Monthly Newsletters - June 2025

Join the Fun this Summer - Concerts, Camps, Upcoming Events, and More!

Dear Students and Parents,

 

Happy summer! I’m writing this Monday morning after we started the month off strong with three nearly back-to-back powerhouse productions featuring our music, dance, and acting students. The amount of hard work and detail that our students put into these shows was incredible. The audiences were wowed, and they were a fantastic start to our performance season.

 

All of the honors music and dance performances are slowly being released from their original LAAPAFEST recordings in virtual concerts at https://www.laapa.com/live that will also feature our student acting hosts for some light comedy. If you haven’t checked those out yet, please do!

 

Congrats to our College Prep Acting IV students with their production of “All My Sons.” With nearly two hours of non-stop and fluent dialogue, it was one of the most challenging and emotionally powerful dramas that we’ve put on here at LAAPA, and I’m really proud of what this group has accomplished! Many of these students are now graduating seniors and have received scholarships to college in either music or drama, so a huge congrats to all of them!

 

Be on the lookout for photos and clips soon. We have so many things going on here, that we are constantly releasing new videos and photos. The best way to see them is to follow us on facebook, Instagram, and yes, we even have a tiktok if you’re into that.

 

With the arrival of summertime, extra free time reigns supreme for many kids! One of the questions that we often get this time of year from new families interested in learning more about LAAPA is who are we, and what is it exactly that we do here. What is our focus? What is our mission? Are we a music school? Are we a talented arts program? Are we a dance school? Are we a theater focused place that puts on musicals? Do we teach classical music? Can I learn cool guitar solos? Do we teach popular music? Are we a conservatory? Are we a community school – can anyone join? Are there auditions? It can sometimes be hard to define us since we work with so many different types of students!

 

Let’s make it easy for you! Louisiana Academy of Performing Arts was founded in the late seventies by my mother, Wanda Cullen as a piano studio. She taught piano lessons for years at her home in River Ridge prior to having a music school. Today we are a full music school or music conservatory, whatever you’d like to call it, with campuses in Covington, Harahan/River Ridge, and Mandeville. We are experts in music education at LAAPA and have some incredibly talented music educators on faculty from all over the world, who are passionate instructors and love working with students of all ages. We also have an amazing dance and drama faculty, with teachers who are thriving in their modern approaches to helping our students reach their dreams and goals. With the introduction of our newest apps, many instructors are loving the option to add video lessons in student’s digital notebooks so that they can practice with the videos outside of class.

 

Our mission is to provide students of all ages and levels of ability with the joy of an education in the performing arts. With everything that we teach, our student base is extremely diverse ranging in brand new beginners finding their Middle C on the piano or putting on their ballet slippers for the first time, to advanced students who are graduating and going on to study music, dance, or drama in college!

 

All students ages 5-up have the option to take lessons in a private format, meaning that you can work on any age-appropriate instrument or style of music, dance, or acting that you’d like! Your instructor will create a customized lesson plan based on your interests and goals! Our group dance classes are all named for the styles of dance that we teach and available at beginning through advanced levels. Our acting classes try to focus on a variety of themes and styles such as drama, comedy, improv, with different showcases each year. Our students range in age from 18 months to adults (with many who are senior citizens)!

 

To summarize, we are a school here to serve our local community, operating as a private, self-sustaining arts institution. Anyone is welcome to join at LAAPA, and auditions are not necessary in most programs. Auditions are required for our musical productions and upper-level dance and drama classes, but that is so that students are able to be properly placed. With our musicals, we are generally able to find a role for every student that wants to join a production – either on stage or behind the scenes!

 

Now, onto what’s coming up for the rest of this month!

 

Join us June 12 for our Southshore drama department student showcases! Our Southshore musical theatre students will present their Summer Showcase at 5:00PM. The acting students will present their Summer Showcase at 7:30PM. All shows will be held at the Jefferson Performing Arts Society in Westwego. Tickets are available here.

 

June 14-15, LAAPA’s River Ridge campus will feature our music and dance students in concert at Jefferson Performing Arts Society in Westwego. An awards ceremony follows each concert. Tickets are available here.

 

On June 26, our Northshore Musical Theatre II class will present their Summer Showcase “Phantom of the French Quarter” at 7:30PM at Fuhrmann Auditorium in Covington. Tickets are available here.

 

On June 27 & June 29, you can catch our 2025 Summer Musical ‘The Little Mermaid JR.’ at Fuhrmann Auditorium! Friday’s show will begin at 6:00PM and Sunday’s show will begin at 2:00PM. Tickets are available here.

 

On June 28-29, LAAPA’s Mandeville & Covington campuses will feature our music and dance students in concert at Fuhrmann Auditorium in Covington. An awards ceremony follows each concert. Tickets are available here.

 

We’re extremely excited to see all of our students perform! If this is your first time performing in a concert with us, please check out our full guide on “What to Expect at the Summer Concert” posted here.

 

As I’ve mentioned before, performing is a big part of what we do, and we absolutely love presenting the hard work of our students this time each year! For those prospective beginning parents and students reading this, it can, perhaps, seem a bit intimidating. Just keep in mind that not everyone at LAAPA enjoys performing or has a desire to get on stage when just getting started in lessons, and we certainly don’t force it on any of our students. Performing is always completely optional, and many students enjoy taking lessons just for their own enjoyment. However, I will say that your teacher will definitely encourage you when they see you are ready! Usually once you get on stage the first time, you can’t get enough of it. We see so many transformations from the initial shy performer unsure of their talent, to the confident semi-comedian taking triple bows who we almost can’t get off the stage. Watching these transformations in our students year over year are some of my most rewarding moments here over the past 20 years.

 

Good luck to everyone this month!

 

~ Ryan Cullen, Executive Director

What Awaits You This Summer?

Summer spots are filling quickly! Whether you'd like to try something new at camp or add a program to your yearly schedule, now's the perfect time to sign up!

 

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Student News - Got something to share? Send it to us!

We love getting your news, success stories, and comments. If you'd like to share your news with us, please e-mail at studentnews@laapa.com. Please note that we publish our newsletters monthly, and if you don't see your submission in this edition, it will be published as soon as space is available! Connect with us on Facebook at facebook.com/laapaface, youtube.com/laapatube, and on Twitter at @laapatweets.

Recording Studio

Our recording studio is located at the Mandeville campus and features a 32 track ProTools system, 4k video cameras, premium mics and equipment. Click the button below to learn more, schedule a studio tour or book your session today!

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Happy June Birthdays!

We'd like to wish the following students a very Happy Birthday this month!

Adalyn A [5], Adalynn S [4], Adrianne S, Allison C, Amy S [9], Andrew T [16], Ansley M [9], Arienne L [4], Ashwyn D [8], Asia B [11], Aurora M [11], Ava H, Azariah M [8], Bella L [3], Benjamin B [8], Brielle H [16], Calvin S [13], Camille C [7], Charlie G, Chase P [12], Christian L [11], Coraline J [9], Cullen S [8], Darien W [14], Diana M [12], Dominic G [6], Eleanor C [2], Eli N [9], Elizabeth L [12], Elsie M [13], Emilia W [7], Emma R [3], Everlee C [11], Felicity J [5], Fiona M [11], Fortune L [8], Genevieve G, Grace G [6], Gwen G [14], Hagen F [8], Hailey L [9], Harper H [5], Iliana C [17], Iona B [6], Isaac N [7], Isabel M [9], Isabella S [13], Izzabella S [2], Jackson D [11], Jackson O [11], Jazzy H [10], Joseph T [13], Josiah M [6], Julia B [13], Kailyn E [4], Kamiya C [17], Katharine T [13], Keren A [7], Kerrie Ann N, Kimberly W, Kylie S [13], Leilani C [2], Lenny H, Lexi C [2], Lexi D [11], Leyann N [10], Liam D [18], Lila W [11], Lillian R [13], Link W [10], Lively P [5], Logan B [4], Logan L [17], Logan R [12], Londyn M [12], Louis K [14], Lucas K [14], Macyn C [14], Mae K [14], Mara H [9], Maria O [11], Marlin G [9], Megean S, Navy M [3], Olivia A [5], Olivia B [10], Olivia V [13], Owen M [5], Penelope Z [7], Petra Rose H [9], Phoebe C [10], Raelyn C [10], Reese W [8], Roman A [5], Rory M [9], Rylynn H [9], Ryohei H [17], Sami H [8], Sarah S [16], Sasha F, Sebastian G [7], Shane P [11], Shirley-Luz E, Sidon C, Skyler S [14], Smira H [11], Sophia E [14], Steed P [11], Stevie L, Thalya S [10], Thomas H [13], Tommy H [13], Valentina C [9], Vivian D [13], William D [8], William L [9], Zachary L [15], Zackory K [13], Zarriah C [14]

Important Dates

Take a moment to review the following upcoming dates:

New Artwork by Michaela Howell

We are very fortunate to work with local artist Michaela Howell. Many of her paintings and art are on display at all three of our school campuses!

Michaela recently brought in new artwork that can be viewed at both of our Northshore campuses. The beautiful piece above is available for purchase at our Mandeville location for $850.

Interested in purchasing art from Michaela? Inquire at the front desk!

With down home country humble beginnings Michaela has always been very resourceful. She cuts, sands, primes, paints, and in some cases stains her abstract versions of the wooden instruments, creating very hands-on works of art. This resourcefulness has “Played” out very nicely in her most current work. Though the recycling of varying musical instrument components including guitar strings, violin knobs, music sheets featuring the instrument showcased, Michaela portrays a ‘current’ sense of style combined with a very vivid color pallet, creating a symphony for the senses!

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Student Spotlight - Christian Padilla

This month’s Student Spotlight features River Ridge campus student Christian Padilla! Christian has been taking piano lessons here at LAAPA for a whopping six years!

Outside of LAAPA, Christian enjoys swimming, playing soccer & football, and working out. His favorite music genres are classical and jazz. Christian’s favorite artist is Jvke, and his favorite band is Iron Maiden. He has future goals of becoming both an engineer and simmer!

Christian’s favorite things about his instructor, Randy M, are his friendliness and teaching styles. Randy makes lessons fun and interesting! He’s a big fan of all the teachers here at LAAPA! Christian’s favorite part of lessons is practicing - he works hard to understand things he doesn’t pick up the first time around. Christian is appreciative of his lessons because they’ve given him the opportunity to make new friends as well as provided a wonderful hobby overall. We are all proud to have you as a part of LAAPA, Christian, and truly look forward to seeing all that you accomplish in the future!

A HUGE welcome to our newest students who began lessons or added programs in May!

We are so happy that you’ve chosen to study at LAAPA. We know you will do great things this year!