NOCCA Alumnus and Grammy-award winner named executive director
NEW ORLEANS (June 19, 2024) –The NOCCA Foundation has hired acclaimed musician Adonis Rose as its next executive director. The Foundation’s board announced Mr. Rose’s selection following a months-long national search, which attracted applicants from across the country. His first day in the role will be July 1, 2024.
The NOCCA Foundation is the nonprofit partner of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), which opened in 1974 and today offers tuition-free arts training to students across the state of Louisiana. Mr. Rose is a NOCCA alumnus, having graduated from the school’s Jazz department.
“I cannot tell you how excited I am to return to NOCCA in this new role,” said Mr. Rose. “I began as a student, visited often as a guest artist, and will now head the nonprofit organization that gives NOCCA’s talented students and their dedicated teachers the support they need to excel in their work.”
Since NOCCA’s founding 50 years ago, the NOCCA Foundation has managed a range of initiatives to enhance NOCCA’s educational environment. The Foundation’s Student Support program helps NOCCA’s young artists pay for art supplies, summer training at programs across the country, ACT prep courses, and college application fees. The Foundation also oversees a vast Artists-in-Residence program, arts workshops for the community, and capital campaigns to improve and expand the NOCCA campus.
The Foundation’s board president, NOCCA alum Shanekah Johnson, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Adonis to this leadership position. He understands what makes NOCCA special, and we know he will help strengthen NOCCA’s position as one of America’s most vibrant and important schools for young artists.”
NOCCA’s president and CEO, Silas Cooper, is equally excited about Rose’s appointment. “Adonis has been a member of the NOCCA community for many years. He is an outstanding artist and a strong leader, and I am certain that he’ll be a great champion of NOCCA. I look forward to working together.”
Mr. Rose will take over the Foundation’s reins from Sally Perry, who is retiring after 25 years as executive director. “I am thrilled to see Adonis in this role. He’s a native New Orleanian, a celebrated artist, and an inspiring leader. I can’t wait to see what he accomplishes!” said Perry.
With Mr. Rose leading the organization’s staff and Ms. Johnson leading its board, the Foundation will have NOCCA alumni in its two most visible positions. A third NOCCA alumnus, Gary Solomon Jr., serves as the president of NOCCA’s own board of directors.
ABOUT ADONIS ROSE
Adonis Rose is a Grammy-award winning artist, composer, educator, and producer from the city of New Orleans. He has played and recorded with the biggest names in Jazz, including Terence Blanchard, Betty Carter, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Roberts, Harry Connick Jr., and Wynton Marsalis, and has performed on the most renowned stages in the world such as Carnegie Hall, Olympia in Paris, North Sea Jazz Festival, Umbria, Birdland, Apollo Theater, Newport Jazz Festival, and Jazz at Lincoln Center, to name a few. Mr. Rose has over fifty recordings to his credit (five as a leader), including six with longtime friend, trumpeter Nicholas Payton. Since 2017, Mr. Rose has served as executive director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.
ABOUT NOCCA AND THE NOCCA FOUNDATION
The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) 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.
