The Blue Jay Jazz Foundation (BJJF), which produces the annual Blue Jay Jazz Festival, is a nonprofit 501c3 organization founded in 2007. Its mission is to build music appreciation and promote audience development to secure the future of jazz as a performing art, and support music education in the San Bernardino Mountain communities. Our Education Programs are designed in coordination with music directors of middle schools, high schools, and colleges and universities, including Rim of the World High School and California State University San Bernardino.

Managed by a volunteer Board of Directors, and with steady support from individuals and businesses in its community, The Educational Programs include an Instrument Lending Program for students who might otherwise not be able to participate in their school music program or study at home. As part of this program, the board solicits instruments from community members who no longer need their instrument and refurbishes them if necessary to make them ready for use by students.

In partnership with the Rotary Club of Lake Arrowhead, Blue Jay Jazz annually provides Excellence Awards to deserving high school musicians through its Future Generations of Jazz work. The Foundation’s most visible contribution to music appreciation among the mountain community is its annual Blue Jay Jazz Festival. For more than a decade, the Festival was held in the parking lot above the Rite-Aid in Blue Jay. In 2017 and 2018 it was held at SkyPark Santa’s Village in Sky Forest, east of Lake Arrowhead. In 2019, in a historic move, concerts were held on three consecutive days in August at the Arrowhead Lake Association’s Tavern Bay Beach Club and the Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa. In 2020, due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, the annual Jazz Festival, scheduled for late August, was canceled.