The main music event organised by Jazz Cerkno has been taking place annually in mid-May since 1996 (between Thursday and Saturday). The festival venue is the square “star plac” in the centre of Cerkno. Three evenings of programme present various musicians and artists from all over the world, established and unknown, all of them united in finding new ways in jazz music and thus widening their horizons. The festival as such is important not only for the musical challenges and pleasures it grants, but also for representing the current trends in jazz music in general. Jazz, heard in Cerkno is never unambiguous, because the programme emphasises the unconventional and creative music, the collision of cultures and music practices, confrontation of various approaches where jazz often comes across other music forms and assumes different elements from them.

Rock, electronic music, modern and old classical music, experimental music, various traditional types of music and much more: all of it can be found in various combinations with jazz as such in the motley programme of the Jazz Cerkno festival. It is never self-limited by genre purity or orthodoxy. Special attention is paid to Slovene musicians and many bands or musicians had their first project presentation in front of the public in Cerkno. The same is true for foreign musicians who expanded the sonority limits and tore down the boundaries among genre and other conventions. All Jazz Cerkno festival concerts are exclusive in Slovenia. The festival programme is enriched by various workshops, exhibitions and similar event. The festival is also well known for its lively after-party.