From Church to Performing Arts Center

It took God six days to create the sun and the stars. Its taken a little longer to transform a church into a performing arts center.
The First Reformed Church at Jamaica Avenue and 153rd Street in Jamaica Center is being transformed into the Jamaica Performing Arts and Business Center.
"Historical buildings are beautiful, but theyre difficult to heat and maintain," said Sam Samuels, a spokesperson for Cultural Collaborative Jamaica, one of the three groups involved in the project.
Converting a church into a theatre could have upset the deeply religious, but the surrounding neighborhoods have been delighted with the projects potential. Southeast Queens has long needed a place that its artists and performers can use.
The center will cater to small theatre groups that previously had nowhere to stage their shows. It will also serve as a site for conferences and seminars for the business community.
One of the theatre groups that plans to take advantage of the renovated church is the Black Spectrum Theatre Co., a professional theatre company known for creating safety prevention films for students, and another organization designing and creating concepts for the Center. The third is the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning.
"Right now were working with an architectural firm to design the theatre," said Carl Clay, executive director of the Black Spectrum Theatre Co. "Once these plans are approved, the ground-breaking should take place in the spring. Were projecting a 2004 opening."
"One of the reasons why the center was established was to bring more life to the Jamaica area," Mr. Samuels said. "Maybe we wont be producing programs seven times a week, but we will give the public another reason to come down to Jamaica."