April 30
COCAcabana
Save the Date for COCAcabana 2027
COCAcabana, COCA’s annual fundraiser, is a dynamic and creative spring event that draws more than 500 business and community leaders for cocktails and dinner, silent and live auctions, artistic performances, special celebrity guests, and imaginative themes that are uniquely COCA.
Started in 1988, COCAcabana sustains COCA’s work throughout the community, which provides arts programming in schools without access to arts education and offers scholarships for students to participate in COCA programs. Accounting for nearly 20 percent of COCA’s annual contributed revenue, COCAcabana is crucial to continuing this vital work.
COCAcabana 2027 will be held on Friday, April 30.
COCAcabana 2027 Event Leadership
Rasheedah Furqan Clay & Stacy Clay
Izzy Polanco & Tom Emmons
Alicia Vega & Jeffrey Nelson
Ann VonAllmen
Jack Ciapciak, Alumni Chair
COCAcabana Alumni Chair, Jack Ciapciak
Jack is a New York–based writer originally from St. Louis. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, he studied Acting and Playwriting, where his thesis play Naming the Dog won the NYU Goldberg Prize for Best Play and became the inaugural selection for the Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis’s New Play Initiative.
Jack built a career in television, serving as a Co-Producer on CBS’s Blue Bloods, where he wrote 11 episodes across six seasons. Two of his episodes were recently ranked among TV Guide’s “25 Best Blue Bloods Episodes” out of the show’s nearly 300.
In 2025, Jack’s writing and storytelling reached an entirely new audience through social media. In January 2025, he began posting his “Daily Thoughts on Grief” on TikTok, reflecting on loss with honesty and hope. His videos quickly went viral, garnering more than 25 million views, millions of likes, and thousands of heartfelt comments from people around the world. Building on that momentum, Jack recently launched a new interview series, Bench Chats with Jack, in which he sits down with people from all walks of life for open, thoughtful conversations.
Through theatre, television, and digital media, Jack continues to create work rooted in empathy, storytelling, and connection.
SAY Yes to Support Arts for Youth
Donate to COCA’s SAY Yes Appeal and help us raise funds to ensure access to arts programming for our creative community.
COCAcabana Sponsorships and Donations
View Sponsorship Opportunities & Benefits
Contact Virginia Howell, Senior Director of Advancement, at vhowell@cocastl.org, or Kyra Pearson, Manager of Events, at kpearson@cocastl.org to find out how you can support COCAcabana.
Photos from COCAcabana 2026: There’s No Place Like COCA
Thank you for your support of COCAcabana 2026: There’s No Place Like COCA. The event helped raise $1.4 million to ensure access to arts programming for our creative community.
