The Hay Festival has always been a celebration of different cultures
Outreach events for children are key for Hay at home and abroad
Cartagena de Indias in Colombia was the fi rst international festival
What would be a typical day for you during festival time? I am greeting authors, sponsors, talk- ing to the press, making sure my team is all right. We work with great people everywhere who embrace our way of working and we are also leaning from them all the time.
What are the most rewarding aspects of the job? Many. A conversation among writers, when it works, it is one of the best shows. It's great when you see the audience reacting – seeing the trans- formative power of the arts in action. Being a part of this is very rewarding. It is also very rewarding to mobilise people to come to listen to writers, to exchange ideas and to celebrate – and to convince private companies and individuals to share our vision and cre- ate partnerships all over the world.
Which festivals stand out for you? Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias – it was the fi rst international Hay and we came to Colombia six years ago when the country, due to all its problems, was quite isolated. We created a con- versation between Colombia and the
ISSUE 4 2011 © cybertrek 2011
Hay's many literary contacts will be present at international events
HAY INTERNATIONAL UPCOMING EVENTS
■ Merthyr 2–4 Sep 2011 ■ Nairobi 15–18 Sep 2011 ■ Segovia 22–25 Sep 2011 ■ Xalapa 6–9 Oct 2011 ■ Maldives – Nov 2011 ■ Kerala 18–20 Nov 2011 ■ Cartagena 26–29 Jan 2012 ■ Beirut – May 2012
world by taking people like Kingsley Amis, Hanif Kureishi and Salman Rushdie there and helping to generate a more positive free press internation- ally. Colombia is rich in culture and we found a phenomenal audience there – inquisitive, curious and generous. Kerala has also been very suc- cessful in its fi rst year (2010). We embraced their very diverse culture and celebrated it globally.
How is the mix between local visitors and tourists?
It varies - for example in Segovia we get lots of foreign visitors – the fes- tival there has became an important reason for cultural tourism in Europe.
In Cartagena, we have hourly English talks or Hispanic ones with simul- taneous translation into English to encourage international cultural tour- ism. Obviously each festival also promotes national tourism.
Is Hay International involved in any community outreach work? This is a vital part of each festival. We work internationally with the British Council conducting workshops with students and teachers. In Cartagena, one of Colombia's
poorest cities, we work all year round with Fundacion Plan – a project that empowers teachers to teach better lit- eracy. In Colombia we also run, along with the Education Ministry and a TV channel, a national short story compe- tition to get 40,000 kids writing.
What is Hay’s vision for future international expansion? The idea is to make the current fes- tivals sustainable with stronger community outreach projects and to go to new places. We want a presence in the Arab world, quite likely Beirut, and we've got many ideas and projects in the pipeline, so watch this space! ●
Read Leisure Management online
leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital 43
PHOTO: JEFF MORGAN
PHOTO: FINN BEALES
PHOTO: DANIEL MORDZINSKI
PHOTO: JEFF MORGAN
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