Hay Festival has announced the return of The Platform, an open call for creatives aged 21–28 to showcase their work at the flagship event in Wales, 21–31 May 2026.
Launched in 2024, The Platform is an initiative to promote, support and develop young creative talent, funded by D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust and The Garrick Charitable Trust.
Open to a range of art forms – performance (theatre, dance, street), poetry, digital art, film, audio, visual art and literature – it aims to offer new routes into the arts.
Successful artists will have the chance to share their work with Festival audiences on Friday 29 May around the Festival site, plus meet and network with established artists over a three-day visit. All Festival expenses will be paid, and each artist will receive an event fee for their work.
Last year’s participants included visual poet and producer Alfiah Jade Brown, storyteller Alexis Maxwell, writer, actor, producer Grace O’Brien, writer, theatremaker and visual artist Eden Peppercorn, and writer and performer Safiyah Zanabi.
Hay Festival CEO Julie Finch said:
“Hay Festival Global is a charity built on creative collaborations. We are excited to issue our call for submissions to The Platform 2026 – a special project designed to support young artists in building connections, on stage and off, showcasing their work to our Festival audience while facilitating creative collaborations with established artists. We cannot wait to see what this next generation of artists has in store for us!”
2025 participant Eden Peppercorn said:
“The Platform has been a truly singular opportunity to showcase my work on a world-class stage. It has empowered me in my own creative practice. It’s a very rare opportunity in an increasingly expensive artistic landscape that has been eminently valuable to me developing my artistic career.”
Hay Festival runs its 39th spring edition in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, with more than 600 events over 11 days, 21 – 31 May 2026.
Artists can find out more about the programme and submit their ideas at hayfestival.org/the-platform – deadline is midday on Friday 10 April.
