Loyola University Partners with NOCCA to Showcase Student Talent at NOLA Funk Fest

NEW ORLEANS – Students in Loyola’s School of Music and Theatre Professions will
share a stage with their counterparts from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts
(NOCCA) at the second annual NOLA Funk Fest, set to take place Oct. 18-20 at the
New Orleans Jazz Museum.

Loyola and NOCCA are sponsoring the “Passing the Torch” stage, which provides a
platform for young, local musicians to perform and highlights the importance of music
education, said Jonathan McHugh, Hilton-Baldridge Eminent Scholar/Chair in Music
Industry Studies at Loyola.

More than a dozen musical acts from Loyola will appear at NOLA Funk Fest: Ja Fearce,
flow mvnny, Azure Skyz, Tuller, Dizzy, Montey, Aaniyah Anderson, Kai De Lua, Royale,
Surco, Tired Eyes, Hypo Nun, Bread for Sale, Uncle Jessica, and Kissing Disease will
perform sets of music spanning genres from funk to jazz to hip-hop and R&B.

NOCCA, the city’s foremost arts training high school, will offer its own musical acts, and
Loyola and NOCCA will join forces on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. for a set featuring the best
musicians from both schools, McHugh said.

"We are excited to have Loyola partner with NOCCA and Funk Fest to curate the
‘Passing the Torch’ stage again this year,” McHugh said. “This is an amazing
opportunity for our students to play on a festival stage, perhaps for the first time. One of
the goals of our program is to have all our students tap into the local culture, and Funk
Fest did that brilliantly in its first year.”

Chris Beary, the founder of NOLA Funk Fest, said creating the “Passing the Torch”
stage fulfills the festival’s mission to educate and inspire by giving Loyola and NOCCA
students the opportunity to play a festival and obtain the street credit for having done
so.

“Loyola’s participation in NOLA Funk Fest is a partnership that will grow as we both
develop, and which fosters respect, education and experience to inspire and encourage
the future of music,” Beary said.

6363 St. Charles Avenue, Campus Box 8, New Orleans, LA 70118, 504.865.3037, loyno.edu/cmm

Beary created NOLA Funk Fest to help promote the plans for the forthcoming Louisiana
Music & Heritage Experience, a museum dedicated to the preservation of state’s rich
musical history.

The festival, which showcases the city’s and the nation’s best funk acts for three days
on two stages, aims to draw attention to the museum and help make it a reality, Beary
said. The headliners for the 2024 festival include Big Freedia, Tank and the Bangas,
Marcia Ball, George Porter Jr., Leo Nocentelli, Stanton Moore, Ivan Neville, Jon Cleary,
Soul Rebels and Dumpstaphunk.

For more information about NOLA Funk Fest or to purchase tickets, visit
nolafunkfest.com. For more information about the Louisiana Heritage & Music
Experience, visit lmhe.live.