Downtown Jamaica's week centers on two buildings a few blocks apart: King Manor Museum, the historic house in Rufus King Park on Jamaica Avenue, and the Queens Public Library's Central Library on Merrick Boulevard. Between them, from Thursday, October 22 through Wednesday, October 28, there are two museum exhibitions, a gallery show by a New York-born Dominican illustrator, a 1936 horror film on a Friday afternoon and hands-on programs for teens.

The 1976 Bicentennial, in beer cans and yearbooks, at King Manor

King Manor's exhibition The Bicentennial Revisited: The Spirit of '76? looks at how Americans read the country's founding when it turned 200, using the things people bought, printed and saved that year. The objects include printed fabrics, commemorative plates, beer cans, magazines, school yearbooks, underground prints and protest posters, with the bright, mixed-up look of 1970s design as a running thread.

The show runs through Saturday, November 7. King Manor's fall and winter hours are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, noon to 4 p.m., so this week the museum is open October 22, 23 and 24. The museum is at 150-03 Jamaica Avenue.

A free Bangladeshi art show in the same house

Also at King Manor through November 7 is Bangladesh Not Bhaangadesh, a free exhibition curated by Arufa Hossain, a Bangladeshi native who lives in Jamaica. It brings together printed artworks by Bangladeshi artists, handcrafted tools and related media, along with personal stories and community perspectives on identity and culture. The museum frames the room as a place to learn, reflect and talk. It is open during the same Thursday through Saturday hours.

Stephanie Vidal's illustrations at Central Library

Central Library is showing work by Stephanie Vidal as part of its Hispanic Heritage Month programming, with the exhibition up daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through October 31. Vidal was born and raised in New York City to Dominican parents. She studied fashion, built her illustration practice there, and draws on her Caribbean heritage, her city childhood and summers spent in the Dominican Republic. She is now working on a series of fine art paintings about her Dominican and Caribbean roots. The library lists the show as open to all ages.

Classic Film Friday: The Devil Doll

On Friday, October 23, Central Library's Classic Film Friday series screens The Devil Doll, the 1936 film, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. The October series is aimed at adults and is held in person at the library.

For teens: sewing constellations and drawing on tablets

Central Library's Teen Center has two programs on Thursday, October 22. From 4 to 5 p.m., Intro to Tech has teens practicing digital drawing on Wacom tablets. From 5 to 6 p.m., Sewing the Stars, part of the library's Space Month, has teens stitching a piece inspired by the constellations. Teens can also drop into the Teen Center's video game session from 4 to 6 p.m. the same day.

For adults curious about the tools behind the headlines, the library also runs Foundations of Artificial Intelligence and Responsible Use on Friday, October 23, from 3 to 4:30 p.m., a beginner's introduction to what AI is, how machines learn and the risks that come with it.

Getting there

King Manor Museum is at 150-03 Jamaica Avenue, inside Rufus King Park between 150th and 153rd Streets, a short walk from the Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer station on the E, J and Z lines. Central Library is at 89-11 Merrick Boulevard, a few blocks south of Jamaica Avenue and near the same station; many Jamaica bus routes stop along Archer Avenue and Merrick Boulevard. Central Library can be reached at (718) 990-0700.

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