All activities / Music & Culture Festivals / New Orleans
Music & Culture Festivals in New OrleansUS
The birthplace of jazz: brass bands, second lines, Creole kitchens, and the festival that puts the whole culture on one fairground every spring.
Run by The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc., with published dates and a real program.
Dates & details verified against: Regional tourism board ↗
Why here
Jazz Fest is the definitive American roots-music festival: two spring weekends at the Fair Grounds where jazz, gospel, blues, zydeco, Cajun, and brass bands share equal billing since 1970. It is run by a nonprofit foundation whose proceeds fund Louisiana music education all year, and the heritage half of the name is programmed as seriously as the music: Louisiana food culture, craft traditions, and parading krewes fill the infield. Some 475,000 people attended the 2026 edition. It complements the city's year-round live-music scene rather than replacing it; come for the festival, stay for the clubs the rest of the week.
Best months
Late April into early May across two weekends; the 2027 edition runs April 22-25 and April 29-May 2. Spring heat and afternoon downpours are part of the deal. No camping: this is a city-hotel festival.
Getting there & around
Fly to New Orleans (MSY); the Fair Grounds sit mid-city, a short ride from the French Quarter. Book hotels months ahead and split the trip across both weekends if the lineup justifies it.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (1)
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation
SchoolThe non-profit organisation behind the annual Jazz Fest runs year-round music education programs from its George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center in the Tremé, the birthplace of American jazz. The Heritage School of Music offers instrument workshops, and the Foundation's Lectures & Workshops series brings working New Orleans musicians into educational sessions open to the public.