Jim Lenskold, Chairman of the Board for Asbury Park Music Foundation, joined our meeting to share the work that this foundation has done to ensure the art of music is present in Asbury Park. Originally established in 2011 to ensure that AP’s rich history in the music industry was not lost during the revitalization of the community, it has evolved to be more inclusive of the residents, particularly the children of the west side of Asbury. Their mission now: Our life-changing music programs provide under-served youth with confidence, discipline and relationships that improve their future success and economic mobility. And they are serious about this mission having served more than 3,000 youth in the past year with opportunities to learn an instrument, play in a band, record a song, and learn other aspects of this industry. They have regularly scheduled in-school programs in Long Branch, Asbury Park and Neptune school districts, but they also park their Beat Bus in strategic locations that allow children to explore and be creative with sound and rhythm. In addition to this they organize events that bring music to the community. New this year was the Holiday Show. While they were hoping for an audience to fill a quarter of the auditorium, their artists performed to a full house. Throughout the 10 weeks of the summer months, you can enjoy free concerts on Mondays at Springwood Park, on Wednesdays on the Boardwalk in front of MOGO’s (emerging artist series), and/or on Thursdays with the Asbury Park Concert Band closer to Robinson Ale House. Did I mention these are free events? Hope to see you at one or more of these this summer.