22/05/2020:


HowTheLightGetsIn Online is LIVE now! Featuring hundreds of events over 8 stages and 4 days, plus fully interactive social spaces where you can video chat with friends and meet other festival goers. HowTheLightGetsIn Online is the first event of its kind.


A limited number of tickets are available for sale during the festival. For yours, click here.

 

27/04/2020:


We are delighted to announce the launch of our fully interactive online festival, HowTheLightGetsIn Online 2020.

With the cutting edge debates, talks, hat sessions and academies that you expect from us, complete with Q&As, as well as video social spaces where you can mingle with old friends, make new connections and even bump into speakers from our star studded line up.

And on top of our festival offer we are giving away membership to the IAI tv subscription service affording you access to 3000+ videos of HowTheLightGetsIn content over the years.To find out more about the content available at IAI tv click here.


And for tickets, including the festival ticket and IAI tv membership special offer, follow think link.

 

16/04/2020:


In these unprecedented times we are working to bring you an exciting online offering so that, even though you can't be with us in person, you don't miss out on what HowTheLightGetsIn has to offer.

Our plan is to bring a fully interactive HowTheLightGetsIn festival fully online. With the cutting edge debates, talks, hat sessions and academies that you expect from us, complete with Q&As, as well as video social spaces where you can mingle with old friends, make new connections and even bump into speakers from our star studded line up.

We are working round the clock to test online events platforms and all the technology involved in such a mammoth undertaking so that we will be able to bring you an online offering worthy of the HowTheLightGetsIn name. 

For further details about our online offering click here.

 

30/03/2020:


For the latest coronavirus updates, please view the info page. 

13/02/2020:



Just three months to go until HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2020, and we've just added a host of great new names to our music programme! Check them out here.

Trust us, you're going to love our new lineup...

Stay tuned - we'll be bringing you more programme announcements very soon.

There are limited tier 3 tickets remaining. Book yours here!

The HowTheLightGetsIn Team x

 

23/01/2020:


It's that time again - we're bringing you a whole raft of over thirty new music acts plus a huge wave of speaker and debate additions for HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2020!

It wouldn't be HowTheLightGetsIn without a stellar music line-up, and from revolutionary dub-poet Linton Kwesi Johnson to enchanting BBC Sound nominee Ren Harvieu, this year's roster is looking better than ever. You can see our new additions to the music programme here.

On the speaker and debate front, we're announcing boundary-breaking scientists, award-winning actresses and innovative philosophers in panels on everything from the return of good and evil to the credibility of mindfulness and the power of promiscuity. Check out the speakers and debates so far here.

 

09/01/2020:


Hi there,

We're ringing in the new year with a teaser of our party programme for HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2020.

The Riverside Disco will be back on the banks of the Wye all festival long, with our resident DJs serving up the hottest dance tracks from noontime till long after dark. The People's Front Room will be pitching up too, putting their spin on the latest pop tunes as well as party classics.

Join us each night for a carnivalesque procession culminating in our late-night anarchic Midnight Mayhem debates where anything goes.

For those of you who like dressing up, we're also running our first ever fancy dress day on the Saturday of the festival. If you fancy it, come along in your weirdest, most wonderful costumes to represent Dark Dreams and Utopian Fantasies, inspired by the festival theme of Uncharted Territories. Our undercover fashionistas will be roaming the site on the day and the best costume will win a very special prize...

We've got more exciting news coming very soon. Watch this space!

The HowTheLightGetsIn Team x

 

17/12/2019:


Christmas has come early: we're bringing you another wave of speakers and their debates for HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2020!
 
- Extinction Rebellion co-founder Roger Hallam will defend disruptive protest in the name of progress in New Faces of Rebellion
 
- Pioneering cosmologist Laura Mersini-Houghton will question whether the Big Bang was really the beginning in Our Story of the Universe
 
- World-leading proponent of idealism Bernardo Kastrup will investigate what the world’s made of in The Limits of Material
 
- Columnist and free speech advocate Toby Young will examine how far we should tolerate those we disagree with in Saints and Sinners
 
Plus Momentum founder Jon Lansman and Lib Dem veteran Sir Vince Cable will clash over the fate of political idealism in Stories to Believe In, Lucy Hawking will be championing scientific rationality in A Matter of Facts, and prize-winning geneticist Güneş Taylor will address the ethics of lab-grown babies in The Matrix and the Miracle.
 
Click here to see the full panels, and here to see the speakers so far.
 
There's lots to look forward to, with many more announcements to come in the new year. But Earlybird prices won't last long - click here for tickets.
 
We can’t wait for you to join us in our wonderland by the Wye…
 
The HowTheLightGetsIn Team x

 

03/12/2019:


Wouldn't it be nice to find music, comedy, big ideas and the world's most exciting thinkers under the Christmas tree? Well, this year we're making that possible with our HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2020 gift tickets, launching on site now!

With a handful of speakers and debates already announced, as well as a taster of our music line-up revealed, HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2020 is looking set to rival the fun of any Christmas party.

Our printed gift tickets come gift wrapped, ready to solve your Xmas present puzzle. Click here to order yours!

The HowTheLightGetsIn Team x

 

26/11/2019:


We're delighted to unveil our first speakers for HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2020 as a taster of what's to come.

Across a weekend programme of over 80 debates and talks with 100 of the world's leading thinkers, we'll be joined by everyone from leading Brexiteer Penny Mordaunt and Momentum founder Jon Lansman to prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon, children's novelist and science educator Lucy Hawking, and artistic director of the Young Vic, Kwame Kwei-Armah.

Click here to see the full list of speakers so far.

Earlybird prices won't last long - click here for tickets!

See you soon...

The HowTheLightGetsIn Team x

15/11/2019:


As a taster before our full music programme arrives, we're delighted to announce our first wave of acts for HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2020 today!

You can check them out here.

Our 11th outing in our spellbinding spot by the Wye will see over 100 electrifying performances across a range of iconic venues, including chart-topping headliners, foot-stomping electroswing outfits, indie pop legends, parties and DJs each and every night, and so much more.

It's going to be an unforgettable four days...

 

14/11/2019:


We're excited to give you a sneak-peek at our music programme for HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2020 at midday tomorrow!

It's looking like an unforgettable line-up: we've got chart-topping headliners, the cream of the underground scene, traiblazing DJs, and so much more to keep you dancing day and night all weekend.

Tomorrow's just the warm-up - there's so much more to come. Watch this space!

 

07/11/2019:


We're delighted to launch Luxury Accommodation for HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2020! Our options are available at Earlybird prices for a short time only - so make sure to grab yours while you can.

Enjoy an indulgent stay under the stars in the Wye Valley with our exclusive range of luxurious Mongolian yurts. After rave reviews last time around, our yurt site is back in the same gorgeous spot, tucked away from the festival site while still only a few minutes' walk from the action. We also have premium pre-pitched camping available.

Last year we completely sold out, so secure your place quickly! To make the most of a very special weekend at the cheapest price, click here to book now.

We can't wait to welcome you...

 

30/10/2019:


We're excited to reveal our first few debates for HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2020!

We live in unsettling times.  Continuing from our London festival, our festival theme for HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2020 is Uncharted Territory.  Each of our debates identifies an uncharted territory facing us and asks how we should respond and how we can navigate the future successfully.

Today we are announcing our first few debates, from The Matrix or The Miracle and The Return of the Colosseum, to Stories to Believe In and Power to the People. Check out the details here!

We'll be revealing our first speakers and headline music acts shortly.  And we've a host of new plans to tell you about ...  so keep a watch for updates!

We can't wait to be back in Hay!



17/10/19:


Earlybird Tickets for HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2020 are now on sale at a very special price!

Our team is working hard behind the scenes to gather the world's leading thinkers to debate the most fascinating and urgent issues of the day. They'll be following in the footsteps of Slavoj Zizek, Emma Barnett, Rory Stewart and Angela Saini, who all headlined our London festival - and next year's programme looks set to be even better!

Of course, it wouldn't be HowTheLightGetsIn without a star-studded music and comedy line-up, with Grammy nominees known to rub shoulders with rising stars, cabaret acts, leading comedians, circus performers, DJs, artists, and so much more. We'll be announcing our first musicians and comedians shortly.

You can get your Earlybird tickets here.

We can't wait to welcome you to our paradise by the Wye!

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27/04/2020
We are delighted to announce the launch of our fully interactive online festival, HowTheLightGetsIn Online 2020.
With the cutting edge debates, talks, hat sessions and academies that you expect from us, complete with Q&As, as well as video social spaces where you can mingle with old friends, make new connections and even bump into speakers from our star studded line up.
And on top of our festival offer we are giving away membership to the IAI tv subscription service affording you access to 3000+ videos of HowTheLightGetsIn content over the years. To find out more about the content available at IAI tv click here. [link to festival vieos page].
And for tickets, including the festival ticket and IAI tv membership special offer, follow think link.