60 Years of Jazzfest Berlin: Still Digging

In 2024, Jazzfest Berlin will be celebrating its 60th anniversary with two special projects that take a look into the past and the future alongside the regular concert programme. 
The full Jazzfest Berlin programme will be published on 11 September, which is also when accreditation opens.

Founded in 1964 in West Berlin as one of the first jazz festivals in Europe, Jazzfest Berlin is turning 60. Good reason to examine this legendary festival’s rich history in the international Jazzfest Research Lab and to map out paths towards a promising future in the Jazzfest Community Lab Moabit.

»In having teamed up with various new partners for the Labs, we aim to gain and share new insights into modern, trend-setting festival production. Both anniversary specials challenge everything we take for granted, helping us to leave our comfort zones and providing inspiration for Jazzfest Berlin 2024’s diverse concert programme.«
– Nadin Deventer, Artistic Director Jazzfest Berlin

Jazzfest Research Lab
Six decades of Jazzfest Berlin means six decades of contemporary history, Berlin history, German history, European, transatlantic and intercontinental history and, of course, 60 years of music history. With the Jazzfest Research Lab, initiated in January 2023, Jazzfest Berlin has welcomed academics and students to take a critical look at the festival’s archive, its programmes, creators, musicians and – last but not least – its myths. This international project will analyse the history of Jazzfest Berlin with regard to various aspects such as gender and race, its ever-changing curation in the course of socio-political developments and the visual language of the festival. Seven academics from Germany, the USA and Australia as well as studentsfrom the Berlin University of the Arts and the University of Hildesheim are working with the digitally available Jazzfest archive. The results will be presented as part of the festival’s supporting programme in November and will be included in the 2024 anniversary magazine. Poster and photo exhibitions, a film programme with concert recordings from the early decades, panels with contemporary witnesses and oral history accounts will give various in-depth perspectives into the 60-year history of the festival – which began as the “Berliner Jazztage” in the Philharmonie Berlin and was also broadcast live on television for many years.

Participants in the Jazzfest Research Lab:

• JohnCorbett (journalist/curator), Dr.Harald Kisiedu (historical musicologist/author), Prof.Dr. Priscilla Layne (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), NoraLeidinger (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen) and Prof.Dr. Kristin McGee (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen/ANU School of Music), Prof.George E. Lewis (Columbia University) and Dr.Ursel Schlicht (musician/researcher/author).
• Students in the seminar at the University of Hildesheim under the direction of Dr. Bettina Bohle, students in the seminar at the Berlin University of the Arts, led by Prof. Dr. Matthias Pasdzierny.

JazzfestCommunity Lab Moabit
28 October to 3 November 2024
The people of Moabit and their musical and cultural backgrounds, their stories, initiatives, origins and aspirations are at the heart of the Jazzfest Community Lab Moabit project. Based on the collaboration at the 2023 edition of the festival with 60 children, 30 of whom live in Moabit, this multifaceted participation project allows Jazzfest Berlin to explore the cultural diversity of the neighbouring district with its enormous range of actors. For six months, the Jazzfest team knocked on numerous doors in the neighbouring district of Moabit to extend the invitation to help organise the 60th anniversary of the festival. Around 35 initiatives accepted the offer. With the participating musicians and artists, the Jazzfest team has developed concepts, projects and forms of possible collaboration around the rituals of celebrating anniversaries and making music as well as the themes of time, origin and shaping the future. In the second week of the autumn school break in Berlin, from 28 October to 3 November, a programme with numerous meet-ups, workshops, storytelling sessions with communal cooking and making music together, artistic interventions and neighbourhood concerts will be presented for and with over 350 participants of all ages from Moabit. Also involved in the project are 40 musicians from this year’s edition of the festival and 10 interdisciplinary workshop leaders who will work and play concerts with children, adults, senior citizens, amateur musicians and neighbourhood legends at 25 locations throughout Moabit, creating a bridge between the Haus der Berliner Festspiele in Wilmersdorf and the neighbouring district of Moabit. From the Afrika-Haus Berlin to the Jazz Institut Berlin, the OTTO-Spielplatz, the KULTURFABRIK Moabit, the Hort Mullewapp e.V. & Miriam-Makeba-Grundschule, the Theater X, the Musikschule – Berlin Saz Evi, the KUKUMU Café, the SOS-Kinderdorf Berlin and the Reformationskirche Moabit, numerous initiatives and people in Moabit will join Jazzfest Berlin and its musicians in celebrating togetherness, improvisation and, last but not least, the festival’s birthday. To round off the festival on Sunday, 3 November, audiences are invited to a grand walk through Moabit accompanied by collective music performances and other activities.

Participating Initiatives and Partners in Moabit (as of 10 July 2024):
Afrika-Haus Berlin | ARTENSCHUTZ-THEATER e.V. | B-Laden | Bildungsverbund Moabit | Jazzpilot*innen der Deutschen Jazzunion | Gemeinschaftsunterkunft Alt-Moabit, SIN e.V. | Heilandskirche | Heilige-Geist-Gemeinde Moabit | HuttenWerkRaum | Jazz Institut Berlin | Jugendmigrationsdienst im Quartier | Kallasch& | KULTURFABRIK Moabit | KUKUMU Café e.V. | Kurt-Tucholsky-Grundschule | Mullewapp e.V. &  Miriam-Makeba-Grundschule | Musikschule – Berlin Saz Evi | Musikschule Berlin-Mitte ‘Fanny Hensel’ | Offenes Wohnzimmer | OTTO-Spielplatz – Moabiter Ratschlag e.V. | Petersburg Art Space PAS e.V. | Quartiersmanagement Moabit Ost | Reformationskirche Moabit | Schulgarten Moabit | SOS-Kinderdorf Berlin: Familienzentrum/Mehrgenerationenhaus, Haste Töne!, Elly Familienzentrum und Hort an der Theodor-Heuss-Gemeinschaftsschule | Stadtteilkoordination Moabit Ost | Stadtteilkoordination Moabit West | Stadtschloss Moabit – Moabiter Ratschlag e.V.: Chor für Alle, Haneen-Chor | Vokalhelden e.V. | STEPHANS – Der Nachbarschaftsladen | Theater X | Theodor-Heuss-Gemeinschaftsschule | Zentrum für Jazz und Improvisierte Musik

The complete programme of Jazzfest Berlin 2024 with all concerts, the weekly programme of the Jazzfest Community Lab Moabit including a musical neighbourhood walk and the detailed supporting programme for the Jazzfest Research Lab will be published on 11 September.

 

Introducing: Jazzfest Research Lab
In two seminars during the summer semester of 2024, students from the Berlin University of the Arts and the University of Hildesheim have explored the festival’s history from various perspectives. In this film, the participants give a first look at how they dealt with their research subject.
Tothe film

Introducing: Jazzfest Community Lab Moabit
To mark its 60th anniversary, Jazzfest Berlin is celebrating the cultural diversity of the neighbouring district of Moabit in collaboration with around 35 official partners and initiatives and with over 350 participants of all ages. In June 2024, interviews were conducted with 20 partners who presented their perspectives, wishes and ideas for the Jazzfest Community Lab Moabit. This film gives a first impression.
Tothe film