Our Mission
The NOCCA Foundation champions the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. We build philanthropic, lasting partnerships. We invest in young artists, their mentors and the community through programs that encourage educational and cultural innovation.
HOW WE SUPPORT NOCCA: The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts was founded in 1973 and opened its doors to students in 1974. Today, NOCCA is Louisiana’s arts conservatory for high school students, offering intensive instruction in Classical Music, Creative Writing, Culinary Arts, Dance, Drama, Jazz, Media Arts, Musical Theatre, Theatre Design, Vocal Music, Visual Arts, and academics. Students come from across Louisiana, attending via full-day, afternoon, and after-school sessions. Admission to NOCCA is by audition, and there is no tuition.
The NOCCA Foundation (formerly The NOCCA Institute) 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, college application fees, required private music lessons, fees associated with important summer training programs across the country, as well as emergency food support; 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.
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Our Impact
almost 4 years ago — New Orleans Center for Creative Arts
Hello, My name is Dorian Ketchens-Dixon and I am a member of NOCCA’s graduating class of 2021 (Jazz). I want to let you know what attending NOCCA has done for me as an artist and a person – and that it holds a special place in my heart. The opportunity to attend NOCCA means so much to me. During my four years in the Jazz program, I was able to fully fall in love with and hone my craft as a jazz drummer. Being self-taught, I had no knowledge of music theory until I started NOCCA. My instructors made my learning experience easy and fun. This wasn’t a hobby. This was my opportunity to continue the cultural tradition of live jazz performances. Our instructors, specifically our chair Michael Pellera, teach at a collegiate level. That level of learning has prepared me for the world, given me confidence, and has ensured that no matter what I do I am ready; I won’t fall short. In the fall I will be attending Delgado Community College to pursue a degree in American Sign Language to prepare myself for enlistment in the Navy in 2023. With this chosen path, I know that Jazz performance will still be a part of my journey to open future doors and sustain my happiness. The NOCCA Institute’s work is both critical and inspirational and your support helps them continue their work in support of students like me. Thank you for supporting NOCCA, The NOCCA Institute, and helping students access the same opportunities I did! Dorian Ketchens-Dixon
almost 4 years ago — New Orleans Center for Creative Arts
Hello, My name is Eric Shawn and I am a member of NOCCA’s graduating class of 2021 (Musical Theatre). This is what I want you to know about my time at NOCCA. Attending NOCCA has given me the tools to use in the professional industry. It has help me build myself into a person that I can look in the mirror and say I love. NOCCA has also given me a taste of what it feel like to work in a creative atmosphere where everyone is working towards the same artistic goal. An education at NOCCA is what you make of it. Our Musical Theatre department provides a “triple threat” training, that develops us as both an artist and person. Our teachers distribute tools to every student, and it is up to us to figure out how to use them in whatever we are set to do - with guidance of course. Having those tools were especially important during the past year. Being a student during the COVID pandemic was not easy - terrible actually. BUT! having access to creativity while being locked up in a house all day was quite exhilarating. It gave me more time to focus on myself, the individual artist, rather than continually thinking about how I am perceived by others everyday. What I have learned in the past year and in my career at NOCCA is to trust the process. Everything good takes time. Becoming an amazing performer takes a lot of hard work and does not happen overnight. I will carry what I learned to college, in my career, and with others around me when I get the chance. Thank you for supporting NOCCA and helping young artists like me! Eric Shawn