Outreach & access projects

Each year the Hay Festival programme strives to be as accessible as possible, ensuring affordable ticket prices and a broad range of free events for all. Thanks to the kind support of The Festivals of Literature Charitable Trust we are able to provide a range of focused events across the community.

Young Writers

The Festival’s young writers group was formed in autumn 2008. Made up of 12–17 year olds, it meets weekly at the Hay office to discuss the week’s news and books and eat an extraordinary amount of biscuits. In between these two very important tasks, the group focuses on creating content for The Scribblers, a free termly magazine published online and in print. The Scribblers are involved in the entire publishing process, including the editing and design of the magazine, along with Paul Thomas at Hay-based BWA Design. Expert help and encouragement often comes from local writers and journalists who donate their time to working with The Scribblers on their creative writing skills. During Hay Festival Wales The Scribblers have a further opportunity to put their skills into practice as they review events and interview some of the many speakers appearing.

Children in Care

Hay Fever continues to build closer relationships with local foster families with the support of Powys, Herefordshire and Blaenau Gwent County Councils. Our focus falls not only on the children currently in care, but also the children who help to foster them. Families are invited to a free day at the festival packed with events, exploring and a party.

Writers into schools

Across the year writers and experts are taken directly into Powys and Herefordshire schools for the benefit of both pupils and teachers, at no cost to the schools. Bespoke talks, workshops and CPD seminars are arranged to suit the school’s needs. Jenny Valentine, Caroline Bird, Lucy Christopher, Gillian Clarke, Imtiaz Dharker and Ben Crystal have all led sessions.

Gifted & Talented

Hay Fever actively invites young people in the Writers Squads, a national initiative run across Wales, to attend a range of events across all the strands of the Festival with the aim of helping to develop their knowledge, confidence and skills when it comes to writing.

The Beacons Project 2012

The Beacons Project brought thirteen A-level students from across Wales to experience and participate in The Telegraph Hay Festival 2012. It introduced these young people to the strong links existing between the landscape, environment, art and literature and encouraged them to make their own contribution.

The students experienced Festival events, as well as participating in guided walks in the Brecon Beacons National Park. Discussions with writers appearing at the Festival and workshops with Telegraph journalists on writing for and in the media were arranged and the students produced their own related work, including writing a piece in daily Festival supplement The Hayly Telegraph. They also got to meet with and discuss the world financial situation with some of Barclays senior managers.

The project has already led to two of the students being offered internships at the Telegraph newspaper. The project also provided an opportunity to forge lines of communication between young writers and the wider world of literature and the arts. The students’ responses to the experience may also feed back into support for the Festival and for the arts in Wales in the future.

Hay Festival is very grateful to Arts & Business Cymru for supporting this initiative..

Get involved

For more information or to get involved in any of our outreach and access projects please call the Festival office on 01497 822 629