The Asbury Park Arts & Culture Plan, created over a one-year period starting in August 2022, is the result of collaboration between the City of Asbury Park and the non-profit Asbury Park Arts Council (“APAC”).  The planning process was guided by a Steering Committee comprised of City officials, representatives of the Monmouth County Division of Planning, and the NJ State Council on the Arts and APAC.  APAC received funding from Monmouth Arts in 2021 and the Monmouth County Covid-19 Community Recovery Grant for Nonprofits in 2022 to underwrite the project, which included engaging professional multidisciplinary firm FCA whose Director of Urban Planning on the project is a long-term resident of Asbury Park.  The A&C Plan received a resolution of support from the Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners on August 10, 2023, and was adopted unanimously by the City’s Planning Board on August 21, 2023, as an amendment to the City’s Master Plan.

Collectively, the goals and strategies set the vision and methods for supporting the local creative and cultural ecosystem of the City. First, the goals articulate desired outcomes concerning community needs identified through research, assessment, and community engagement activities. Second, the strategies provide the framework for tactical initiatives and actions that will be necessary to address gaps by supporting individual creativity, collective assembly, and commercial cultural activity.  

 

The City of Asbury Park Arts & Culture Plan includes six major recommendations and ways to successfully implement them. As a summary, the major recommendations of the Plan are: 

Together these recommendations combine physical, organizational, policy, and funding actions to support, expand, and sustain the City’s cultural ecosystem.