University City's COCA, Craft Alliance Awarded Grant Money

Exciting news on the funding front for University City's Center of Creative Arts (COCA) and .

COCA has been awarded a $60,000 grant from PNC Arts Alive, a two-year, $1 million grant initiative from The PNC Foundation. The grant money will fund the 2011-2012 COCA Family Theatre Series.

"To be selected for this prestigious grant award is a real honor, placing us in an elite group of bold thinkers with the common goal of increasing arts access and engagement in new and innovative ways," said COCA officials in a press release.

  in the Loop received $40,000 in grant money. The money will fund the “PNC Arts Alive Family Arts Program,”  a free educational outreach program that will provide families an opportunity to take classes in contemporary craft media.

In all, 16 St. Louis area arts organizations were presented $500,000 in grants from the PNC Foundation through PNC Arts Alive. The grants are the first of $1 million to be apportioned over two years through PNC Arts Alive, an initiative that aims to make the arts more accessible for area residents. The recipients represent diverse St. Louis area organizations that cross a range of disciplines from music and dance to theatre and visual arts.