Hay Festival Andy Fryers Powys • One of the 22 Welsh counties • The largest: 5,197 km2 (1/4 of Wales) • The most sparsely populated: 132,598 pop. – Only 26 persons per km2 (Wales average: 145 p/ km2) • Largest towns: Newtown (12,800); Brecon (10,000) • The county council has responsibilities for: – education, social care, leisure services, … – roads and bridges, planning, waste, … – regeneration, tourism, culture, SD, … • PCC is the largest employer in the county • Involved in European projects, e.g. B2N and I-Speed Hay Fes+val - Background • Launched in 1987 in the tiny market town of Hay on Wye, Wales, GB (pop. 1500, 39 Bookshops). • We celebrate great writing from poets and scientists, comedians and novelists, historians and environmentalists and the power of great ideas to transform our way of thinking. • The main Hay Festival held in Hay on Wye during May/June, is now 12 days long. • 225,000 ticket sales, >500 events • Artists include: – Nobel Laureates, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Oscar Winners, Musicians, Comedians, Scientists, Established and New Writers • Audience demographics: – Class: AB1’s. – Employment: Business leaders, senior executives, teachers and lecturers. – Average household income evenly split btw: £40-60,000 and £75,000 + p.a. Hay Fes+val Internaonal • Our first international venture was in Italy when our director helped to set up Mantova Festival in 1997 • We now run Festivals in: Spain, Colombia, Mexico, Beirut, India, Kenya, Maldives, Bangladesh, Hungary, Turkey and Ireland as well as two separate Festivals in the UK. • Exchange of ideas, social occasions and interactions • New audiences • Promoting publishing in Latin America • British Council • International exposure for Welsh Writers with support from Wales Arts International • Cultural Tourism • Student Exchange Programme and University Collaboration • 20% tickets free of charge • Children’s events in Barrios • School’s workshops with Wole Soyinka, Jorge Franco and Andrew Ruhemann • Accessible to all Sponsors and Supporters • Hay Fes+val works with a wide range of Sponsors and Supporters. • Some sponsor individual Fes+vals, others are global partners. Hay on Earth • HoE has been running for 6 years. • HoE has three key objectives: 1. Minimising and mitigating our own direct impacts – BS8901 2. Helping our audience to minimise their impacts. 3. Programming events and conferences that stimulate debate and discussion about key issues around the environment and sustainability. • We are not an environmental Festival, we run Festivals where sustainability and the environment are integral to what we do. .