The first international jazz and cuisine festival called “Bourbon Street Jazz Festival” will run in Ho Chi Minh City from June 1.

The festival, put up by a charity group called “Art for Mobility” to raise money for the “Kid First” fund which gifts wheelchairs to physically-challenged, needy kids, opens at 7 Nguyen Tat Thanh, district 4, at 4pm today.

The festival will see the participation of artists and bands from several countries including Andy J. Forest from  New Orleans, Shun Sakai from Tokyo, Peche a la Mouche from France, as well as Vietnamese bands including Wanderlusters, Hot Tzigini, Sugarbowl Blues and Dancenter.

The festival venue is designed as streets and buildings simulating those on the famous Bourbon street in New Orleans in Lousiana, the US, which is considered the world’s jazz hot spot.

The event is expected to run on a yearly basis.