New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, or NOCCA, is the regional, pre-professional arts training center for high school students in Louisiana. NOCCA opened in 1973 as a professional arts training center for
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
-age children. Located in
, it provides intensive instruction in culinary arts, creative writing, dance, media arts, music (classical, jazz, vocal), theatre arts (drama, musical theatre, theatre design), and visual arts.
NOCCA was founded by a group of artists, educators, business leaders, and community activists. Tuition is free to all Louisiana students who meet audition requirements. Students from over 100 public, private, parochial and
home schools attend in the afternoon or late-day as well as Academic Studio students who attend NOCCA for the full day.
In 2000, NOCCA moved to a campus in the
Faubourg Marigny
The Faubourg Marigny ( ; sometimes called The Marigny) is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.
Its boundaries, as defined by the City Planning Commission, are North Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue to the n ...
neighborhood. Before that, NOCCA was housed for many years in an old elementary school building on Perrier Street in Uptown New Orleans.
Curriculum
NOCCA students receive pre-professional arts training in one of eleven different arts disciplines, and additionally may participate in a full-day academic program, the Academic Studio.
* Classical Instrumental Music
* Creative Writing
*Culinary Arts
* Dance
* Drama
* Entertainment Production Design
* Jazz
* Media Arts
*
Musical Theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...
*
Visual Arts
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...
*
Vocal music
Vocal music is a type of singing performed by one or more singers, either with musical instruments, instrumental accompaniment, or without instrumental accompaniment (a cappella), in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which ...
Launched in the fall of 2011, NOCCA's Academic Studio is a full-day, diploma-granting attendance option. To enroll in the Academic Studio, prospective students must successfully complete an arts audition and be accepted into a Level I program in one of NOCCA's eleven arts disciplines.
Admissions process
NOCCA acceptance is by audition only.
Notable alumni
* Musician
Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews
Troy Andrews (born January 2, 1986), also known by the stage name Trombone Shorty, is an American musician, producer, actor and philanthropist from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is best known as a trombone and trumpet player but also plays drums, ...
* Musician
Jon Batiste
Jonathan Michael Batiste (born November 11, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and television personality. He has recorded and performed with artists in various genres of music (Stevie Wonder, Prince, Willie Nelson, ...
* Artist
Gustave Blache III
* Musician
Terence Blanchard
Terence Oliver Blanchard (born March 13, 1962) is an American trumpeter and composer. He started his career in 1982 as a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, then The Jazz Messengers. He has composed more than forty film scores and performed ...
* Dancer
Bella Blue
* Musician and actor
Harry Connick Jr.
* Novelist and poet
Nicole Cooley
* Writer
Lolis Eric Elie
Lolis Eric Elie (born April 10, 1963) is an American writer, journalist, documentary filmmaker, and food historian best known for his work as story editor of the HBO drama '' Treme'' and story editor of AMC's ''Hell on Wheels''.
Early life an ...
* Musician
Donald Harrison
Donald Harrison Jr. (born June 23, 1960) is an African-American jazz saxophonist and the Big Chief of The Congo Square Nation Afro-New Orleans Cultural Group from New Orleans, Louisiana.
He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Berklee Col ...
* Actress
JoNell Kennedy
JoNell Kennedy has been an American actress, producer and writer since 1992. She is perhaps best known for her recurring role as "Coroner Pat" on ''The Mentalist''. She also appeared on an episode of '' Southland''.
Personal life
Kennedy was ...
* Musician
Doreen Ketchens
* Actor
Anthony Mackie
Anthony Dwane Mackie (born September 23, 1978) is an American actor. Mackie made his acting debut starring in the semi-biographical drama film '' 8 Mile'' (2002). He was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor for his per ...
* Musicians
Branford,
Wynton,
Delfeayo, and
Jason Marsalis
Jason Marsalis (born March 4, 1977) is an American jazz drummer, vibraphone player, composer, producer, band leader, and member of the Marsalis family of musicians. He is the youngest son of Dolores Ferdinand Marsalis and the late Ellis Marsal ...
* Conductor
Paul Mauffray
Paul Mauffray is an American conductor and laureat of the 2007 Bartók International Opera Conducting Competition, The American Prize for Conductors, and 1996 Freedman Conducting Competition. He has studied at the New Orleans Center for Creative ...
* Musician
Paul Meany
Paul Meany (born July 2, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music director and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer and keyboardist for the alternative rock band Mutemath.
Career
While under the mon ...
* Musician
Jeffery Miller
Jeffery Oliver Miller is an American trombonist, vocalist, composer, arranger and bandleader primarily known for his work in jazz and pop music. He was worked with Delfeayo Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Jon Batiste & Stay Human, Preservation Hal ...
* Rap Artist
3D Na'Tee
* Musician
Nicholas Payton
Nicholas Payton (born September 26, 1973) is an American trumpet player and multi-instrumentalist. A Grammy Award winner, he is from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is also a prolific and provocative writer who comments on a multitude of subjects, inc ...
* Actor
Wendell Pierce
Wendell Edward Pierce (born December 8, 1963) is an American actor and businessman. Having trained at Juilliard School, Pierce rose to prominence as a character actor portraying roles both on the stage and screen. He first gained notoriety portra ...
* Musician
Nick Sanders
Nicholas Mark Sanders (born 1958) is a British bicyclist, motorcyclist and author noted for his long-distance riding and has ridden around the world seven times.
In 1992 he rode around the world on a Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle.
On 9 June ...
* Musician
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
* Filmmaker
Phillip Youmans
NOCCA Foundation
The NOCCA Foundation is NOCCA’s nonprofit partner, providing supplemental funding for NOCCA and advocacy for its world-class program. Some of the Foundation’s more notable endeavors include: a Student Success Program that pays for students’ classroom supplies as well as fees associated with important summer training programs across the country; an Artists-in-Residence Program that brings more than 100 professional visiting artists into NOCCA’s classrooms each year; the capital campaign for NOCCA’s current home and expansion projects like Press Street Gardens; a wide array of arts classes for adults; and concert, gallery, and literary events for the community. The Foundation also oversees rentals of the NOCCA campus, making it available to arts organizations, individuals, corporations, and other groups.
References
External links
Official websiteThe NOCCA Institute
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Art schools in Louisiana
Culture of New Orleans
Charter schools in New Orleans
Faubourg Marigny
Public high schools in New Orleans
Schools of the performing arts in the United States
Educational institutions established in 1973
1973 establishments in Louisiana