The annual legendary Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye returned from 23rd May – 2nd June to the picturesque town in Powys, Wales attracting over 250K visitors. Featuring some of the world’s greatest writers, thinkers, and performers with a full-packed programme of culture, and creativity covering the 10-day event.
Founded in 1987, Hay Festival Global has grown into one of the most celebrated literary charities in the world and delivers events with exciting line-ups of acclaimed authors, thought leaders and artists from around the globe.
This spring’s edition in Hay-on-Wye featured 800 conversations and performances with diverse voices and genres including best-selling novelists, pioneering scientists, influential politicians, comedians, musicians and innovative artists. It didn’t fail to deliver a stellar line-up of speakers and topics.
Stage Sound Services based in Cardiff worked closely with the production team at Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye and provisioned all the technical equipment and installation to the seven venues located throughout the Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye site. The Stage Sound Services team have worked directly with the charity’s in-house team for the last 3 years delivering full technical support including staging, lighting, sound and video.
MILOS M290 ground support truss formed the construction over the main ‘Global Stage’, the biggest venue on the Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye site which accommodates an 1800-seat capacity space, full video production, technical stage support and live video feed. Stage Sound Services has been an Area Four Industries Direct UK customer for many years and has a large quantity of MILOS rental truss in its inventory due to its popularity and market demand. They have also invested in several MILOS roof structures which are extremely popular and deployed at various projects, especially over the summer months.
MILOS M290 was selected due to its strong durable construction, and fast connection for quick, simple secure assembly and loading capacity. This was the perfect solution for the pinnacle stage at Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye to accommodate the rig and stage design in multiple back-to-back sessions featured on the Global Stage, which played host to some of the festival’s biggest names.
The Global stage is a vital component of Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye, embodying its commitment to internationalism and cultural exchange as a platform designed to highlight the festival’s broader programming by enriching audiences with important topics and global conversations. It serves as a space where writers, thinkers and cultural figures from around the world can share insights, stories and expertise with a global audience.
Gareth Rodgers – Senior Project Manager at Stage Lighting Services who lead the installation team said: “When faced with the challenge of designing a structure that could offer rigging positions for Lighting, Sound & LED Wall whilst retaining a slimline profile Milos 290 was the obvious choice.”
A few names that graced Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye’s Global Stage this year were Dame Judy Dench, Sebastian Coe, Stephen Fry, James Blunt and Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, all headlining sell-out shows at the 2024 event.
Known as ‘the town of books’ Hay on Wye is a bustling town full of independent shops, markets and al fresco entertainment during the festival delivering an electric atmosphere. The event has grown considerably over the years and is also now established events in several global locations worldwide including Colombia, Spain, Panama, USA and Mexico.
Theresa Gibson – Head of Marketing at Area Four Industries Direct UK said: ”This was my first visit to the legendary Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye and it was fantastic to have the opportunity to experience its wide-ranging diverse programme from the latest releases by favourite authors to new ideas, lively debate, music and comedy catering for all appetites.”
Gibson concluded: “The Global stage is an impressive pop-up space located in the most stunning surroundings and it was fabulous to see a large amount of Milos M290 truss utilised in the construction of the main stage structure accommodating so many legendary names over the festival period. There was such a great atmosphere and relaxed vibe at Hay, coupled with a very slick onsite logistics operation. It was great to have the chance to meet several of Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye’s Technical team and understand more about the comprehensive program and technical requirements the team at Stage Sound Services have provisioned at this prestigious world-renowned book festival.”
