Who We Are

JCAL is the only multidisciplinary arts center—and only member of New York City’s historic public-private partnership, the Cultural Institutions Group—in Southeast Queens. Born of a community-driven effort to situate arts and culture at the center of the revitalizing Jamaica neighborhood, JCAL inspires youth to pursue an interest in the arts, showcases emerging artists and performers, and has delivered multidisciplinary, multicultural programs to more than three generations in Queens—a borough where 2.25 million African-American, Caribbean-American, Indo-Asian, African, Latinx, Caucasian, Native American, and Indigenous artists and audiences live, work and play. ​

JCAL’s campus begins at our 45,000-square-foot headquarters in the landmark Queens Register of Title and Deeds Building. Inside, we offer a stunning array of art galleries, rehearsal spaces for music and dance, and visual arts studios, plus a cutting-edge digital lab, 99-seat black-box theater, and offices. Two blocks away (in another landmark structure—a former First Dutch Reformed Church) is our state-of-the-art, 400-seat Jamaica Performing Arts Center (JPAC). At JPAC, we offer flexible configurations for performances, conferences, fundraisers, community gatherings, and other events. Our buildings are all equipped for high-quality live-streaming and digital production.