SFJAZZ’s Season runs from September through May and features hundreds of performances from many of the most exciting and accomplished jazz musicians nationally and globally, followed by the annual SFJAZZ Festival in June and Sumer Sessions from July through August. Our curating model is based around four-night residencies for mainstage artists, allowing our community to have more access to world-class artists, with education and outreach opportunities such as Listening Parties, Open Sound Checks, and Master Classes. This is magnified in our residency programs, including the SFJAZZ Collective and Resident Artistic Directors (RADs) series, which invite a diverse group of prominent musicians to curate two weeks of programming over two seasons to engage our diverse audiences and broader communities.

SFJAZZ Education programs serve thousands of youth and adults per year, developing and nurturing intergenerational musicians and audiences within our diverse communities through rich and interactive programming in jazz appreciation, creation and performance. Specifically, SFJAZZ’s Educational programs (on-site and in the community) develop the jazz audience through Digital Lab, Discover Jazz, Family Matinees and Open Sound Checks; cultivate future jazz makers through Alumni Ambassadors, Girls Day, High School All-Stars (HSAS), Master Classes, Rising Stars and RJAM; and engage with school communities through Afterschool Jazz, Jazz In the Middle (JIM), Jazz In Session (JIS), School Day Concerts, and, beginning in the 2025–26 school year, Truth-Tellers.

SFJAZZ School Programs provide high-quality music education programming that is flexible and responsive to our communities, increasing access to music education and improving students’ social-emotional learning outcomes, with particular emphasis on indicators such as a positive growth mindset, social awareness, self-management, and self-efficacy. SFJAZZ School Programs encourage collaboration, engagement with instruction, building confidence, self-expression, and developing awareness of other cultures. An average of 76% of students in the SFJAZZ School Programs come from Title 1 schools.