Bayreuth Festival difficult to get tickets, because demand (estimated at 500,000) greatly exceeds supply (58,000 tickets); the waiting time is between five and ten years (or more). The process entails submitting an order form every summer; applicants are usually successful after about ten years. Failure to make an application every year results in being placed at the back of the queue. Although some tickets are allocated by lottery, preference is given to members of the Society of Friends of Bayreuth (financial donors), famous patrons, and to regional and international Wagner societies, which are distributed to their own members through lottery or the
Irrawaddy Literary Festival Irrawaddy Literary Festival The Irrawaddy Literary Festival is an annual not-for-profit event which celebrates Burmese and international writers. It is planned to take place regularly every one or two years in Burma/Myanmar. The inaugural Festival was described by the (then) British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, as having “achieved more for freedom of speech in one afternoon than most of us manage in a lifetime.” The inaugural Festival was held at the Inya Lake Hotel in Yangon, subsequent Festivals have been held at the Mandalay Hills Resort Hotel in Mandalay. The Festival was founded by Jane Heyn, wife of the former