HowTheLightGetsIn Festival 2026 at Hay-on-Wye

HowTheLightGetsIn, the world’s largest philosophy and music festival, is powered by the Institute of Art and Ideas (IAI), a charitable non-profit organisation dedicated to bringing big ideas and philosophy into the heart of public life. HowTheLightGetsIn convenes the world’s leading thinkers and commentators for discussions on the most urgent and fascinating issues we face today. Our debates, talks, and courses challenge speakers and audience members to think bigger about the underrepresented questions, great challenges, and opportunities of our time. Our most recent edition featured debates on everything from gender in politics to the dimensions of the unkown. The discussions continue year round with daily releases

of videos, articles and courses on IAI.tv. 

We play host to the biggest thinkers worldwide across the fields of politics, philosophy, art, and science, from Nobel laureates and boundary-breaking activists to Pulitzer-Prize winning poets and statespeople responsible for public policy