Dunedin Jazz Foundation

The Dunedin Jazz Foundation is non-profit organisation that was created in 2018 around the nucleus of the Dunedin Youth Jazz Festival (DYJF), a competition for High School Big Bands and Combos that provided an opportunity for young musicians to share their musical creations with their peers and gain feedback from a professional adjudicator. The band competitions at the festival led directly to the formation of the Dunedin Youth Jazz Orchestra, a jazz Big Band formed from the most talented High School Students from Dunedin with the aim of providing them with an opportunity to perform jazz after leaving High School. 

With the evolution of the DYJO, the organisation began to stage regular concerts featuring the Big Band and small combos with invited guests. After establishing an audience and following for the DYJO, the board of trustees decided to expand the scope of the DJF to include the staging of professional jazz concerts at Hanover Hall on a monthly basis. Founded in 2021, the Dunedin Jazz Club has been a phenomenal success story, regularly attracting large audiences to Hanover Hall and the Dish Cafe to hear performances by leading jazz professionals from Aotearoa and the world. The Dunedin Jazz Club is now an exemplary community organisation that shows it is possible to create a high standard jazz scene in a small city by drawing on the existing strengths of local professionals, young musicians and touring artists.