Employment Opportunities
Join our team of highly motivated faculty and administrative professionals who love what they do!
Employment Opportunities
Welcome
Thanks for your interest in teaching and administrative positions with Louisiana Academy of Performing Arts. This page will give you an idea of LAAPA’s philosophy and how LAAPA can best meet the needs of students, teachers, and staff.
Are you tired of traveling to student homes (only to find they forgot you were coming or fight over who has to go first) or endless "new student leads" that never pan out from out of state companies?
Looking for a fantastic place to teach music or dance within a locally owned and operated organization where your time, talent, and skills are highly valued by students, parents, faculty, and staff?
Then it's time to teach for New Orleans' largest, private school of music and dance. Since 1978, we've been helping students all across the New Orleans metropolitan area at our campuses in Covington, Harahan, and Mandeville to achieve real success in music and dance lessons.
As a company that is owned and operated by local performing artists and arts educators, we understand the obstacles, frustrations, rewards, and challenges that teachers face every day when striving to provide top notch educational services to their students.
During our 40 years in the educational field, we have implemented and continue to develop a variety of unique systems to ensure that our faculty minimize time spent on administrative tasks and maximize their time spent in doing what they love.
Learn more about how you can take the next step in joining our family of music and dance professionals by applying.
We are currently accepting applications and conducting interviews for the following positions in Fall 2024:
Requirements:
Music Faculty - Bachelor of Music Degree or Equivalent Professional Experience.
Dance Faculty - Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Dance or Equivalent Professional Experience.
All applicants should enjoy teaching students of a wide variety of ages/levels for us to be able to keep your schedule full. Vocal applicants should have basic piano skills suitable for playing warm-ups for students, helping them to match pitches when working on melodies.
Staff Members - Minimum of a high school diploma (or equivalent), an outgoing personality, a passion for organization and attention to detail, ability to multi-task, strong computer skills, excellent written and verbal communication skills. No music or dance experience is necessary but is welcomed.
To apply, please send your cover letter and resume to hr@laapa.com addressed as below:
Attention Human Resources: [Insert Position you are Applying For]
School Background
The Louisiana Academy of Performing Arts is a privately owned school originally founded here in the New Orleans area in 1978.
Since then we have grown to three campuses in Covington, Mandeville, and River Ridge. We are the largest school in the Greater New Orleans area with over 1,300 students between our three locations. We teach mainly children and about 90% of our students are between the ages of 2-16 years old. We welcome adult students as well of course.
We realize that most of our students will not become professional musicians or dancers. We strive to provide a fun but educational environment with well organized administration and first rate equipment and facilities.
Why Work With LAAPA?
Why should you consider working with us? Learn more about our working with us in the following areas:
Music Faculty Positions
If you teach in your home or students’ homes, the financial compensation is greater since you have no expenses such as rent, a receptionist, or yellow pages advertising. There is no percentage paid out to overhead costs. There are also downsides to teaching in your home or your students’ homes. It can be extremely difficult to keep your schedule constantly full with new students. Getting a full schedule can be impossible and expensive if you have to run classified ads or small newspaper ads. Even if you are a good, well-liked teacher, it can take a long period of time for referrals and word of mouth to fill your schedule. If you are driving to students’ homes, you also have to factor in the driving time between students which limits the amount of teaching you can actually do.
Another factor to consider is that enforcing your attendance and payment policies may be time consuming as well as unpleasant. No one likes being a collection agent. It can be difficult to concentrate on your teaching while trying to keep track of who owes money and to make sure you are paid.
If you are teaching on your own, it can also be difficult to enforce your teaching policies and have your time respected. For example, if a student tells you they are going on vacation for the next two weeks; it can be difficult to have them pay for their lesson time. Many students will refuse to pay for those missed lessons because they will think: “I’m not getting my lesson so why should I pay?” Chances are you can’t book another student in that lesson time for just 2 weeks, so if you don’t charge the student during their vacation, you have just lost 2 weeks of pay. If that scenario occurs a couple of times per month it can greatly reduce your earnings.
Now let’s look at teaching at a music school. The downside is you are paid less per hour taught it seems, but let’s look at the time you spend on anything related to teaching in your studio. We have actually clocked hours with incoming teachers asking them how much time they spend on activities outside of the actual lessons they teach. For example 1) having a student not show up and then feeling you have to provide a makeup lesson 2) spending time researching and ordering books, materials for your student 3) working to continually get the students or parents to pay you with phone calls, etc. (and having to chase them for the check) 4) answering the phone to handle problems with your students, their parents, scheduling them, changing schedules 5) figuring out if you will hold a recital, where, when, how much, renting a facility, getting paperwork out to students, keeping track of who will play what, creating and printing programs 6) advertising to keep your schedule full 7) dealing with unhappy parents about any rule you may have in your studio and keeping them happy to prevent them from quitting 8) spending money advertising for more students…etc.
We could go on and on. Teaching at LAAPA handles 100% of above situations and more for our Teachers, and they love it! Teachers at LAAPA share with us that they save more than 55% of their time previously spent teaching in their home studios. Teaching rates that in-home teachers and music schools charge are usually pretty similar. So the pay per student to the teacher, even though less per student, provides the teacher with more time outside of teaching hours to do other things or teach more students! LAAPA handles all those other time and money draining situations mentioned above including huge advertising costs, yellow pages, receptionists, and more. The upside can be having a consistently full schedule of students each day. Being paid a little less per student but having 10 or 11 students in a day will mean you earn more overall.
Here are nine reasons why professional music educators in the Greater New Orleans area enjoy teaching with LAAPA over all other choices:
Over the course of the year, students can move or quit. This can leave a teacher with gaps or holes in their schedule. Most students register and start lessons in September. Most music schools only advertise in late August and September for new students. At LAAPA we spend thousands of dollars every month on advertising and marketing year round to keep our teachers’ schedules as full as possible. We are continually registering new students for our private music lessons even during typically slower registration months like May or June.
At LAAPA we have a full time front desk person to handle all of the “details” of teaching. From scheduling to collecting fees, or arranging an accompanist for recitals….these details are handled by our administrators, not the teacher. This means the teacher is free to focus on teaching and not get bogged down by administration.
Teachers are always paid for lessons whether students attend or not. Our priority for teachers is to make sure that your time is not abused and your teaching day can be as productive as possible. It is for this reason that we have implemented a unique make-up lesson system that no other school in the area uses which both our faculty and students love. This system eliminates all private make-up lessons and dramatically reduces your extra personal time spent in makeup lessons. This is impossible to do out of your own teaching studio while still making your students happy should they miss a lesson and ask for a makeup.
Our school has invested thousands of dollars to ensure that we are able to provide the most dynamic experience possible for our students and teachers. All our our campuses feature fast Wi-Fi access and each studio is equipped with iPads and the latest apps. We are also thrilled to oblige when our faculty ask to add new apps to our portfolio.
With over 1,000 students enrolled at our school, the school directors have years of experience not only in education, but also in business. One of the most frustrating parts of being a private music teacher is having students suddenly quit, drop off the face of the earth, conveniently forget to come to their lesson on "payday", etc. At our annual faculty meeting, we provide all of our instructors with the tools they need to be successful instructors who are able to keep their students longer - even during the summer! Many of our faculty members also present to share what has been successful with their students. At LAAPA, we thrive on the ability to work, learn and grow together as a team. Below is a video clip from a recent faculty/staff meeting.
As a professional musician, you're probably used to getting numerous 1099's at the end of each year. These 1099's can take a big hit out of your annual income due to the high cost of the self employment tax. Most stores and even schools in our area hire music teachers as independent contractors to avoid paying their half of your social security and unemployment benefits. Even if you're currently teaching privately in your own studio, you are still paying the full cost of these benefits out of your own pocket. At LAAPA, you're hired as a regular employee and we contribute the full employer's share to your social security and unemployment benefits. Being hired as an employee is additionally helpful should you need to apply for home loans, car loans, etc.
Our full time faculty enjoy 2 weeks of paid vacation time off each year. If you're currently a private instructor teaching in your home studio or in most other music schools, are you paid for your time off or losing money if you're not teaching?
Our Faculty additionally have access to our network of contacts from around the area regarding well paying performance opportunities. All Faculty additionally have the opportunity each year to perform in our Faculty Concert and receive a high quality audio/video recording.
Support our culture and local economy by working for a New Orleans owned and operated private school of music and dance.
Dance Faculty Positions
As a dance teacher you have several different studios you can choose to teach in. If you have freedom to express your artistic style through your teaching, the main difference will be how the organization of the studio affects your satisfaction and ability to focus on your teaching.
Here are reasons why professional dance educators in the Greater New Orleans area enjoy teaching with LAAPA over all other choices:
We limit class sizes to make classes easier to control and monitor for teachers and to give more personalized attention to students. Our classes for ages 3-5 are limited to a maximum of 8 students per class. Our classes for ages 6 and up are limited to a maximum of 15 students per class.
At many dance studios there is no receptionist on duty. This means that the teachers are faced with administration details when they should be concentrating on teaching. We have full time front desk administrative staff during classes to handle parent questions and concerns.
We use a professional floating dance floor in our studio. This dance floor helps prevent injuries and fatigue. A good quality floor is a consideration if you are going to be teaching for a few hours each day. A supportive quality floor allows you to protect your most important assets – your body and your ability to teach.
With 1,000 + students enrolled at our school, the school directors have years of experience not only in education, but also in business. At our annual faculty meeting, we provide all of our instructors with the tools they need to be successful instructors who are able to keep their students longer - even during the summer! Many of our faculty members also present to share what has been successful with their students. At LAAPA, we thrive on the ability to work, learn and grow together as a team.
As a professional artist, you're probably used to getting numerous 1099's at the end of each year. These 1099's can take a big hit out of your annual income due to the high cost of the self employment tax. Most dance studios in our area hire teachers as independent contractors to avoid paying their half of your social security and unemployment benefits. Even if you're currently teaching in your own studio, you are still paying the full cost of these benefits out of your own pocket. At LAAPA, you're hired as a regular employee and we contribute the full employer's share to your social security and unemployment benefits. Being hired as an employee is additionally helpful should you need to apply for home loans, car loans, etc.
Our Faculty additionally have access to our network of contacts from around the area regarding well paying performance opportunities. All Faculty additionally have the opportunity each year to perform in our Faculty Concert and receive a high quality audio/video recording.
Administrative Positions
As an administrative professional, the sky is the limit as far as employment is concerned. Your skill sets are varied and endless; you are the ultimate multi-tasker. So why work with us?
Here are reasons why administrative professionals in the Greater New Orleans area enjoy working with LAAPA over all other choices:
We use the latest in technology and computer systems to automate as many things as possible which allows you to do more in less time creating a greater sense of daily accomplishment!
Ever started at a company and given a short demo of how everything works and then "thrown to the wolves?" Did your last company even have an operations manual or training program? All of our administrative professionals complete on site training along with a Manager. We have a detailed operations manual and video series which will ensure that you are well versed in all areas before being asked to work on your own.
As an administrative professional at LAAPA, we depend on you to be able to work independently, greet customers, solve basic day to day issues, think on your feet. We do not believe in micromanagement or hovering over you with a cup of coffee!
We realize that negativity is the fastest way to ruin a team and a business which is why we keep our atmosphere upbeat. When problems arise, we encourage everyone to find solutions during our weekly staff conference calls.
We want each staff member, student, and teacher who walks through our doors to feel like a part of our family, because that's who they are. We love seeing their progress, hearing their stories, and helping them to develop a lifelong appreciation of the performing arts.