Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning

Originally envisioned as part of an economic revitalization effort for Southeast Queens, the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL) has, for more than five decades, served as a cultural cornerstone for the largest and most diverse borough in New York City. Operating two historic buildings including its landmarked home, JCAL provides high-quality, affordable arts and arts education programs across the pillars of dance, music, theatre, and visual arts to nearly 60,000 individuals every year.

At the time of its 50th anniversary, JCAL had recently welcomed a new Artistic Director and a new Executive Director who together inherited an organization with dozens of active programs and a majority part-time staff. Audiences had not returned as robustly as hoped following the COVID-19 pandemic, and a decade of frequent leadership turnover had left a strategic vacuum surrounded by a number of operational inefficiencies. JCAL’s neighborhood was changing, too, with gentrification threatening to fundamentally shift the demographics of the community JCAL had served for fifty years. Clear direction was needed to solidify the organization’s financial and operational position and set it on a path towards growth and evolution.

After a brief project-based engagement focused on institutional fundraising in 2023, JCAL invited Advance Collaborative to serve as the organization’s strategic planning consultant in collaboration with ARW Consulting Services. Over a period of ten months, we worked with JCAL to envision and codify a new five-year plan for the organization. Our process incorporated a national landscape survey, a dual qualitative-quantitative programs evaluation, comprehensive budget modeling, a tactical systems assessment, and input from more than 150 stakeholders. The resulting plan was accompanied by an implementation roadmap, detailed appendices, and a donor-facing executive summary, all created to ensure the successful execution of the plan’s findings.

Guided by the strategic plan and working in collaboration with our team, JCAL has already reached a number of remarkable milestones over the past two years:

• Formalized a shared leadership model that elevated the Artistic Director as an equal co-leader of the organization with the Executive Director;
• Hired the organization’s first Deputy Director in over 15 years to provide day-to-day operational oversight, freeing up critical capacity for both the Artistic and Executive Directors;
• Shifted its fastest growing program, Thursday Night Jazz, to a paid ticketing model, creating a new earned revenue stream without stifling audience growth;
• Solidified new philanthropic and programmatic partnerships with corporations including JFK Airport’s Terminal 6 and Resorts World New York City; and
• Secured more than $1M in capacity-building commitments from both current and new funders to support investments identified in the strategic plan.

JCAL has also retained Advance Collaborative as their ongoing development consultant since 2024 where we continue to drive fundraising strategy and implementation.