The Hanza Jazz Festival is an annual, cyclical musical event that has been organised in Koszalin since 2005. The mission of the Hanza Jazz Festival is to promote jazz music in society, to enable dialogue between young jazz bands and to improve the musical skills of the festival participants. As part of the Hanza Jazz Festival, a jam session is organised, i.e. collective music making involving joint improvisation by musicians. The jam session has already become a traditional element of the Hanza Jazz Festival, being a chance to play together with other musicians and, above all, to improve one’s level of playing an instrument. The central venues of the Festival are the auditorium of the Cultural Centre 105 in Koszalin, the foyer of the Kryterium cinema and the auditorium in the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Amphitheatre in Koszalin. The festival lasts 3 days, filled with concerts by musicians representing a high level of playing instruments, and workshops during which young musicians perfect their technique under the supervision of experienced instructors. One week before the start of the Hanza Jazz Festival, a special concert is held as part of the Pre-Hanza. This is a musical, annual and cyclical preview of the upcoming Festival, which also takes place in the auditorium of Cultural Centre 105 in Koszalin.