King Manor
Located in a neo-Renaissance building, the center annually
serves roughly 28,000 artists of all ages with a 1,650-square foot
visual arts gallery, a 99-seat proscenium theater, painting, dance
and ceramics studios, and soundproof music studios.
Activities include film screenings and lectures, contemporary
visual arts exhibitions, in-school artist residencies, a series of
nearly 50 different arts workshops and free or low-cost afterschool
and summer programs.
Inside scoop: The center overseas the Jamaica Center for the
Performing Arts, a 400-seat theater housed in a converted 1858
Dutch Reformed church at 153-10 Jamaica Avenue.
Address: 161-04 Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica,
www.jcal.org.
King Manor
Rufus King (1755-1827) was the youngest signer of the United
States Constitution, a senator, an ambassador to Great Britain,
and a candidate for president. He was also a leader in the
abolition movement who employed and paid African-American
workers rather than practice slavery on his farm in Jamaica.
From 1805 to 1896, King and his descendants lived in what is
now an 11-acre property called “Rufus King Park.” They raised
livestock and sowed wheat, barley, potatoes, corn, strawberries,
apples, and peaches. Their three-story, three-chimney mansion
with clapboard windows is now a museum, displaying the
family’s furniture, glassware, clothes, musical instruments, toys,
ceramics, paintings, and prints.
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