The Moers Festival (officially "Moers Festival New Jazz") takes place over the Whitsun bank holiday weekend each year — typically four days in late May or early June — and is one of the most important festivals for improvised, free jazz, and experimental music in the world. Since its founding in 1972, it has maintained an uncompromising commitment to music that sits outside the commercial mainstream, and the combination of that reputation and the festival's longevity has made it a landmark event for musicians and audiences who take the music seriously.
The festival takes place in the Stadtpark around the Schloss Moers, with the main stage outdoors and the atmosphere of an old-fashioned European cultural festival — modest in scale, focused on the music, and very different from the corporate experience of major summer festivals. Accommodation in Moers itself is limited; many visitors stay in Duisburg or Düsseldorf and travel in for the day. Tickets are reasonably priced and usually available at the door, though popular headlining concerts can sell out.