St. Louis, MO – COCA (Center of Creative Arts) has announced that Kelly Lamb Pollock will be the arts organization’s new executive director.  Pollock, who currently serves as COCA’s general manager, was selected after an extensive national search.  Pollock will assume her new role on July 1, 2010.

Pollock succeeds founding executive director, Stephanie Riven, who will leave to accept a new position with David Bury & Associates in New York on June 30. Pollock has served as COCA’s general manager since 2006, overseeing all business operations and programming.  She joined COCA in 1997 and served as its director of development for eight formative years as the organizational budget grew from $1.7 million to its current size of $5 million.  She successfully managed COCA’s $10 million Access to Excellence capital and endowment campaign.  She was also responsible for securing millions of dollars in grants over the years from National Endowment for the Arts, Wallace Foundation, Kresge Foundation, and MetLife Foundation, among others. 

As COCA’s general manager, Pollock secured one of four national Innovation Lab grant awards from the Doris Duke Foundation and EmcArts to develop COCAbiz, a program designed to integrate arts practice and concepts into talent and leadership development in business.  Pollock received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington University and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy Administration from University of Missouri, St. Louis.  She is a graduate of the CORO Women in Leadership Program. 

COCA is the fifth largest multidisciplinary community arts center in the United States.  The organization has received significant national recognition for its achievements including: a Bridge Builders Award from Partners for Livable Communities, recognizing COCA’s strong partnerships in community improvement; participation in the Partners in Education Program of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; three Ford Foundation grants for Interchange, COCA’s collaborative arts integration program in the St. Louis Public Schools; and a Coming Up Taller Award from the White House.  In 2009, COCA was featured as one of 19 case study sites for Qualities of Quality: Understanding Excellence in Arts Education, a research study conducted by Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education aimed at identifying and defining the key components of high-quality arts learning and teaching, both in and out of school.
   
“After an extensive national search, we are fortunate and delighted that the best candidate to lead COCA into the next phase of its development comes from within.  Kelly’s combination of demonstrated leadership, commitment to quality arts education and community building, make her most qualified to build on the outstanding success we’ve achieved in our first 23 years,” said Barbara Archer, president of COCA’s board of directors.   

COCA was founded in 1986.  Its mission is to enrich lives and build community through the arts.  COCA’s noteworthy programming includes: an extensive arts education program in dance, music, theatre, voice and visual arts, offering 500 classes, camps, and workshops annually at its University City headquarters and at 50 schools and community centers; The COCA Family Theatre Series; The Millstone Gallery at COCA; and its award-winning Urban Arts and Interchange programs, providing free arts education and arts integrated programming to students within the St. Louis Public Schools.  COCA serves 50,000 people annually.  For more information, visit www.COCAstl.org.

COCA | 524 Trinity Ave. | St. Louis, MO 63130 | (314) 725-6555 | Fax (314) 725-6222