The Guelph Jazz Festival (GJF) was founded in 1994 by a small group of friends who shared a love of jazz and a commitment to the community of Guelph. A three-time recipient of the Lieutenant Governor's Award for the Arts (2001, 2000 & 1997), the Festival has consistently garnered high praise from international jazz critics for presenting the most compelling and innovative accomplishments in jazz and creative improvised music.

Over the years, GJF has constantly expanded their offerings to include educational community workshops, a Jazz in the Schools Program, selected winter programming, and the launch of their own recording label IntrepidEar. The Festival has also maintained commitment to the community through affordable ticket prices and free events.

The Festival has long sponsored a colloquium examining jazz within a cultural context, a dynamic forum that has given fruit to an important new book on improvisation The Other Side of Nowhere: Jazz, Improvisation, and Communities in Dialogue.

In 2000 GJF commissioned their first original work, Passages, a multi-media jazz opera. In 2003 they commissioned a jazz opera, Québécité, a multi-cultural romance with music by D.D. Jackson and libretto by George Elliott Clarke. In 2004 the Festival commissioned a fairy tale, In Place of Wishes, for children of all ages, written by Robert Pennee with improvised music provided live onstage by five musicians.

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