Clarence Jazz Festival, which celebrates it’s 30th anniversary in 2026, is Lutruwita/ Tasmania’s largest and most prestigious jazz festival. It is a joyful coming together of some of our island’s and country’s finest musicians and artists and provides an opportunity to celebrate the cultural value that participation in the arts and music brings to our local community.
Each festival, held annually over 4 Summery days and evenings on the Eastern Shore of Timtumili Mananya (Derwent River), on the land of the Mumuriminar people (the City of Clarence), platforms the rich diversity of our community and provides safe, affordable, accessible and beautiful spaces for gathering and celebrating.
The festival is fully funded and presented by the City of Clarence, and is Lutruwita (Tasmania’s) longest running council subsidized music event.
We’re planning a special celebration in 2026 to mark our 30th anniversary, paying tribute to the many incredible organizations, bands and musicians who have contributed to our island’s wonderfully rich and diverse jazz scene, along with looking to the future: imagining the next 30 years of our festival, and how we can develop new partnerships, networks and opportunities for our musical community to expand and continue to thrive, while providing the kind of unique, intimate and expansive musical entertainment we’ve become known for!
More information about the Clarence Jazz Festival…
In addition to platforming some of our island’s and country’s most exciting and innovative musical acts, the festival is proud to deliver a range of annual programs to support the development of Lutruwita (Tasmania’s) music scene and creative communities.
Clarence Jazz Festival Scholarship Program
Running since 2005, and supported by the University of Tasmania and Hobart Jazz Club through the Ian Pierce Memorial Fund, the scholarship has proudly played a vital role in the development of 51 of some of Lutruwita (Tasmania’s) finest emerging jazz musicians. The scholarship has grown into a 6 month immersive opportunity for college aged music students to engage in highly specialized masterclasses and rehearsals with jazz masters, one on one tuition sessions and mentorship from local powerhouse performer Katy Raucher, culminating in mainstage performances with their jazz heros.
Previous jazz scholars have gone on to forge successful careers in music across the globe and have become incredible ambassadors for Lutruwita (Tasmania’s) jazz scene.
The 2025 scholarship experience was documented here by Badger Productions: Clarence Jazz Festival 2025 | The Jazz Scholars
Scholars are selected through a competitive two stage audition process. Applications for the 2026 scholarship are open to musicians between the ages of 15-19 and will open on the 24th of June 2025, closing on the 25th of July. Follow us on facebook.com/clarencejazzfestival for more updates.
The Jazz Ambassador
Since our very beginning one of the most unique elements of our festival is the inclusion of a ‘jazz ambassador’. This role sees a highly respected Australian jazz musician invited and funded to attend the entire festival and help to build a bridge between our local jazz scene and the wider Australian music community. The ambassador performs and networks with our local acts, provides masterclasses for the scholars, emerging musicians and other jazz enthusiasts across the community and is invited to bring a special concert that is close to their heart to our festival stages. Previous ambassadors have included luminaries such as Sandy Evans, Kristin Berardi, Kelly Ottaway, Dan Barnett, Michelle Nicolle, Shannon Barnett, Adrian Cunningham and Paul Williamson. We’re excited to announce our 2026 Jazz Ambassador in July 2026.
Visual Artist Commission
Since 2019 we’ve selected and comissioned a local visual artist to create new vibrant work that informs the visual identity of the festival. Their work is used accross the festival, featured in the iconic ‘jazz’ logo and on our stages, online program, website and site dressing. This year’s opportunity will support a Palawa artist to create new work that will be incorporated into the 2026 Jazz Festival branding.
In 2025 we paired our visual artist Aleks Crossan with Launceston based multi-instrumentalist Karlin Love to create experimental film and sonic work during a week long residency at all that we are, Clarence’s very own internationally recognized arts residency destination.
Check out https://form.jotform.com/251058185574866 for more information and to apply!
Hothouse Program
Each year we provide small start-up grants to support the development of new musical work for our festival, with a particular focus on timely projects that demonstrate innovation, new collaborations and contribute to the diversity of lived experience within our local music community. Some examples of recent Hothouse funded projects include:
Mulaka Milaythina – “The Hunting Ground” (supported by Festivals Australia): paired Palawa historian and artist Nunami Sculthorpe-Green with internationally renowned composer and pianist Louise Denson to write prose and music for jazz nonet, tracing the history of the mumarimeenar people and telling the Truth about colonisation, massacres and subsequent acts of First Nations self determination and resistance.
Mazzika: Paired Egyptian-born Arabic singer Mira Rezk with trombonist and composer Stevie McEntee to reimagine songs from the golden age of Middle Eastern cinema with a jazz rhythm section and string quartet.
Green Rises: A brand new big band of some of the state’s finest musicians performing music inspired by the unique landscapes and daily life in the Clarence region, assembled, composed and led by local legend Gus Leighton.
Sasha Gavlek Quartet: Forging a pilot partnership with Melbourne Women’s International Jazz Program to establish artist exchange between our two festivals. Local bassist and composer Sasha Gavlek was supported to collaborate with Naarm (Melbourne) based musicians Stella Anning, Holly Thomas and Kyrie Anderson and performed a new set of music at both festivals.
Emerging Acts Program
We hold around 5 slots per festival to program local emerging acts – comprising musicians within their first 5 years of professional practice. These acts get paid industry standard wages of $250 per musician per set, AAA passes to experience all the wonderful performances across the festival and invaluable backstage networking opportunities.
Clarence Jazz Festival Presents Series
A series of intimate premium jazz experiences throughout the year in the Rosny Barn, featuring some truly special national and international acts. Previous acts have included: Sam Anning Septet national tour of ‘Earthen’, Shannon Barnett Quartet (Germany) and Makoto Ozone Trio (Japan). The 2025 CJF Presents series will be announced on June 20, stay tuned for some big news!
Clarence Food and Wine Project
The city of Clarence is home to one of Lutruwita (Tasmania’s) premiere food and wine destinations in the Coal River Valley, and at the Clarence Jazz Festival we’re proud to offer festival goers the chance to taste the best that our region has to offer. Across our festival bars and food outlets you can expect to indulge in internationally award-winning wine, cheese, cocktails, berries, chocolate, along with cuisines from all around the world cooked by our own local world-class chefs.
Fair pay
In line with recommendations from APRA AMCOS and the Australian Musician’s Union we are committed to renumerating our artists fairly and valuing the contribution they make to the cultural health of our society. This means we pay an industry standard minimum of $250 per musician per set across our festival. In everything we do, we are led by values of putting the artists first, and are proud to provide a truly special festival experience, to treat everyone with respect and to create opportunities for meaningful and transformative exchange with festival goers and fellow creatives.
