Jamaica gets funky new web site

The Downtown Jamaica Cultural District (DJCD), a collaboration of art and educational institutions, Business Improvement Districts and economic development organizations, launched a new interactive web site earlier this month. Jamaicafunk.org will complement the DJCD’s mission of honoring and supporting Jamaica’s diverse cultural history and urban creativity.
At the web site launch party in the York College Performing Arts Center, the York College Jazz Workshop performed as artists signed up to be profiled and attendees recorded their Downtown Jamaica experiences to be featured on jamaicafunk.org.
According to the DJCD, the web site will promote cultural events, organizations and artists in the area through a calendar of events, artist profiles and details on arts programs; provide links to related web sites; offer information on the history of the community including notable residents and architecture; publish useful information about parking and shopping in the area; and advertise resources for artists and art organizations.
As a way to transform casual web visitors into active participants, jamaicafunk.org features message boards, which are a forum for area residents to record their own personal histories of Jamaica and discuss current community topics.
The DJCD said the purpose of jamaicafunk.org is “to compliment the partner organizations’ own websites, to create a single place where all of the organizations’ information and events could be easily accessible to the public, and to increase the interest in Downtown Jamaica by existing and potential residents, workers, and visitors.”
“We want the young and the old of all types to use this site and increase their patronization of the arts in Jamaica,” the DJCD said.