NOCCA Students to Present A Fifty-Year Feast To Celebrate Five Decades Of NOCCA

On Friday, December 1, 2023, at 6pm, students from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts invite you to NOCCA's Fifty-Year Feast, a sumptuous five-course dinner in Press Street Station (600 Homer Plessy Way) to celebrate NOCCA's 50th anniversary. NOCCA's Culinary Arts students will prepare and serve the meal, and students from the Entertainment Production Design department will provide sound, lighting, and other elements to guide their guests through the past 50 years. Performances by students from NOCCA's performing arts departments will round out the experience.

 

NOCCA's Fifty-Year Feast is a prix-fixe dinner priced at $74 (a nod to NOCCA's official opening in 1974), with wine pairings and cocktails available for an additional $50. Seats are limited and can be reserved at NOCCAFoundation.org/50Feast or by calling 504-940-2808.

 

The menu for NOCCA's Fifty-Year Feast will include five themed courses, reflecting each of NOCCA's five decades:

 

Stepping Out in 1974

rumaki, smoked salmon in endive spear, stuffed dates, artichoke dip crostini, stuffed mushrooms

 

The Excess of the 80s 

spicy tuna, crispy rice cake, avocado, sticky soy, green onion 

 

The Gritty 1990s

crab stuffed gulf shrimp, pimiento cheese grits, worcestershire beurre blanc, crispy leeks

 

Surf, Turf, and Rebirth in the 2000s

red wine braised beef, crawfish mashed potatoes, roasted tomato, truffle 

 

Everything Old is New Again in the 2010s

bananas foster bread pudding, rum raisin ice cream

 

Iced tea and sparkling water are included with the meal. Wine selections will be curated and paired by Jenni Lynch of Lirette Selections.

 

Chef Dana D'Anzi Tuohy, the chair of NOCCA's Culinary Arts department, worked with her students and fellow teachers to develop the evening's menu. She says that "Diving back in time through the rich history of New Orleans cuisine has been both an eye-opening experience for our students and a trip down memory lane for us faculty. While it provided an endless bank of ideas, we found it difficult to limit each decade to just one dish. Instead we pay homage to the vast array of dishes throughout the 50 years with a special nod to New Orleans cuisine and local ingredients." 

 

The chair of NOCCA's Entertainment Production Design design department, Phil Wingerter, promises that the setting for this dinner will be as dazzling as the dishes: "Entertainment Production Design students and faculty will collaborate to create an immersive environment that reflects the exciting history of both NOCCA and New Orleans as a whole. They will design and install lighting, sound, and visual imagery throughout the space and also costume the evening's entertainers."

 

Proceeds from this event support classroom supplies, travel, and other needs of NOCCA students and their amazing professional mentors.

 

WHAT: NOCCA's Fifty-Year Feast, a celebration of NOCCA's 50th anniversary in five courses

 

WHEN: Friday, December 1, 2023 at 6pm

 

WHERE: Press Street Station, 600 Homer Plessy Way, New Orleans, LA 70117

 

WHO: Students and faculty from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts' Culinary Arts and Entertainment Production Design Departments, with performances by students from NOCCA's performing arts departments 

 

DRESS: Fun and festive

 

TICKETS & INFO: NOCCAFoundation.org/50Feast or 504-940-2808

 

 

About NOCCA and the NOCCA Foundation

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, Entertainment Production Design, Jazz, Media Arts, Musical Theatre, 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 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.

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