In August 2003, the Festival of New Trumpet Music launched its inaugural season at Tonic, one of New York City’s top venues for avant-garde, creative, and experimental music. The Festival presented 40 performances over 19 nights, featuring an international lineup of trumpeters representing the worlds of jazz, new music, free form, hip-hop, rock, improvisational, classical, and more. The program for each night included two or three groups.

In August 2004 the festival grew to include other venues such as the New York Bahai Center, The 14th Street Y, and Makor, as well as continuing performances at Tonic. Highlights included the return to the New York scene of trumpeter/composer Bill Dixon, as well as the inaugural performance by a group of 22 trumpeters entitled Trumpet Nation led by Butch Morris.

In August 2005 Jon Nelson joined Dave Douglas and Roy Campbell as co-directors of the festival. Over fifty events were presented, including a new series called Seminar Week at Yamaha’s artist service center in midtown Manhattan. A week-long celebration of Lester Bowie at the Jazz Standard included performances by fourteen leading trumpeters. Twelve emerging artists were presented at the Chelsea art gallery Spark. A series called Other Music presented many groups at Tonic. 2005 also inaugurated an Advisory Board, comprised of many leading figures in new trumpet music.

The 4th Annual Festival of New Trumpet Music took place in New York City from September 15 to October 15, 2006. The 5th annual festival took place from September 16 to September 30, 2007. In 2007, FONT established itself as a non-profit entity.