First staged in the summer of 1996, the annual festival has grown to feature hundreds of musicians, across 60 free and ticketed events each year.
The festival traverses the city’s music venues such as Escape to Freight Island, Matt & Phreds, St Ann’s Church, Band on the Wall, NQJazz@The Yard and Forsyths.
Regional jazz artists and new and original work are celebrated through our commissions and premieres.
Up and coming musicians and new talent is supported year round through mjf’s talent development programmes that have helped launched the careers of a host of artists.
Throughout all of our work, we celebrate diversity, innovation and creativity.
The mjf team:
The mjf board:
mjf is an Arts Council England NPO, Manchester City Council Signature Event, part of the GMCA Culture Fund portfolio, and a PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner. We are a Keychange signatory, pledging a 50/50 gender balance in our programming, and a Founder Member of Black Lives in Music.
We are also a member of the Europe Jazz Network and a founder member of the Jazz Promotion Network.
mjf is honoured to remain the only UK recipient of the EJN Award for Adventurous Programming (2016).
