International Ankara Jazz Festival

festivalorganised by

Jazz Society

Where:
Bogaz Sokak No:04/14 Cankaya
06700
Ankara
Turkey
When: 
October
Artistic Director: 
Ozlem Oktar Varoglu
Description: 

Annually organized since 1996. International festival usually taking place over 10 days in Ankara. 

Festival continued with concerts and jazz workshops at METU until 2001. Since 2002, it took the name Ankara Jazz Festival and continued to spread to other universities. The festival which is curated bey Özlem Oktar Varoğlu has a new theme every year. 
It is one of the biggest festivals of Ankara with over 10,000 attendees.
International Ankara Jazz Festival does not have a main sponsor and is organized with the support of national and international institutions, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, funds, media support, and ticket revenues of art lovers.
All the income of the Festival tickets is transferred to Ankara Jazz Society and used for providing scholarships abroad and maintaining the existence of the association.

Why is the Festival so special?
The main objective of Ankara Jazz Society is promoting local jazz musicians and it is also one of the most important principals of the Festival. A good jazz archive is being generated with the professional recordings of the concerts.
Every year, at least three music groups get a chance to meet audience in a concert hall for the first time, thus new groups and projects are supported.
At the Festival, groups with progressive approaches in the field of jazz are supported rather than popular jazz groups from abroad. Quest music groups and artists from all around the World are hosted in the best way which also helps to support the promotions of Ankara and Turkey.
Each year ,events are chosen among hundreds of applications. Projects which only have ‘jazz’ features find a place at the festival. From standard jazz to electronic jazz, ethnic projects to j club performancesa wide range of ‘jazz’ is performed at the festival.
One of the most important features of the festival is the economic pricing of the tickets which helps students to watch almost every concert.The majority of employees of the festival are volunteers and refered to as "heroes of our hearts". The festival is a process which is educational and entertaining for all of us.