THE MAYOR’S CHALLENGE
PITCH COMPETITION

Powering the next wave of tech that connects creators of culture & consumers of culture

 

New Orleans has an exceptionally high concentration of artists and residents engaged in the local cultural economy, with thousands of culture bearers, hundreds of culturally focused nonprofits, and over 2,700 cultural businesses; however, many still struggle with essential economic stability and long-term wealth creation despite the exceptional practice of their craft. New Orleans has a unique opportunity to lead in reinventing the relationship between consumers of culture and creators of culture. 

That is why Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced The Mayor's Challenge at New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW) 2022. Under Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration, the city committed $100K across 2023 and 2024 towards investing in the cultural economy by supporting entrepreneurs building frontier technologies that connect New Orleans' cultural economy to new economic opportunities.

New Orleans has a unique opportunity to lead by reinventing the relationship between consumers and cultural creators and exploring how technology may reshape culture for generations to come. The Mayor's Challenge pitch competition began in 2023, seeking innovative businesses that utilize frontier technologies to solve problems or create opportunities for artists, musicians, and other cultural creators.

For two consecutive years, this pitch competition was held at New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW). It offered up to $25K for the grand prize winner and $10K for two runner-ups for their innovative businesses rooted in New Orleans. The competition focused on frontier technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Web3, and other future-oriented tech.

This competition, funded by the City of New Orleans and hosted by The Idea Village, supported creative technologists, business-minded artists, and forward-thinking entrepreneurs committed to building and scaling future technologies. These technologies connect New Orleans' cultural economy to new global economic opportunities. The challenge intended to support founders who plan to anchor and/or build their businesses in New Orleans for the foreseeable future.


CITY OF NEW ORLEANS MAYOR
ANNOUNCES THE MAYOR’S CHALLENGE

THE 2024 MAYOR’S CHALLENGE GRAND WINNER

Congratulations to the founder of Culturalyst, Sam Bowler, who won the grand prize of $25,000 at the 2024 Mayor’s Challenge pitch competition. Culturalyst is a startup that leverages AI to revolutionize how artists and cultural organizations discover opportunities and resources.

The two runner-up companies who each received $10,000:

  • Cultour.ai by BypassLines, a startup that's on a mission to connect people to the heart of New Orleans' vibrant culture, using AI to craft personalized video tours, live cooking classes, and more

  •  Bar Pals, a platform that leverages user data to guide people to venues with cocktails that match their taste preferences.

THE 2023 MAYOR’S CHALLENGE GRAND WINNER

Congratulations to the founder of Gallerii, Kisha Mavryck Richardson, a logistics, earnings, and ownership management system for art enterprises, who won the grand prize of $25,000 at the 2023 Mayor’s Challenge pitch competition.

The two runner-up companies who each received $10,000:

  • Team Gleason, aiming to improve life for people with ALS and those who care for them by delivering innovative technology, equipment, and other services that provide greater independence and a higher quality of life.

  • Skilltype, an organizational software infrastructure for libraries.

 

For questions, please contact programs@ideavillage.org.