. It is comparable to JAMNOLA in using QR-enabled and digital companion experiences to extend the physical visit.
• Color Factory: Color Factory runs a chain of immersive, ticketed, photo-forward art installations in major cities. It directly mirrors JAMNOLA's combination of timed-entry ticketing, photo-driven exhibits, and Instagram-friendly aesthetic targeting tourists and locals.
• Van Gogh Immersive (Lighthouse Immersive): Van Gogh Immersive / Lighthouse Immersive operates traveling and permanent immersive art shows focused on cultural figures and themes. It is comparable to JAMNOLA as a ticketed immersive cultural experience with rotating content and broad public appeal.
• Meow Wolf: Meow Wolf operates large-scale, permanent immersive art experiences in multiple US cities, built from collaborations with hundreds of artists. It is the closest scaled analog to JAMNOLA's model of a permanent, ticketed, locally-themed immersive art funhouse.

Regional players

• The Presbytère: The Presbytère, a Louisiana State Museum in the French Quarter, hosts rotating cultural exhibits on Mardi Gras and other Louisiana traditions. It competes with JAMNOLA for the same tourist and educational group audiences interested in New Orleans cultural heritage.
• The National WWII Museum: Based in New Orleans, The National WWII Museum is the city's flagship cultural attraction and competes with JAMNOLA for tourist itineraries, group bookings, and field trip demand in the same local market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/JoyArtMusicNewOrleans
• Instagraminstagram.com/jam.nola
• Xx.com/jamnola4
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/jamnola

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about JAMNOLA