The festival of my dreams

Festivals, like people, intrinsically carry a brand that distinguishes and defines them. The HAY FESTIVAL is the celebration of thought, creativity and freedom. A party that also takes place in Cartagena, in Colombia, Mexico City and, since 2015, in Arequipa, Peru.

Yes, there is HAY in Arequipa! The Festival came to be established annually in the White City, and for those of us in the organization, the challenge is as great and significant as the pleasure.

I still remember that in 2010 I shared the desire to include Arequipa in the world cultural map, with the guru of Arts Management in the United States, Michael Kaiser, after completing a Diploma in Cultural Management at the DeVos Institute, in Washington DC, who was our beloved teacher.

Eight years ago I perceived that I was transmitting to Kaiser a dream more than a possibility. An illusion that was held only in my imagination, because out of the busy activities for the month of the city, in August, including the always cheesy choice of Miss Arequipa and the inevitable parade, did not have a portfolio of projects that would show why Arequipa could be a cultural reference, minimum, in South America.

Now I realize that in 2010 I dreamed of the HAY, without knowing it. In 2014, when I first attended the CARTAGENA HAY, I saw that the theme of the Festival: imagine the world produces magic in those who are willing to pursue an intelligent dream, a process that begins by conceiving a different world in which the balance between the reason and emotion allow us, above all, to respect each other despite our differences, to face together the challenge of daily coexistence.

That intelligent dream brings incredible benefits, of those tangibles that the potential sponsors like so much: last year -2017- we achieved a free press valued at an average of almost 5 million dollars. The above, only to visualize the impact of HAY on cultural tourism that should have the local inhabitant as its main protagonist.

https://www.hayfestival.com