In 2014, a small group of people believed Cambridge deserved a jazz festival that cost nothing to attend. It rained the entire first day. 2,500 people stayed anyway. Ten festivals later, Cambridge Jazz Festival has grown into the largest jazz festival in Cambridge's history and has remained free for the enjoyment of all!

Every July, we show up at Danehy Park: families, students, neighbors who've been coming since year one and people hearing live jazz for their very first time. We sit on the grass under the same sky and listen to world class musicians, many of them based right here in Massachusetts. Families spend the afternoon together in the children's area, browse a marketplace full of local merchandise vendors and eat from food vendors who are part of our own community. Free admission, artistic excellence and an afternoon that creates opportunity for the artists, vendors, and volunteers who make it happen.

Keeping Cambridge Jazz Festival free takes year round work. Sponsors and grants have always been part of how we make this happen, but funding for the arts has gotten harder to secure and that gap is exactly where the community comes in. No single gift carries this festival. Thousands of small ones do. $5 from one person becomes thousands of dollars when our community gives together. Every gift goes directly toward paying our coordinators and artists and covering the costs that keep this festival free and open to everyone.

This festival exists because a community decided it was worth building and worth sustaining, together.

We've kept it free for 11 years because people showed up for it. Help us make it 12.

This contribution supports the festival’s general fund and does not include membership benefits. If you’re looking for benefits (reserved seating, t-shirt, etc.), visit our Membership page here

11 Years Free. Let's Make It 12!

Cambridge Jazz Festival has been free for 11 years. This gift supports our general fund, separate from Membership, which includes benefits like reserved seating.