Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning

Specialties

People of all ages and artistic levels participate in JCAL’s arts and education programs. Its a place to pursue creative expression, passionate learning and artistic development. Professional artists provide exposure to a wide of variety of art forms including theater, dance, ceramics, keyboard, cartooning and more. We offer over 40 different workshops for children, teens, adults and seniors to choose from.

History

Established in 1972.

Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning is a 39 year-​old multidisciplinary urban arts center located in the diverse community of Southeast Queens. More than 28,000 people of all ages and backgrounds participate in our wide array of education, performing arts, and visual arts programs anngually.

JCAL was founded as part of a large-​scale effort to revitalize the declining Jamaica business district. Downtown Jamaica, like many neighborhoods across the United States, experienced a long period of decline in the 1960s. In 1967, local artists, business leaders and community members came together to restore the decaying commercial corridor along Jamaica Avenue. They acquired the abandoned Queens Register of Titles and Deeds Building — a New York landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places — and transformed it into an urban cultural center that would serve as a symbol of Jamaica’s reawakening and act as a magnet for businesses, shoppers, and residents returning to the downtown area.