Hurricane-ravaged New Orleans will host the annual Jazz & Heritage Festival this year, organizers officially announced Tuesday (1/31).

In what organizers are calling "unprecedented corporate support" from the Shell Oil Company--the event's first-ever presenting sponsor--the event will go forward on April 28-30 and May 5-7 at its traditional home, the Fair Grounds Race Course. The amount of money Shell is contributing wasn't released. Other major corporate sponsors include American Express and Tenet Choices, Inc.

"We're dedicating this year's festival to the people of New Orleans and inviting everybody who cares about this city to come to Jazz Fest and play a meaningful role in bringing back the city's culture, which is the soul of America," Jazz Fest producer/director Quint Davis said in a press release. "Jazz Fest 2006 will be a homecoming party for thousands of New Orleans musicians, festival chefs and craftspeople, and we want the world to join us in welcoming them back as we present the celebration of a lifetime."

Tickets for Jazz Fest went on sale on Tuesday (1/31). The event's lineup will be announced in February.