On November 30, 1926, property tax payers of New Orleans voted to approve the sale of $2,000,000 in public improvement bonds to fund the construction of a “Municipal Auditorium or Convention Hall.” A few months later, the Commission Council adopted ordinance 9472 CCS (January 12, 1927) establishing the Municipal Auditorium Commission, which was charged with identifying the site for the construction, architects and engineers to design and construct the building, furnishings. The commission was also to administer and oversee the operations of the auditorium, once it opened.

The Commission was comprised of 9 members (required to be qualified voters and property tax payers) appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of the Commission Council. The membership was increased in 1950 to 11 members. The mayor himself also served ex-officio. The members served terms of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 years (10 and 11, after 1950) without compensation, with the Mayor designating the term of each member and naming the Chairman.

The Commission was authorized to appoint officers, create committees as necessary, and to establish whatever rules and regulations it needed in order to conduct its business. It was also authorized to “select and employ such necessary persons to carry out the purposes for which it [was] created.”

The Commission met quarterly, but meetings could be held at any time on the written request of any three members or on the call of the Chairman or mayor. It was also to make quarterly reports to the Mayor and Council concerning its activities and its future recommendations.

The Municipal Auditorium was formally turned over to the City of New Orleans on January 15, 1930 and was dedicated on May 30, 1930.

The Municipal Auditorium Commission ceased to exist with the passage of the Home Rule Charter on May 1, 1954. Its functions were more or less continued by the Municpal Auditorium Advisory Board, which, after December 1955, became the Municipal Auditorium Advisory Committee. Over the next decade or so, the Advisory Committee's responsibilities and influence seems to have gradually diminished, and the Auditorium, for all practical purposes, came to be managed by the Department of Property Management through a Managing Director. It is not clear exactly when the Advisory Committee ceased to exist finally, but it may have been during the mid-late 1960s, when development of the Cultural Center began.