A Letter from Our President & CEO

Dear Friends,

What a year. DC JazzFest 2025 reminded us that jazz is more than music—it is expression, community, and a shared language that connects us. From the first notes downtown to the final performances along The Wharf, our city came alive with creativity and possibility. We didn’t just present a festival—we helped energize a movement.

Our goal this year was simple but bold: open doors wider. We brought world-class jazz back to downtown, transformed Anthem Row into a street stage, showcased the brilliance of our JazzDC All-Stars, and filled The Wharf with music from sunrise to sunset. In every moment, Washington, DC proved itself not only the nation’s capital, but a cultural capital—with jazz at its heart.

Milestones we’re proud of include:

• Record attendance across The Wharf, Arena Stage, and downtown activations

• Over 50% of programming offered free to the public

• Student performances, masterclasses, and a transformative DCJazzPrix that elevated emerging artists

• Audiences and artists from across the Mid-Atlantic and more than a dozen countries

But our work extends beyond the festival. Through JazzDC™, we’re building a year-round platform for artist support, education, cultural diplomacy, and neighborhood programming across all eight wards. JazzDC brings the spirit of the Festival into communities, schools, embassies, archives, community venues, and digital spaces—creating a sustainable ecosystem where jazz can thrive every day.

What stays with me most are the human moments: students sharing stages with their heroes, second lines bringing strangers together, international musicians collaborating with DC artists like old friends, elders and teenagers swaying to the same rhythm.

To our funders, partners, artists, board, staff, volunteers, and festival-goers—thank you. You make this work possible, and meaningful.

As we look toward DC JazzFest 2026 and the nation’s 250th anniversary, we carry this belief forward: Jazz is America’s gift to the world—and here in DC, it belongs to all of us.

With gratitude and possibility,

Sunny Sumter

President & CEO