Aberdeen Jazz Festival returned for its 23rd year with an ambitious programme: 13 days, 30+ events and 18 venues across the city. The line-up spans the full spectrum of jazz – from mainstream and avant-garde to the cutting-edge underground.

Following the closure of The Blue Lamp – the festival’s main venue for over two decades – the festival team reimagined how the event could exist across Aberdeen. Rather than centring around a single space, the programme expanded into new venues across the city, reinforcing the idea that the festival is bigger than any one location.

The theme for 2026, “New Spaces, New Sounds,” captures this shift. It reflects Jazz Scotland’s ambition to bring jazz – and jazz-adjacent music – into unexpected places, connecting new audiences with the genre.

Improvisation and fluidity have been central to the festival’s visual identity since we began working with the team in 2020. For 2026, we continued to build on this flexible design system, reflecting the spontaneity and movement of jazz itself.

The identity was applied across the full festival rollout – including digital, print and social – and for a limited time, large-scale window displays along Union Street in the city centre.