MONTREUX VILLE CRÉATIVE: Historic Sister Festivals

Les sister festivals: Exporting the Spirit of Montreux

By the late 1970s, the Montreux Jazz Festival had long since spread far beyond the shores of Lake Geneva. Driven by the Festival’s growing international influence and Claude Nobs’s desire to build bridges between cultures and music scenes, a network of “Sister Festivals” gradually developed around the world.

From Atlanta to Detroit, from Sapporo to São Paulo, these affiliated festivals spread the name and spirit of Montreux internationally while adapting them to their local contexts. Much more than mere variations on the Swiss festival, the Sister Festivals became true laboratories for artistic exchange, cultural diplomacy, and international collaboration.

This historical workshop traces the birth, development, and impact of these festivals through rare archives, photographs, audiovisual materials, and firsthand accounts. It highlights the artists, producers, institutional partners, and cultural networks that helped spread the “Montreux spirit” across several continents during the 1980s and 1990s.

The event also explores how these initiatives helped pioneer a new model of international cultural exchange, transforming Montreux not only into a festival but into a true global ecosystem connecting artists, audiences, and creative communities far beyond Switzerland.