Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, a multidisciplinary art center in southeast Queens, is set to host an array of free events to close out the month of July. The center offers ongoing summer art experiences for residents across the borough.
This month’s events series includes an art exhibition on Thursday, July 18, an artist showcase entitled “An Afro Latino Mixtape” on Friday, July 26 and a three-day-long jazz festival from Friday, July 26 through Sunday, July 28.
The event series begins with an art exhibition on July 18, entitled Jamaica Flux (JFLUX). Jamaica Flux (JFLX), which has taken place for approximately two decades, showcases contemporary public art projects. Many of the previous projects feature visual and performance art that have been displayed along Jamaica Avenue.
The event will be held at Jamaica Performing Arts Center, located at 153-10 Jamaica Ave. This year’s event includes a special JFLUX visual art exhibition consisting of fragments of a sneaker sculpture, video essays of personal accounts of living in Jamaica and photography references to Queens fashion.
Additionally, audience members can view eco-drawings of reimagined local landmarks and a sculpture dedicated to a local hip-hop legend, among other aspects of the exhibit. The project curator is Sherwin Banfield, and the participating artists’ lineup includes Ryin Baskin, Noah Bassman, Olivia Brown, Tariq Julfiker, Sharon Miller and Aleksandr Razin. To RSVP to the JFLUX exhibition click here.
Following the JFLUX visual art exhibition, JCAL will host an opening reception for “An Afro Latino Mixtape” artist showcase on Friday, July 26, on its campus, located at 161-04 Jamaica Ave. “An Afro-Latinx Mixtape,” one of the most recent iterations of JCAL’s Visual Voices initiative, will run from 6-8 p.m. Visual Voices is a three-year-long visual arts initiative that supports curators in finding emerging BIPOC talent to produce artist workshops and showcases.
Curated by Adrian Bermeo, the show will exhibit artists’ visual interpretations of musical genres that shaped their ancestry and community values. It will also highlight many of the artists’ ethnic backgrounds, including those from Africa, South America and the Caribbean. Musical genres inspiring the exhibit include Hip-Hop, Jazz, Motown, Reggaeton, Rumba, Bomba, Salsa, Blues and more. The event is free, and attendees can RSVP here.
Beginning that same Friday, July 26, JCAL will host a three-day music series dubbed the “Riddim and Jazz Festival” for the local community. The festival lineup includes Grammy-award-winning jazz singer Samara Joy and musicians from various genres for the weekend-long event. Day 1 of the event will be held at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center, and the last two days of the event will be at Rufus King Park, located at 150-29 Jamaica Ave.
Below is a schedule of performance times and locations for the Riddim and Jazz Festival. To RSVP for the Riddim and Jazz Festival click here.
Day 1 – Friday, July 26
Jamaica Performing Arts Center (153-10 Jamaica Ave.)
Curated by Rio Sakairi
Day 1 will take place indoors and include an opening reception
6:30-7:30 p.m. – Opening reception
7:30-8:30 p.m. – Melissa Almaguer
9- 10 p.m. – Immanuel Wilkins
Day 2 – Saturday, July 27
Rufus King Park (150-29 Jamaica Ave.)
1:30-2:30 p.m. – Frankin Rankin
3-4 p.m. – Yuhan Su
4:30-5:30 p.m. – Roy Hargrove Big Band
5:45-6 p.m. – Samara Interview
6-7 p.m. – Samara Joy
Day 3 – Sunday, July 28
Rufus King Park (150-29 Jamaica Ave.)
Curated by Steven Kroon
2-3 p.m. – Ty Stephens
3:30-4:30 p.m. – Cocomama
