The Shawano Jazz Foundation was created in 2009 by Alexandra Isaacson during her senior year at Shawano High School. Isaacson donated a $250 scholarship that she had received, and then executed initial fund-raising that provided two summer-music scholarships later that year. Thanks to strong community support, notably from founding board members Dr. Jeff and Holly Zander, the then 17-year-old Isaacson and Shawano band director Christopher Kent expanded the Foundation to include an annual weekend jazz festival in Shawano. The first Shawano Jazz Festival was held in 2010, and the event continues annually each March at Shawano Community High School.