South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conference and festival that takes place in March in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1987, SXSW features programming across technology, film and television, music, education, culture, gaming, and other creative industries. The event includes keynote and featured sessions, exhibitions, screenings, music showcases, networking opportunities, and more held across multiple venues throughout Austin.
SXSW is run by the company SXSW, LLC, which organizes conferences, trade shows, festivals, and other events. In addition to SXSW, the company runs the SXSW EDU conference and the SXSW London festival, and co-runs North by Northeast in Toronto, Canada. The company has previously run or co-run the events North by Northwest (1995–2001), West by Southwest (2006–2010), SXSW Eco (2011–2016), SXSW V2V (2013–2015), the me Convention (2017–2019) and SXSW Sydney (2023–2025). A large number of other events, past and present, sometimes collectively referred to as "four-letter festivals", have been inspired by SXSW.
The Austin Convention Center in Downtown Austin which functioned as the "hub" of the festival began renovations in 2025 and will reopen in 2029; South by Southwest will operate as a campus style event from 2026–2028 with events associated with the festival taking place at venues in and around Downtown Austin.
Divisions
Music Festival & Conference SXSW Music is the largest music festival of its kind in the world, with more than 2,000 acts as of 2014. SXSW Music offers artist-provided music and video samples of featured artists at each festival via their official YouTube channel.
The music event has grown from 700 registrants in 1987, the first year of the conference, to over 161,000 attendees in 2018. SXSW Film and SXSW Interactive events have grown every year, bringing over 32,000 registrants to Austin in March 2013.
Bands must cover their own expenses for travel and lodging at the event. All performers are offered a cash payment or a wristband package that allows access to all music events.
Film & TV Festival & Conference SXSW Film Conference spans five days of conference panels and sessions, and welcomes filmmakers of all levels. Programming consists of keynote speakers, panels, workshops, mentor sessions and more, with expert filmmakers and industry leaders.
In 2015, the SXSW Film Conference programmed over 250 sessions with 735 speakers. Past speakers included Jon Favreau, Mark Duplass, Ava DuVernay, Ryan Gosling, Nicolas Cage, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Tilda Swinton, Amy Schumer, Sally Field, Joss Whedon, Christine Vachon, RZA, Matthew McConaughey, Danny Boyle, Seth MacFarlane, Catherine Hardwicke, Richard Linklater, David Gordon Green, Harmony Korine, Henry Rollins, Sarah Green and Robert Rodriguez. Although the film festival highlights independently produced films and emerging directing talent with unique visions, the festival has long served studios as a barometer for their comedies, with enthusiastic fans indicating how they might play in wide release.
The SXSW Film Festival runs nine days, simultaneously with the SXSW Film Conference, and celebrates raw innovation and emerging talent both behind and in front of the camera. Festival programming categories include: Special Events, Headliners, Narrative Spotlight, Documentary Spotlight, Narrative Competition, Documentary Competition, Visions, Midnighters, 24 Beats Per Second, SXGlobal, Episodic, Festival Favorites, and Short Film Programs. The SXSW Film Awards, which occur on the last day of the Film Conference, honor films selected by the Feature and Short Film Juries.
In 2015, the SXSW Film Festival programmed 150 feature films and 106 short films, selected from 7,361 submissions. Past world premieres included Furious 7, Neighbors, Chef, 21 Jump Street, The Cabin in the Woods, Dance of the Dead, Bridesmaids and Insidious, and the TV series Girls, Silicon Valley, and Penny Dreadful.
Innovation Conference SXSW Innovation Conference (formerly SXSW Interactive Conference) focuses on emerging technology. The festival includes a trade show, speakers, parties, and a startup accelerator.
History
Inauguration in the 1980s In July 1986, the organizers of the New York City music festival New Music Seminar contacted Roland Swenson, a staffer at the alternative weekly The Austin Chronicle, to talk about organizing an extension of that festival into Austin. They thereafter announced they were going to hold a "New Music Seminar Southwest". The plans did not materialize, however, so Swenson decided to instead co-organize a local music festival, with the help of two other people at the Chronicle: editor and co-founder Louis Black, and publisher Nick Barbaro. Louis Meyers, a booking agent and musician, was also brought on board.A Guide to the South By Southwest, Inc., Records, 1987–1997 , Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin Black came up with the name, as a play on the name of the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock film North by Northwest. It should not be confused with "southwest by south" (SWbS), a point on a compass.
The event was first held in March 1987. The organizers considered it a regional event and expected around 150 attendees to show up, but over 700 came, and according to Black "it was national almost immediately."SXSW stays course, continues growth, Alex Geiser, The Daily Texan, March 18, 2010 Meyers left Austin and the festival in the early 1990s, but Black, Barbaro and Swenson remained the festival's key organizers as of 2010.
1990s Singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked was the keynote speaker at the 1992 South by Southwest. She caused controversy by delivering a speech, written by her then-husband Bart Bull, criticizing white musicians for stealing music from African American artists; and then later during the same conference when she tried to kick the band Two Nice Girls off of a benefit concert, a move that some called anti-gay, due to Two Nice Girls' overtly lesbian image.The Education of Michelle Shocked , Robert Wilonsky, Dallas Observer, April 25, 1996
In 1993, SXSW moved into the Austin Convention Center, where it is still held.
In 1994, SXSW added a component for film and other media, named the "SXSW Film and Multimedia Conference". Johnny Cash was the keynote speaker.
That year, the three brothers of the band Hanson were brought to SXSW by their father in order to perform impromptu auditions for music executives, in the hopes of getting industry attention. Among the people who heard them was A&R executive Christopher Sabec, who became their manager, and would soon afterward get them signed to Mercury Records.
In 1995, the SXSW Film and Multimedia Conference was split into two separate events, "SXSW Film" and "SXSW Multimedia". In 1999, SXSW Multimedia was renamed "SXSW Interactive".
2000s Singer-songwriter John Mayer's performance at the 2000 SXSW Music festival led to his signing soon thereafter with Aware Records, his first record label.
A performance by the band The Polyphonic Spree at the 2002 SXSW Music festival helped bring them to national attention before they had signed with a major label.
At the 2002 SXSW Film Festival, the film Manito won the jury award for narrative feature, while the documentary Spellbound won the jury award for documentary feature.
British singer James Blunt was discovered by producer Linda Perry while playing a small show at the 2004 SXSW Music festival, and was signed to Perry's Custard Records soon thereafter, where he would go on to release all three of his subsequent albums.
The 2005 SXSW Film is considered by some to be the origin of the mumblecore film genre. A number of films now classified as mumblecore, including The Puffy Chair, Kissing on the Mouth, Four Eyed Monsters and Mutual Appreciation, were screened, and Eric Masunaga, a musician and the sound editor on Mutual Appreciation, is credited with coining the term "mumblecore" at a bar while at the festival.Lim, Dennis (August 19, 2007). "Mumblecore – The New Talkies: Generation DIY ". The New York Times.
The film Hooligans won both the Feature Film Jury Award and the Feature Film Audience Award for narrative feature, while The Puffy Chair won the Feature Film Audience Award in the "Emerging Visions" category. The documentary film Cowboy del Amor won the SXSW Competition Award and the Audience Award.
A secret concert at the 2006 SXSW Music by the band The Flaming Lips was called one of the "Top 10 Music-Festival Moments" of all time by Time magazine in 2010.Top 10 Music-Festival Moments: Flaming Lips at SXSW – 2006, Dan Fletcher, Time, March 18, 2010
The 2006 SXSW Interactive featured a keynote panel of Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark.SXSW 2006 Panel: Craig Newmark & Jimmy Wales Keynote , Auscillate blog, March 13, 2006
That year, "Screenburn at SXSW", a component for video games, was added to SXSW Interactive.
2007 The 2007 music festival took place from March 14 to 18, and more than 1,400 acts performed. Two of the top film premieres that year were Elvis and Anabelle and Skills Like This.
The social media platform Twitter notably gained a good deal of early traction and buzz at the 2007 SXSW Interactive, though it did not launch at SXSW 2007 as is sometimes reported.
2008 The 2008 SXSW Interactive got media attention due to a keynote interview of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg by technology journalist Sarah Lacy that was considered by some observers to be a "train wreck" due to an audience perception that Lacy was asking uninteresting questions, as well as mocking or terse answers in response from Zuckerberg.A journalist becomes the story at Mark Zuckerberg SXSWi keynote , Daniel Terdiman, CNET "Geek Gestalt" blog, March 9, 2008
In 2008, a comedy element was added to SXSW; it was held for one night. (By 2012, comedy performances occurred on all nights of the festival.)
2009 The 2009 festival was held March 13–22. The Interactive section of SXSW in particular drew larger attendance levels; the influx strained the networks of providers such as AT&T (primarily due to heavy iPhone usage). Also new was the founding of an international organization for those not attending, dubbed NotAtSXSW. Coordinating through Twitter and other online tools, notatsxsw events were held in London, New York, Wisconsin, Portland, Oregon and Miami.
The 2009 SXSW Interactive saw the launch of the Foursquare application, which was called "the breakout mobile app" of the event by the Mashable blog.
In 2009, the first Indian classical music artists performed at SXSW: Canadians Cassius Khan and Amika Kushwaha.
The 2009 SXSW Film screened 250 films, including 54 world premieres. The event was notable for having the United States premiere of the film The Hurt Locker, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2010. The winners of the feature jury awards were, for documentary feature, 45365, and for narrative feature, Made in China.
2010s
2010 The 2010 music festival, which took place March 12–21, was dedicated to Alex Chilton, who died shortly before he was to perform with Big Star. A tribute concert was performed in his honor on March 20, 2010.
At the 2010 festival, nearly 2,000 bands were officially scheduled to perform, and festival reps estimated that over 13,000 industry representatives attended. Though traditionally the Austin Music Awards kick off the festival, that year organizers slated it as the closing act. Local musician Bob Schneider earned 6 awards, including Song of the Year, Singer of the Year, and Band of the Year (with Lonelyland.) The 2010 festival was also notable for appearances by the surviving members of the band Moby Grape.Raul Hernandez, Live Shots: SXSW Music 2010 , Austin Chronicle, March 26, 2010.