Last year, our coverage of one of the highlights of the cultural calendar, the Hay Festival, brought the words and talents of some of the greatest writers, thinkers and performers to many millions of people - essence of Hay captured, bottled and exported across the globe. And this year we're doing it again with talks, live broadcasts and workshops from the BBC Tent.
I love all our output equally, but just to pull out a few highlights...
Radio 4 is bravely producing a new drama from Glyn Maxwell at the site itself - a first - which is a great opportunity for on-site audiences to see how we broadcasters conjure alternatives worlds out of recording equipment, words, great acting talent and a seasoned producer or two.
You’ll be able to see behind the scenes how some of our well-loved programmes work like The Archers to a Q&A and screening about the making of BBC One’s Imagine… Colm Tóibín.
Poet Simon Armitage and director Sue Roberts will be discussing the making of their extraordinary film Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster (commissioned by Learning and transmitting on BBC Four this Autumn), one of the most moving and powerful things I've seen this year.
I'm also looking forward to Vanessa Feltz and Sheila Hancock in conversation for Radio 2. Poet Ian McMillan and Alison Hindell will be doing masterclasses on writing poetry and radio drama respectively as part of the BBC Get Creative campaign. And Radio 3 is bringing the crown jewels again, including Free Thinking, In Tune, The Essay, The Lunchtime Concert and The Verb. And there's much much more from many of our services.
Perhaps the best thing about Hay is that it's a great leveller - not only bringing world-class writers and artists into close proximity with their audience, but the many different ways the BBC comes together in collaboration to bring the best of the arts to everyone.
Jonty Claypole is Director, BBC Arts
- You can find out more about what you can see do and hear from the BBC at Hay this year on the Media Centre website and there are full listings on the BBC Arts website.