Established in 1966, The Finnish Jazz Federation is a national advocacy organisation dedicated to the promotion of jazz music and jazz culture in Finland, striving to advance and develop the industry’s prerequisites, status, and level of recognition.

We fulfill our mission by

  • Increasing jazz music’s visibility in our society,
  • Working as an expert advocacy body across different cultural sectors,
  • Producing information about the Finnish jazz industry,
  • Actively assuming a producer’s role nationally and internationally.

Our operations are based on a representational model that brings together the different practitioners on the Finnish jazz scene. The Jazz Federation operates regionally through its 49 independent member organisations.

Jazz Finland participates as an expert body in discussions about Finland’s cultural policy, as well as advocating through our memberships with the Finnish Music Council and KULTA (Central Organisation for Finnish Culture and Arts Associations).

We participate in development projects related to our industry in Finland and internationally and initiate and carry out our own jazz industry development projects in collaboration with our partners.

Through our national jazz touring scheme, we enable some 100 concerts each year around the country. We also produce the annual, free Jazz-Espa concert series in Helsinki.

We maintain a comprehensive Jazz Finland database on Finnish jazz and jazz culture in Finland. The webpage contains a database on Finnish jazz practitioners, a national concert calendar, and a news section. We gather industry statistics and organise industry-related seminars and education events.

The Board, staff and members of Finnish Jazz Federation represent a diverse group of jazz music and event production professionals, and we benefit from the extensive networks of our affiliates.

All our activities are guided by our shared values: communality, responsibility, expertise, open-mindedness, and a content-driven approach.

Finnish Jazz Federation is funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture.

  • Our vision is that jazz music’s social status as an art form is appreciated and recognised and jazz audiences have experienced significant growth. Jazz industry’s strong economic structures provide support for jazz professionals’ artistic and operational requirements throughout Finland.

    Our mission is crystallised in our slogan: Jazz – seen and heard! It captures the organisation’s key function: all our activities are focused around making jazz seen and heard with full vitality across the whole country. Our operational culture is based on our values: sense of community, responsibility, expertise, open-mindedness, and content focus.

    During our current strategic term, we have a specific focus on strengthening the jazz industry’s social status and national accessibility, and access to jazz music in general.

    Our four main goals for the current strategy period are:

    1. Jazz Finland will have a strong role as a united voice for the industry.

    2. Jazz industry’s social status will be strengthened through increased visibility and information.

    3. Jazz music will be available to audiences nation-wide.

    4. Jazz music’s accessibility will significantly increase.