BATON ROUGE - Baton Rouge will hold its first annual Mid-City Jazz Festival later this month in the Magnolia Theater on Baton Rouge Community College’s Mid-City campus. Dr. Charles Brooks, head of the BRCC’s audio engineering department, is hosting the event as a part of the school’s 10th annual Arts Festival.

The event will kick off on March 24th at 9 a.m. and end by 5 p.m. It is open to all middle and high schools in the state. The festival will present high school and middle school jazz ensembles across the state with the opportunity to perform in front of professional musicians and educators in a friendly yet competitive environment.

Judges for the festival include: Leroy Jones, legendary New Orleans jazz trumpeter; Michael Foster, of The Michael Foster Project; and Dr. Willis Delony, Virginia Martin Howard Professor of Piano and Professor of Jazz Studies at Louisiana State University.

Judges will score bands and provide ensembles with feedback. Awards will be given out at 7 p.m. for Best Band and Best Soloist. Awards will be followed by a judges’ concert held in collaboration with professional jazz percussionist Dr. Charles Brooks.

The concert is free and open to the public.

Festival registration is also free and requires the following information be sent to Dr. Brooks at brooksc@mybrcc.edu by 5 p.m. on March 20th: school name and city, band director’s name, type of ensemble (high school, middle school, big band, combo, etc.), and a list of three prepared songs.