General Info
"Showcases" are the 30- to 45-minute short concerts at jazzahead! which are open to the general public and at the same time part of the trade fair. The 38 showcase bands have previously applied and are selected by international expert juries.
38 jazz highlights and current formations from Germany, Europe, Overseas/Africa as well as from three former partner countries: Spain (2012), France (2015) and Switzerland (2016), being part of the next year's first RECONNECT edition, can be experienced on three days and nights on the stages of Hall 7 and the Kulturzentrum Schlachthof.
What to know?
Preconditions is to register as a (co-)exhibitor or as a professional participant of jazzahead! 2025. For more info see here information page.
The selection of bands performing will be chosen by international expert juries, one for each showcase module, and will be announced in November 2024. More info about the jury criteria you will find in the section “Selection Process”.
Like the year before, a screening of all showcase applications, will be carried out by jazzahead!. The selection is based on a general checklist that has been included into the application form. All bands, which are not passing in the first screening, will be informed directly after this initial process. All other bands will be presented to the jury teams and the process will take its course as in previous years.
If you have questions, you can contact Insa Stanke.
How to apply?
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Register for jazzahead!
Precondition for applying for a showcase slot is that the band/artist is proposed by a registered (co-)exhibitor or a professional participant (all days) of jazzahead! 2025. Bands and artists can register themselves as (co-)exhibitors (e.g. with an umbrella stand) or professional participants (all days) to submit an application, or a representative (e.g. from a label) submits the application.
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Read and accept Pre-conditions
Please read and accept the conditions of participation for the jazzahead! showcase festival 2025 in advance:
Here you can find our guide on how to fill out the application form to know in advance which information and files are required in the online application:
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Choose showcase module & apply online
Please decide in advance which showcase module you are applying for.
As a registered (co-) exhibitor or trade participant (all days) please log in to the participants portal.There visit the section "Submissions", choose the module and follow the link.
Then follow the instructions in the application form.
All information about the jury and the respective selection criteria
Before the jury process, a screening of all showcase applications, will be carried out by jazzahead!. The selection is based on a general checklist that has been included into the application form. All bands, which are not passing in the first screening, will be informed directly after this initial process. All other bands will be presented to the jury teams and the process will take its course as in previous years.
The selection of jazzahead! showcase bands are held by annually changing expert juries. Each of the four showcase modules has its own jury team with at least seven jury members, festival and program directors from the international jazz scene.
Criteria
The selection process consists of three phases: Firstly, the individual listening of all applications by the jury members and their online voting. This results in a short list of bands/artists. These arists/bands are then evaluated by different criteria via a points system. The third voting session will be hold with all jury members via online conference where the final program of the showcases will be discussed and decided.
Criteria for the first voting session
What counts: the main criteria for selection are musical quality and whether the band/artists is/are able to perform on an international level. Age, gender and origin are of no importance.
The criteria for the second voting session will be communicated to the jury members with the short list of the bands - the result of this first voting session.
Second voting session
As for the first voting session now, for the second voting session, other criteria should be taken into account. :
- Instrumentation
- Country of origin (does not apply for GJE and the night of the partner country)
- Gender
Also considered is the probability that the band will present exactly the line-up stated in the application and that the final program should present a wide stylistic range.
Preconditions for showcase applications (they need to be accepted during the application process)
You want to experience the showcase concerts live?
For registered participants of jazzahead! 2025 access to the showcase concerts is included in the registration for the trade fair.
We are happy to announce that concert tickets for the showcases will also be available for non-registered visitors from autumn 2024 on!
