New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA)

A free conservatory in a converted rice mill where teenagers become professionals. NOCCA opened in 1973 as an after-school program for artistically gifted Louisiana high school students — acceptance by audition only, tuition waived. Students from over 100 schools cycle through the Bywater riverfront building at Press Street each afternoon for intensive instruction in music, visual arts, theater, dance, creative writing, culinary arts, and media arts. Since 2011, a full-day diploma track has run alongside the after-school model. The alumni roster reads like a genealogy of New Orleans music and stage talent: Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr., Trombone Shorty, Wendell Pierce, Anthony Mackie — all attended before age 18. Arguably the most concentrated output of professional artists from a single American high school program in the country. NOCCA isn't generally open to the public, but performances and exhibitions cycle through the campus regularly. The NOCCA Foundation brings more than 100 visiting professional artists into classrooms each year and covers student fees for summer training programs nationwide. Check nocca.com for the current performance schedule — you're watching working artists before they leave high school.