Monthly Newsletters - June 2026

Join the fun this summer: showcases, concerts, recitals, camps, & more!

Dear Students & Parents,

Happy summer! I’m writing this the Tuesday morning after wrapping up three sold-out showings of Bye Bye Birdie and our 2026 Honors Music & Dance performances. 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! We have music, dance, and theater shows coming up pretty much every weekend in June, and we can’t wait to see our students shine on stage after months of hard work!

 

We have so many things going on here, that we are constantly releasing new videos and photos. Be on the lookout for photos and clips soon. 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! (LAAPA) 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 becoming a music school that offered additional programs such as voice and guitar. Today we are a full music school with campuses in Covington, Harahan/River Ridge, and Mandeville. Our faculty here can teach just about any musical instrument! We are experts in music education at LAAPA and have some incredibly talented music instructors 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. This Summer, we are also launching film classes (which have been very popular at our Mandeville summer camps).

 

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 discovering music, dance and drama for the first time to advanced students who are graduating with performing arts scholarships to their chosen universities!

 

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 or dance that you’d like (ages 7-up for private drama). 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 are 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 on 10-11 June for our Southshore drama department student showcases! All shows will be held at the Westwego Performing Arts Theater. An awards ceremony will follow each performance. Tickets are available here.

• On 13-14 June, LAAPA’s River Ridge campus will host their music concerts and dance recitals at Westwego Performing Arts Theater. An awards ceremony will follow each performance. Tickets are available Tickets are available here.

• June 17-19 June, our Northshore drama students will be taking the stage at the Three Rivers Theater! An awards ceremony will follow each performance. Tickets will be available soon here.

• On 20-21 June, LAAPA’s Covington & Mandeville campuses will host their music concerts at Three Rivers Theater in Covington. An awards ceremony will follow each performance. Tickets will be available soon here.

• On 27 June, LAAPA’s Covington & Mandeville campuses will host their dance recitals at Fuhrmann Auditorium in Covington. An awards ceremony follows each performance. Tickets will be available soon 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 40 years.

 

Good luck to everyone this month!

 

~ Ryan Cullen, Executive Director

June Student Spotlight - Grace & Lauren Rieth

This month’s Student Spotlight features LAAPA River Ridge students and sisters, Grace & Lauren Rieth! They take semi-private violin lessons together and have been part of the LAAPA family for three years.

 

Outside of LAAPA, LAAPA, Grace enjoys listening to her favorite music (alt, K-POP, and more) and participating in school theater, where she works behind the scenes, while Lauren loves performing on stage and participates in school law club. They’re also both big fans of sci-fi films! Grace’s favorite artists are Tate McRae & Hannah Bahng, and Lauren’s is Alec Benjamin. They have a shared passion for Stray Kids, but Grace is also a BTS fan, while Lauren leans toward ATEEZ! We’re definitely pro-STAY, -ARMY & -ATINY here!

 

This dynamic duo shares lessons weekly, which means they also share the same instructor, Mr. Riccardo! Grace loves his accent and commends his talent and attitude, while Lauren appreciates his ability in critiquing students, both in timing and delivery. Grace loves chatting with Riccardo and receiving the coveted “Very good!” exclamation when an achievement is made, whether small or large. Lauren’s favorite part of lessons is getting to the point of learning and playing an entire piece, at which point Riccardo is able to listen and provide feedback. They also enjoy when Riccardo plays violin himself during their lessons, since he is SO talented! Both girls love that LAAPA offers so many avenues in terms of performance, a multitude of programs from which to choose, and, above all, provides a kind and talented faculty.

 

When asked about future goals and plans, Grace wants to further her expertise in violin and go into either music production or creative direction in film/tv, while Lauren is deciding between law school and theater production (with a very immediate goal of receiving a 4 on her AP Euro History exam next year). No matter where either of you end up - be it a courtroom or on a film set somewhere - we’re confident both of you will continue to shine even brighter and show the world your ultimate potential!

June Birthdays and Upcoming Events

Shoutouts - New Students and Faculty & Staff!