Co-Producer/Production Coordinator
Milly Vappie

After earning her B.A. and M.A. in American History from the University of South Florida, Milly joined the Florida Historical Society as Associate Director where she served as photographic editor for the book Florida Portrait: A Pictorial History of Florida, and as co-producer and researcher for Florida Women, a multi-media production funded by the National Middle School Resource Center.

Milly later moved to the Florida Humanities Council as Program Officer, and then, Director of the Resource Center. In 1989, she became Assistant Director of the South Carolina Humanities Council. Milly set up the first speakers’ bureau for both Councils, served as Secretary for the South Carolina Quincentenary Commission, and conceived and co-founded both the Florida and South Carolina Cultural Conservation Committees. While at the South Carolina Council, she served as coordinator of the statewide “Reunion” project, which focused on identifying, promoting and celebrating the cultural heritage of rural and small-town communities.

After moving to Louisiana in 1992, she served as grant writer and consultant for South To Lousiana! A Cajun and Zydeco Radio Program, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Louisiana Division of the Arts. Hosted by Michael Doucet, the program was broadcast over Public Radio stations.

In 1999, Milly worked as consultant, researcher, and production assistant for Historic New Orleans Collection’s world premiere of Jelly’s Big New Band, a concert featuring Jelly Roll Morton’s newly discovered compositions. In addition, she was a consultant and photographic researcher for a documentary film on Florida, produced by the Florida Public Broadcast System.

From 2000-2003, Milly was co-host and producer, along with her husband Don, of the popular Classic Jazz program on New Orleans WWOZ public radio station.

After Hurricane Katrina, she was co-founder of Bring It On Home an organization established for the sole purpose of providing jobs for those New Orleans-area musicians that wanted to return home. Through this organization, she co-produced three major concerts, one of which was the very successful “Rent Party,” and solicited work that paid well over a hundred musicians.

In April 2006, she served on a panel for the Appalachian State University’s symposium on “The Other and The In-between: Public History and the Interpretation of Diversity” where she presented her work on Don’s Creole family and touched on the research she has done on Creole music.

As V.P of Vappielle Inc. Milly has co-produced four CDs and served as production assistant for the CD In Search of King Oliver, a project from the Australian producer, Robert Parker.

As a cultural historian and researcher, Milly became interested in genealogy. After discovering the rich musical heritage of Don’s maternal line, passed down though his great-grandfather, Valsin Joseph, she was astonished to discover the many number of musicians produced by this family who were in the fore-front of jazz, R&B, and rock & roll.

Milly originally conceived the idea of a documentary film about this Creole family, which is still turning out musicians, generation after generation, as a means to showcase the impact that Louisiana musicians have had on the development of America’s musical history. Don had just finished filming a scene in Glen Pitre’s film “The Scoundrel Wife,” and suggested that we pitch the idea to him. As co-producer and grant-writer for American Creole: A New Orleans Reunion, she secured grants from the Southern Humanities Media Fund, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, and the Louisiana Division of the Arts.