Please note that the Young Artist Program is currently paused due to the ongoing pandemic. Please stay in touch for updates!

The Birdfoot Festival’s Young Artist Program gives young musicians the chance to “be in the driver’s seat.” Guided by international-caliber musicians and working with a small group of your peers, the Young Artist Program empowers you to make musical decisions and develop your musical voice. Through a series of chamber music coachings, workshops, masterclasses, and performance opportunities, you will expand your musical abilities, imagination, and leadership skills. 

The Young Artist Program is open to advanced high school-age musicians. Exceptional younger musicians and undergraduate ensembles are occasionally accepted.

Young Artist Program participants have gone on to study music at Harvard, Eastman School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Peabody Conservatory, among others.

Curious  to learn more?

• View the mini-documentary about Birdfoot’s Young Artist Program and why it has been an integral part of Birdfoot’s programming since the festival’s very first season.

• Read more about Birdfoot’s Young Artists Program in this feature article in The New Orleans Advocate here.

• Listen to an interview with a Young Artist Program coach and view a photo essay on the Young Artist Program by New Orleans photographer Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee here.