34th annual Detroit Jazz Festival

The Detroit Jazz Festival is a major cultural institution, providing year-round concerts and educational programming that culminates in one of the world's premier jazz festivals on Labor Day Weekend.

The Detroit International Jazz Festival (also known as the Detroit Jazz Festival) is a jazz music festival held each year over Labor Day Weekend at Hart Plaza and Campus Martius Park in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.. It is the largest free jazz festival in North America.[citation needed] Until 2000, it was known as the Detroit-Montreux Jazz Festival.

The festival again changed names in 2005, becoming the Detroit International Jazz Festival after Ford Motor Company removed its sponsorship. In January 2006, Gretchen Valade, Chairman of Mack Avenue Records founded the Detroit International Jazz Festival Foundation, which took over production and management of the festival.

In January 2006, Valade founded the Detroit International Jazz Festival Foundation, which took over production and management of the festival. Valade also committed $10 million to establish an endowment that would provide much-needed seed money for festival operations.

Our mission is to:

Foster the history and nurture the development of jazz

Perpetuate Detroit's significant jazz legacy through educational and collaborative opportunities accessible to all

Present a world-class signature event that makes Detroit a tourist destination

The Detroit Jazz Festival is managed and produced by the Detroit International Jazz Festival Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed in 2006. Through the generosity of Detroit philanthropist and Mack Avenue Records Chairman Gretchen Valade, the Foundation also established a $10 million endowment to support festival operations. The festival staff and advisory committee work throughout the year to raise the balance of operating costs through corporate partnerships, contributions, and earned-income opportunities.

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