2025 EJN Award Winners | Europe Jazz Network

Innovative and bold: Jazzfestival Saalfelden wins the 14th EJN Award for Adventurous Programming

Europe Jazz Network (EJN) is delighted to announce that its 2025 Award for Adventurous Programming has been awarded to Jazzfestival Saalfelden in Austria.

Jazzfestival Saalfelden was praised by the jury for continually reinventing itself throughout its history, exploring uncharted musical territories, and harmoniously integrating its programme with the local communities and stunning natural landscapes of the Saalfelden-Leogang area. Established by EJN, this annual Award honours a European festival, club, or venue that succeeds in delivering visionary and compelling musical experiences for its audience.

The award winner was selected through a two-phase process: initially, the 200+ EJN member organisations from 36 countries nominated potential awardees, including non-members. Subsequently, a jury comprising EJN members and other music professionals convened online in March 2025 to select the winner from a shortlist of 23 nominees.

Comment from the Award Jury 2025: “The jury selected Saalfelden Jazzfestival as the winner of the 2025 EJN Award for Adventurous Programming, highlighting its exceptional artistic quality and innovative community integration. Celebrating its 45th edition this year, the festival was praised for creatively utilising diverse urban and mountain spaces and seamlessly collaborating with local businesses, enriching the cultural fabric of the entire region. Its bold, diverse, risk-taking programme and close interaction between artists, audience, and the breathtaking natural surroundings have made it influential among musicians and fellow programmers alike. Additionally, the festival’s commitment to ecological sustainability underscores its forward-thinking vision, setting a remarkable standard in Europe's creative music community.”

The jury 2025 was composed by: Tania Giannouli (artist, Greece), Ragnhild Menes (Kongsberg Jazz Festival, Norway), Pedro Costa (Clean Feed label & promoter, Portugal), Wim Wabbes (EJN honorary member, Belgium), Hernádi Zsolti (previous Award winner, Budapest Music Centre, Hungary).

Comment by Mario Steidl, Artistic Director of Jazzfestival Saalfelden: “The most beautiful thing about this award is its title – adventurous programming… Honouring curiosity, risk taking and the creation of new formats is so much nicer than getting stuck in superlatives like „biggest“, „fastest“ or „best“. It is a recognition of a mindset. And that makes me more than happy. I see this award as an encouragement to keep exploring and to stay connected – with the artists, the audience, and the issues that move us as a society…”

The winner of the 2025 Award for Adventurous Programming will be celebrated at the 45th Jazzfestival Saalfelden, from 21 to 24 August 2025, and at the 11th European Jazz Conference in Bari, Italy, from 25 to 28 September 2025, bringing together EJN members and creative music professionals from across Europe and beyond.

About Jazzfestival Saalfelden
Free space meets the unexpected

How much freedom does music need to unfold? The Saalfelden Jazz Festival has been inviting people to the breathtaking mountain region of the so-called Steinernes Meer for over 45 years, creating spaces for encounters, curiosity, creativity and exchange over four days in August.

More than 60 concerts and hikes with improvised music, spontaneous sessions in unusual places in an atmosphere of informal hospitality and lightness: these are the characteristics of this festival, which attracts musicians and visitors from the most diverse regions.

Next key dates:
- Tickets can be ordered already now online via: https://www.jazzsaalfelden.com/en;
- In 2026, the festival will take place from 20 - 23 August.

Sounds of Change wins the 7th EJN Award for Music & Community

The Europe Jazz Network (EJN) is proud to announce that the 7th EJN Award for Music & Community is awarded to Sounds of Change, an outstanding initiative that places music at the heart of social healing and empowerment.

Jury Statement
The 2025 EJN Award for Music & Community is presented to Sounds of Change (Netherlands), an outstanding initiative that places music at the heart of social healing and empowerment. In a world increasingly shaken by conflict, displacement and trauma, their work resonates more than ever. Through a clear, structured methodology, they train teachers, aid workers and psychologists to use music as a tool for connection, expression, and recovery—especially with young people and communities affected by crises. Active across all over the Middle East, Ukraine and the Netherlands, Sounds of Change has grown into a far-reaching and deeply rooted project, creating safe and inclusive spaces where music becomes a language of resilience and hope. The jury recognises the project's scale, consistency, and long-term vision, and celebrates its unwavering belief in music’s ability to restore humanity where it is most at risk.

The jury also highly commended three additional projects from the nomination list of the Award, highlighting different but all essential aspects of working with communities that traditionally have less access to cultural production and fruition:

- FEEL SOUNDS (Germany), led by Yma América Martínez, an inclusive music initiative that connects deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing people through rhythm, vibration, and movement;
- Genetic Choir (Netherlands), a vocal ensemble and artistic community exploring fully improvised singing with projects like Stem & Luister in care homes;
- Outsider Art Festival (Finland), which celebrates artistic equality by showcasing music and other art forms created at the margins of society through a co-curated and inclusive process.

About the Award
The EJN Award for Music & Community is bestowed each year by the Europe Jazz Network to an organisation or project for its groundbreaking work on social inclusion, celebrating initiatives that use jazz and creative music as tools to engage, connect and empower communities.

For the second time in 2025, a public nomination phase was launched through an online form, opening the process to both EJN members and non-members. This allowed the wider community to suggest interesting and relevant projects, and submit detailed information about them. From these submissions, a shortlist of 18 projects was created and carefully evaluated by a jury composed of EJN Board members, previous award winners, and experts in the field. The 2025 jury was composed of Alex Carr (EJN Board member, Cheltenham Festivals, UK), Maria Rylander (EJN Board member, Göteborg Artist Center, Sweden), Mark van Schaick (EJN Board member, Buma Cultuur / inJazz, Netherlands), Candela Carrera (previous award winner, Taller de Músics, Spain), and François Matarasso (community arts researcher and EJN consultant for social inclusion, UK/France).

About Sounds of Change
Sounds of Change is a Netherlands-based foundation that trains aid workers, psychologists, teachers, therapists and musicians to use music as a tool in psycho-social support and educational programmes, particularly in settings affected by conflict, displacement, or social trauma. Rather than teaching musical technique per se, their methodology emphasises creative musical processes—improvisation, composition, group expression—embedded into trauma-sensitive frameworks. Their work spans the Middle East, Ukraine, the Netherlands, and conflict-impacted areas such as refugee camps and underserved communities, always adapting to cultural and linguistic diversity.

They support partners to integrate musical facilitation into existing psycho-social or educational programmes, and offer both on-site and online training (including an online library of musical exercises and manuals). For more about their approach, mission and projects, see soundsofchange.org.