Program Associate, Visual Arts

Founded in 1972, the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL) is a multidisciplinary urban arts center based in Southeast Queens. Our mission is to offer quality visual and performing arts programs, and to provide accessible education programs to encourage participation in the arts. We operate out of two landmark buildings: the Jamaica Arts Center, with five floors of galleries, artist studios, rehearsal spaces, flexible spaces, a studio theater and office space; and the Jamaica Performing Arts Center, a 400-seat, flexible proscenium theater with offices and other spaces.

In June 2024, JCAL adopted a new five-year Strategic Plan that establishes the following core goals:

• Activate JCAL as a creative home for Queens and a singular cultural anchor for New York City.
• Deliver a balanced continuum of programs that “super-serves” artists, learners, and audiences.
• Build brand and reach via simple, memorable, consistent messaging amplified through deep community partnerships.
• Engage, empower, resource, and equip the whole of the organization for the purpose of revenue generation.
• Promote shared responsibility and leadership at every level of the organization.

Consistent with our Strategic Plan, JCAL is hiring a Program Associate, Visual Arts. Reporting to the Director of Program Operations, the Program Associate will be a positive, intuitive, resourceful individual who respects our mission, shares our institutional values, understands our Plan’s goals, and offers a strong commitment to our BIIPOC (Black, Immigrant, Indigenous, People of Color) community. High emotional intelligence is critical for this role.

The Program Associate will perform tasks and responsibilities for JCAL’s four tentpole visual arts programs: ARTWorks, our annual artist-in-residence initiative; Visual Voices, a multiyear commitment to emerging, Queens-based curators; our annual Open Call; and Jamaica Flux, our site-specific triennial. There may be additional special projects as assigned.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

• Managing installation and deinstallation of assigned exhibitions, including scheduling and coordinating;
• Serving as key liaison and coordinator between artists, curators, and the JCAL team;
• Identifying and observing all best practices for handling, securing, tracking, and storing artworks;
• Facilitating scope, design, and execution of exhibitions, with focused attention on the project calendar;
• Producing public programs for exhibitions, including workshops, roundtables, talkbacks, and receptions;
• Collecting images and content for catalogs and other explanatory materials for exhibitions;
• Tracking project expenses accurately and generating expense reports with strong focus on deadlines;
• Coordinating juries and surfacing emerging/underrepresented talent, especially for the annual Open Call;
• Maintaining JCAL’s galleries in partnership with Facilities, and monitoring supplies and inventory;
• Gathering content and images for press releases and other collateral for marketing and communications;
• Providing and collecting materials for grant proposals and reports to institutional funders;
• Developing proposals for tentpole visual arts programs, new programs, and special projects.

Standards and Skills:

• Minimum BFA/BA in Art, Art History, Arts Education, Arts Administration, or similar major;
• Minimum 2 years in nonprofit arts or arts-adjacent setting, ideally an institutional or gallery environment;
• Minimum 2 years professional engagement in visual arts exhibitions (academic settings acceptable);
• Minimum 1 year engagement with budgets, producing expense reports, or performing similar tasks;
• Minimum 1 year handling assigned tasks and projects, ideally in a dynamic, multi-priority environment;
• Possess top oral and written communications and organizational skills, with impressive attention to detail;
• Experience operating efficiently and collaboratively within tight-knit teams;
• Knowledge of everyday software (e.g., Word/Excel), and excellence in business communications;
• Interest in artist- and curator-focused opportunities for programs and projects.