Councilmember Heather Hutt sent 7 checks to Martin Ludlow’s LA Jazz Fest from various discretionary funds, per city records
Council District 10, which includes Leimert Park, the historic cultural epicenter for African American music where the LA Jazz Festival was slated to open in a star-studded event on August 7, donated $165,000 to the music organization’s 501c3 charity with seven separate checks from 2024 until June, records show.
City Councilmember Heather Hutt did not return an email to comment about the money that her district awarded to a charity that was run by Martin Ludlow, a former City Councilmember who served a two-year term that he left in 2005 to become the head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. In that position, he was indicted on public corruption charges and pleaded guilty to diverting union funds into his 2023 City Council campaign.
The LA Jazz Festival is now being called “L.A.’s Fyre Fest” by artists who haven’t been paid, vendors who were expecting swarms of music lovers to pack city neighborhoods, and venues who are complaining of a talent deficit created by non-compete clauses in contracts for musicians who learned hours before the 17-day planned extravaganza was slated to begin that it has been abruptly cancelled.
Ludlow has not been seen since he jumped on a Zoom with members of the jazz community on Aug. 6, telling them that the city’s permitting issues were too arduous for him to proceed with the show. Los Angeles has obtained a recording of that meeting and will be covering Ludlow’s remarks.
The cancellation of the jazz festival, which was announced with a ritzy celebration at City Hall with Karen Bass in February, has now also raised questions about Airbnb’s relationship to Ludlow, who has been paid $2.6 million for political canvassing by the company. Those monies have come into focus as the company also poured $750,000 into the failed LA Jazz Festival as its title sponsor.
Required tax declarations for the charity were last filed in 2023, so it remains unclear ultimately how much money was brought in for the event, or how that money was spent. A spokesperson for Airbnb said the company was also blindsided by the event’s cancelation.
“We were incredibly excited to be one of the top sponsors for LA Jazz Fest to help put Jazz culture and history in a much-deserved spotlight this summer,” the Airbnb spokesperson told Los Angeles on Thursday. “We share the disappointment of the artists, vendors, and other community members and likewise demand answers from those involved in the planning failures of this event.”
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It remains unclear how the company’s money, or other donations, including taxpayer dollars, have been spent.