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The Asbury Park Music Foundation (APMF) will be receiving the Non-Profit of the Year Award at the Chamber of Commerce’s annual Carousel Awards on Friday, May 10 at Convention Hall. APMF has been an integral part of the community’s revival since it began in 2011 and has had a number of significant accomplishments over the past year.

APMF provides under-served youth with life-changing music education, helps the local music scene thrive and unites a diverse community through music. In addition to grants, our showcase events bring out the community and attract visitors while generating funds from corporate sponsors, individual donors and ticket sales.

The cornerstone of our events are the highly successful weekly summer concert series Music Mondays at Springwood Park, Asbury Park Live and Asbury Park Concert Band. This summer’s concerts are slated to start the week of June 24 and run for ten weeks. This past year also featured a popular Sunday Sessions series of acoustic storyteller shows and introduced monthly hip hop shows with Suburbia Friday Nights. One of our most significant accomplishments was bringing a holiday show back to the city after a two-decade absence. The sold-out, A Very Asbury Holiday Show, held at the Paramount Theater, raised substantial funds for the Music Foundation as well as the Boys and Girls Club, Jewish Family and Children’s Service and the AP Toy Drive. The successful show is already on the calendar for December 8, 2019.

Support from event fundraisers, non-profit foundations, corporate sponsors and individual donors makes it possible to maintain and grow our Music Saved My Life youth education programs run in partnership with Lakehouse Music Academy. This includes in-school music education, after-school music programs and scholarships to top-level, personalized training at Lakehouse for youth in need. In the past year, we introduced the Beat Bus mobile studio/classroom, a Latin Music Experience program, two new summer camps, a genre-blending group and an audio tech program.

It has been a busy, exciting few months for APMF which recently received a Proclamation from the City in recognition for the good work being done.

“We are so honored to have been chosen by the Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce as the first recognized Non-Profit of the Year”, said Jeri Houseworth, Operations Director for APMF.  “Sylvia Sylvia Cioffi, Jennifer Rae Stine, Matthew Whelan and everyone at the Chamber has always been so supportive of our mission, getting the word out on our events and helping us where and when needed.  As a non-profit, we truly rely on the kindness and generosity of this strong, music-loving community from the Chamber to the local businesses, community-minded sponsors and volunteers.”

The Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce helps promote art, music, diversity, the environment, and humanity in its efforts to grow tourism and support the local economy. The Carousel Awards honor members of the community in its annual Gala. Other award recipients this year include Lynn Kirchdoerffer and The Asbury Ushers; Russell Lewis, Watermark; Senator Vin Gopal; Kimmee Masi, Confections of a Rock Star; Vic Sood, Home Drug Store; Tom Hayes, New Jersey Natural Gas; and Townsquare Media.

The Asbury Park Music Foundation provides music-based programs, events and resources that generate opportunities for our youth, artists and community to succeed and build on Asbury Park’s legacy as a thriving, music-rich city by the sea. Funds raised by APMF support youth music programs, including the Hip Hop Institute at the Boys & Girls Club of Monmouth County, in-school music classes at Hope Academy, after-school music classes at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School and Asbury Park public schools, and scholarships for under-served youth to attend Lakehouse Music Academy.

For more about the Music Foundation’s programs and events, visit asburyparkmusiclives.org or their Facebook page.

[Photos Courtesy of the Asbury Park Music Foundation]

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