New Orleans Center for Creative Arts Foundation (NOCCA Foundation)

The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts is a regional, pre-professional arts training center that offers secondary school-age children intensive instruction in dance, media arts, music (classical, jazz, vocal), theatre arts (drama, musical theatre, theatre design) , visual arts, and creative writing, while demanding simultaneous excellence. NOCCA was founded in 1973 by a diverse coalition of artists, educators, business leaders, and community activists who saw the need for an institution devoted to our region's burgeoning young talent. Today, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick, Jr., Terence Blanchard, Nicholas Payton, Jeanne-Michele Charbonnet, Wendell Pierce, and Saints former cornerback Ashley Ambrose are only a few NOCCA graduates who can attest to the extraordinary educational opportunity the Center represents to the children of Louisiana.