Name: The Skeletons' Masquerade Ball
Start: 2026-10-30T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-10-30T21:00:00-05:00
Location: New Orleans Center for Creative Arts

A hauntingly delightful dinner presented by NOCCA's Culinary Arts and Entertainment Production Design departments
About this Event

THE SKELETONS' MASQUERADE BALL
Friday, October 30, 2026 at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts

Once a year, on the night when the veil between the living and the departed is at its thinnest, the skeletons return to the ballroom. This year on Friday, October 30, they'll appear at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (2800 Chartres Street), and you're invited to join them! Tickets to "The Skeletons' Masquerade Ball" are $150 per person, including tax and gratuity.

For these festivities, the spirits have asked NOCCA's Culinary Arts and Entertainment Production Design departments to craft an elegantly macabre masquerade on the stage of NOCCA's Lupin Hall — one that begins with a cocktail hour and continues at a spectacular three-course meal, complete with wine pairings. Along the way, guests will encounter mysterious characters, sinister stories, and spellbinding student entertainment.

Chef Dana D'Anzi Tuohy, chair of NOCCA's Culinary Arts department, promises an unforgettable, upscale dining experience: "The dead don't technically need to eat, but they choose to eat anyway because great food makes all of us feel alive. Our students and faculty are working on a world-class meal to wow the living and the undead."

Out of respect for the dearly departed, we encourage you to adorn yourself appropriately for our spectral hosts. Witches, warlocks, magicians, mummies, ghosts, and goblins are all welcome at this one-of-a-kind soiree, and you never know who might be at your table. Dress to impress with a costume or festive cocktail attire!

Above all, be prepared for an entertaining evening. The dead come to eat, drink, dance, tell stories, settle old scores, fall in love, and remind the living that life is far too short not to enjoy the party!

JUST THE DETAILS

Event: The Skeletons' Masquerade Ball

Date: Friday, October 30, 2026

Time: 6pm - 9pm (doors at 5:45pm)

Location: New Orleans Center for Creative Arts

Address: 2800 Chartres Street, New Orleans, LA 70117

Price: $150 per person, including tax and gratuity

Ticket info: NOCCAFoundation.Eventbrite.com

Contact: [email protected], 504-233-0271

Host: NOCCA's Culinary Arts and Entertainment Production Design Departments

Dress: Costumes or festive cocktail attire encouraged

Additional info:

The menu and wine pairings will be posted as soon as they're finalized. Stay tuned!
Seating will be done banquet-style, mostly at large tables. However, if you know of other people who are coming that you'd like to be seated with, send an email to [email protected], and we'll do our very best to work that into our seating chart.
This is an all-ages event, but guests must be 21 or older to enjoy wine with their meal. Proof of age will be required. We cannot issue refunds or make exchanges. Thank you for understanding.

ABOUT NOCCA AND THE NOCCA FOUNDATION

The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (better known as 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 Support 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.