How Asbury Park Stays Ahead of the Conformist Curve

ASBURY PARK — There’s always a false narrative about Asbury Park this newspaper has to combat.

In our early days over twenty five years ago, it was that nothing was going on in our city, especially with the arts and culture. Today, it’s that arts and culture in Asbury Park have been destroyed by the changes here!

One was wrong twenty-five years ago. The other is wrong today. Our job is to counter such false narratives. Why not? We’re the triCityNews. We’re here to help.

The cultural critical mass in Asbury Park is as strong and powerful as ever. That’s why we continue to attract creatives. Of course, it changes over time.
The punk rock DIY days twenty years ago, when a small group of creatives had the place to ourselves, was not going to last forever. What’s here now is of course much different, but it often combines those already established in creative and artistic pursuits with talented younger people starting out. It’s a great combination that creates a lot of energy that can last long-term.

Which brings us to the filmmaker meetups sponsored by the Asbury Park Arts Council (APAC). It’s a perfect example of what we’re talking about.

APAC is a dynamic non-profit arts organization with a board of creative lead-ers involved in our city. One board member is Asbury Park’s most high-profile arts leader, Jenn Hampton, who co-owns Parlor Gallery on Cookman and is the curator and founder of the boardwalk Wooden Walls mural project. The Board President is Mike Sodano, who founded the ShowRoom cinema with his wife Nancy Sabino on Cookman Avenue.

APAC does a lot. It developed an arts master plan which the city adopted so it has legal weight. APAC has also been a leading sponsor of public mural art projects throughout the city. The group is always looking for ways to promote and elevate the arts.

One APAC program is the filmmaker meetups open to anyone interested in any aspect of filmmaking. There’s a speaker followed by a social hour to mix and network. APAC has been sponsoring the gatherings every two months for two years. TriCity attended the most recent last week at the Asbury Park Public Library and it was impressive. (Visit asburyparkartscouncil.org for more information.)

To our surprise, there was over 30 in attendance. It was a diverse mix of people of all ages and experience in film. The featured speaker was Jay Webb, who’s often been in our pages as the founder of the Indie Street Film Festival in Red Bank, which is celebrating its 10th year.

To start the meeting, everyone got up and introduced themselves. Each had something interesting to say. Some already had careers in film in all different capacities: camera operation, music composing, screenwriting, acting, directing, producing. You name it. Others were younger people just starting out with an interest in film and video making. While most were from Asbury Park or places close by, a significant number were from further north in Middlesex County and beyond — a great example of the cultural draw of Asbury Park beyond its borders.

Several people from outside the city said they first got involved with the filmmaker meet-up — and first got to know Asbury Park — through another APAC program: The AP’N3 in film challenge. Now in its fourth year, the AP’N3 challenge has attracted hundreds of people to Asbury Park as participants and attendees at the annual awards ceremony. (See information with this article on how to sign-up for the AP’N3 challenge. Filming starts Aug. 1 with a deadline to finish on Aug. 21)

As an example of who was at last week’s filmmaker meetup, one attendee had 40 years experience operating his own successful video production company. He also makes documentaries that have aired on PBS and loves that storytelling genre. He was there to interface with other peers, and to help mentor those just starting out.

“I’m open to collaboration, to teach, to give back,” he said.

Another participant had a successful career in sports broadcasting, but now wants to get back into his own passion for documentary filmmaking. He too has had success in the documentary genre, and wanted to refocus energy there.

Then there was a young man who’s found traction creating YouTube videos on his own. But he wanted the camaraderie and collaboration of the meet-up because, he said, “YouTube, it’s very lonely.”
Our favorite was another young guy who earnestly said he wanted to get into filmmak-ing. With a great attitude, he candidly said he was there to figure out where to start, as he’s currently working at a supermarket rouding up shopping carts in the parking lot.

“There’s a film in that!” one audience member piped up.

Every person introducing themselves was friendly and open. It was lovely. And it was here in Asbury Park in one of the city’s most remarkable buildings: our public library, which is an historic landmark.

Again, here was yet another great example of what we’re talking about. Asbury Park has done a great job staying ahead of the conformist curve. You read the evidence about why week after week in these pages, like this article about the filmmaker meetups.