Heritage Festivals was established in 1980 by a group of music educators and educational tour professionals who believed that bands, choirs, and orchestras deserved new performing opportunities. Thus began a 27-year partnership with music educators that continues to grow in strength and responsiveness as we help them achieve new standards of excellence in music performance. Today that tradition of excellence remains unmatched, and we invite you to begin a tradition of your own – one that will build your program by increasing student interest and enrollment. Inspire your students to strive for excellence and watch their confidence and self esteem grow as you take them on the music education experience of a lifetime.

Heritage Festivals strives to promote excellence among choirs, bands, and orchestras by providing the best opportunity for learning through seeing, experiencing, and interacting with other student performers and top music professionals. Committed to offering the ultimate music festival experience with adjudicated, national performance opportunities, Heritage Festivals is "your partner in music education." We’ve earned the trust of thousands of music educators just like you by providing top quality festivals year after year.

Heritage Festivals continues to listen to our music educator partners and respond to their needs by creating additional unique performing opportunities such as Bowl Games of America, Bands on Parade, Children’s Choir Festivals, Festivals of Gold, and international performance festivals.

To learn more about our innovations and growth through the years, check out the Heritage Festivals Timeline.

The educational value of our festivals is so strong that we are proud to be the only festival organization in the world that offers participating students one semester performing arts academic credit. This free opportunity gives your students the scholastic advantage they deserve for their hard work and commitment to excellence in music.

Students should not be the only ones to benefit from a Heritage Festival. This is why we are proud to offer music educators free professional development points. Join the more than 1,000 directors that have taken advantage of this free opportunity to earn up to 20 points for every festival attended.

In addition to offering academic credit, Heritage Festivals provides your group with the best adjudicators in the industry. Our talented adjudicators include Donald Brinegar, Jennifer Judkins, Stan Michalski, and Patrick Patton, to name a few. These experienced and insightful music professionals provide taped and written notes during your group's performance, offering honest and supportive comments that will help your group improve. They also lead your group in a customized on-stage mini-clinic, lending their expertise to help your students grow as musicians. Heritage Festivals' innovative 5-star adjudication philosophy has become the standard for many of today's music festivals:

• Three judges for instrumental groups and three judges for choral groups – your students will always be evaluated by a professional in your field

• On-stage mini-clinic after your performance – your group gets immediate feedback and direction while the performance is still fresh in your minds

• Adjudicators wear microphones during the mini-clinic – your group receives comments that are honest and educational as well as constructive and supportive as the audience listens

• We support you as a director – adjudicators make sure parents and administrators are made aware of your hard work with the students

• Classification levels and adjudication types for every group level – even beginning groups have a place at a Heritage festival