The Jamaica Plain Arts Council (JPAC) was incorporated in 1984 as a non-profit organization to create a multicultural arts center in the community of Jamaica Plain. The Jamaica Plain Multicultural Arts Center opened in 1987 and due to funding and business partnership challenges closed in the mid-1990's. During the planning stages for the Arts Center, a group of artists in the Amory Street building set aside one weekend in the fall to invite the public into their studio spaces to see their work and tour their studios. The group joined up with the Jamaica Plain Arts Council and, in 1993, Jamaica Plain Open Studios became a community-wide event, coordinated through the Jamaica Plain Arts Council. When the Arts Center closed, the Jamaica Plain Arts Council remained to organize, oversee and coordinate Jamaica Plain Open Studios.
Jamaica Plain Open Studios (JPOS) is an annual, weekend-long celebration of the arts that provides an opportunity for Jamaica Plain artists to show and sell their work. Because of the growth and complexity of the event, and because a major source of financial support expired in 2005, a committee was convened to develop a strategic plan for JPOS that would clarify an overall vision of the JPOS event, as well as address issues of governance, staffing, fund-raising, and marketing. This committee transitioned, with the vote of the membership, into the Jamaica Plain Arts Council (JPAC) Board of Directors in 2005.