Queens Is Home To World Class Art Institutions
By LATEISHA CLÉMENT

PS1’s current exhibit, “that was then ... this is now.”

Communities are social groups of any size that occupy a specific area, sharing government, culture and heritage. In some instances, they can be divided due to political, social and religious differences. With this in mind, three Queens Institutions seek to unite a diverse people through the arts.

Queens Theatre in the Park provides quality performances at affordable prices and a sense of unity. As the premier venue for performing arts in Queens, the Theatre has programs for adults and children that mirror the borough's diversity. Some of the programs include the Latino Cultural Series and Festival, running from March through December, the Black Cultural Arts Series, which began in Spring of 2000 and the Asian Cultural Arts Festival in Spring of 2006.

Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning.

With an effort to revamp deserted and underutilized buildings into exhibition and performance spaces, Alanna Heiss founded PS1 Contemporary Art Center in 1971. The center, now an affiliate of the Museum of Modern Art, serves in two locations. One is the self-named hundred-room facility in Long Island City, and the other is the Clocktower Gallery in Lower Manhattan, which occupies the 13th floor of an old city building.

PS1 is one of the largest non-profit art centers solely devoted to contemporary art. It functions as a learning forum for the general public with its innovative art and scholarly information. Currently on display is one of the many cutting edge exhibits: "That Was Then… This Is Now." It is comprised of three sections: Weapons, Dreams and Flags, which examine the political involvement of the Art Workers Coalition's from the late 1960s.

An elaborate PS1 display encourages New Yorkers to put rooftops to use for gardens.

Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning is another non-profit center conceived from efforts of revitalization. The multidisciplinary urban art center was founded in 1972 as part as part of a response to Downtown Jamaica's business decline in the 1960s. The collaborative effort of local artists, business leaders and the community transformed a declining district into a cultural enrichment center for Queens and the Greater Metropolitan area. JCAL presents visual, performing and literary arts by way of dance, theatrics, workshops and panel discussions, among others. Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning prides itself in being the "art and soul of the community."

For more information on these organizations, check the following websites: queenstheatre.org, www.ps1.org, www.jcal.org.