In 2006 Ungar and Mason learned that SUNY New Paltz was on the brink of selling the Ashokan Field Campus to a potential developer. Ungar, Mason and long-time Fiddle & Dance attendees quickly formed the Ashokan Foundation, a new nonprofit designed to save this 385-acre historic nature preserve that had inspired “Ashokan Farewell.”

The mission of the Ashokan Center is to inspire learning and build community through shared experiences in nature, history, music, and art. School groups come for day and overnight field trips. Ashokan Music & Dance Camps, formerly Fiddle & Dance, expanded to about a dozen camps for adults and families each year. And numerous public festivals and events such as the Summer and Winter Hoots began to make the inspirational and healing magic of Ashokan available to the surrounding community and beyond.