Penske Media owned South by Southwest Conference (SXSW) is expanding beyond its longtime Austin, Texas home to Sydney, Australia according to Variety.
SXSW Sydney will host a seven-day celebration of technology, film and music from Oct. 15 to Oct. 22 in 2023. As in Austin, the satellite conference will convene thought leaders, innovators and creatives from across industries for keynote conversations, panels and demonstrations.
“We couldn’t be more excited and honored to work with TEG and the New South Wales Government via Destination NSW on an event that brings to Australia the professional opportunities and unexpected discoveries that make SXSW unique,” said SXSW co-founder and CEO Roland Swenson. “The purpose of SXSW is to help creative people achieve their goals, and Sydney is the ideal city to serve as a home for the cross-collaboration that exists within the many industries we bring together.”
SXSW Sydney is a collaboration with event producer TEG, the New South Wales government and Destination NSW. It will be the official annual Asia Pacific installment of SXSW, which was founded in 1987. Past speakers include Barack Obama, Brené Brown, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, Melinda Gates, Elizabeth Warren, Snoop Dogg, Michelle Yeoh, Taika Waititi and Jordan Peele.
In step with the expansion, Colin Daniels has been named managing director of SXSW Sydney. Hugh Forrest, interactive director at SXSW, told Variety that programming announcements will follow in the coming months and that the event will look to utilize figures from both the Pacific Rim as well as domestic players from Silicon Valley and Hollywood.
Geoff Jones, group CEO of TEG, added that “SXSW is an event without equal internationally that has launched the careers of so many creative professionals. Through showcasing the creator industries of the Asia Pacific to the world, SXSW Sydney will establish a new SXSW touchpoint, enabling the international and cross-sector connections that deliver the most innovative products and content.”
In April 2021 P-MRC Holdings, the company founded by publisher Jay Penske announced that they made a deal with South by Southwest that would make the media company a long-term partner with and shareholder of the Austin festival. P-MRC, acquired 50% of SXSW in a joint venture between Deadline parent company Penske Media Corporation and Luminate.
“It has been an incredibly tough period for small businesses, SXSW included,” said CEO and Co-Founder Roland Swenson. “When Jay Penske approached us with an interest in becoming a partner, it was a true lifeline for us. Both of our companies share a passion for producing high quality content that helps shape modern culture, so this feels like a natural alliance. Now we are focused on the March 2022 event, and we’re honored to embark on a new chapter of SXSW with both his experience and the capabilities of P-MRC at our side.”
South by Southwest, is an annual film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March originally in Austin, Texas, United States. It began in 1987 and has continued to grow in both scope and size every year. In 2017, the conference lasted for 10 days with the interactive track lasting for five days, music for seven days, and film for nine days.
SXSW is run by the company SXSW, LLC, which organizes conferences, trade shows, festivals, and other events. In addition to the three main South by Southwest festivals, the company runs other conferences: SXSW EDU, a conference on educational innovation, held in Austin, and the me Convention (started in 2017), held in Frankfurt, Germany and in Stockholm, Sweden, in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz. Former conferences run by the SXSW organization include SXSW Eco, a conference focusing on social and environmental issues through the lens of technology, creativity and design held in Austin from 2011 to 2016; and another in Las Vegas: SXSW V2V, a conference focused on innovative startups, which ran from 2013 to 2015. Previously, SXSW produced music festivals North by Northwest (NXNW) in Portland, Oregon, North by Northeast (NXNE) in Toronto, and West by Southwest (WXSW) in Tucson, Arizona.
There was no in-person SXSW in either 2020 or 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Austin, Texas; both years, the event moved online.
