August 2023: In its 37-year history Austin’s famed South by Southwest (SXSW®) has become the byword for cool and the launchpad for what’s next. The week-long ‘festival of festivals’ is a famed hotbed of creativity and innovation – Uber and Billie Eilish both emerged there and Everything Everywhere All At Once premiered.
It’s a city-wide music festival, futurist think tank, a showcase of the latest games, alongside film and TV world premieres, a next-gen technology expo and a line-up of world changing speakers.
SXSW in Austin, TX, is where the world’s best thinkers come together to trade ideas and party once a year.
Except that once a year is becoming TWICE, with the announcement last year that SXSW would add an additional annual event, bringing the creative platform to the Asia-Pacific, premiering this October in sunny Sydney, Australia.
Minister for Jobs and Tourism, Minister for the Arts and Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy, John Graham said: “South By Southwest (SXSW®) is known globally as a key incubator of bold and exciting ideas. A festival like this truly couldn’t have come at a better time. The NSW Government is currently in conversation with the creative community to develop the state’s first arts, cultural and creative industries policy.”
“The list of internationally renowned tech and creative industry leaders – visionaries in their fields – joining the inaugural SXSW Sydney program provides a fantastic opportunity to jump start the conversation on how we foster the development of these sectors in NSW.”
The inaugural SXSW Sydney will comprise of 1000+ events, speakers and music acts, and has today revealed an unmissable line-up of headline speakers.
These speakers highlight the event’s foundational pillars: Music, with legendary festival CEO Paul Tollet; Tech, with visionary Slack Co-Founder Cal Henderson and Screen with beloved television star Tan France, as the true scope of the Australian event begins to unfold.
Over 700 world-leading speakers and industry leaders already announced including:
De-extinction entrepreneur Ben Lamm, Motion Picture Association CEO Charles Rivkin, advertising icon David Droga, Google Australia MD Mel Silva, Indonesian Tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno, Netflix ANZ Director of Content Que Minh Luu, broadcaster Osher Günsberg, World Surfing Champion Layne Beachley, tech entrepreneur Paul Bassat, Reddit CMO Roxy Young, artistic director Wesley Enoch K-pop Chief A&R Officer at SM Entertainment, Chris Lee, Expedia CTO Rathi Murthy and many more.
More than 300 panels and sessions to keep you at the forefront, covering topics including:
Brain-computer interfaces, the future of lab-grown meat, ethical living with robots, AI fluency, Big Tech transparency, re-imagining news media, First Nations knowledge in design, how recruitment will become more like online dating, venture capital in 2050, when music videos meet AI, the future of love and more.
Over 400 artist performances, including ones from 100 artists now announced:
Your new favourite artist is playing SXSW Sydney 2023. From USA’s Flyana Boss and almost monday, to Australian up-and-comers South Summit, Chanel Loren and Gut Health, UK’s SORRY, South Korea’s ADOY and Lil Cherry & GOLDBUUDA, NZ’s Daily J, MELODOWNZ and Molly Payton, Indonesia’s Isyana Sarasvati and Malaysia’s Lunadira.
Colin Daniels, Managing Director, SXSW Sydney says: “With just under three months to go, this is the first time we’ve been able to hint at the scope of the inaugural SXSW Sydney. Never before have this many entrepreneurs, artists, futurists, innovators and titans of every industry all been in Sydney at one time. As we pull together over 1,000 events and experiences, our team are still searching for a poster big enough to reveal it all.”
“After 19 visits to SXSW in Austin over the years, I can’t wait to see what we think of as ‘the United Nations of the creative industries’ here in Sydney,” added Daniels.
Brands participating include:
Accenture, Accor, International House Canada House, Defender and Seven join Super Sponsors CommBank and Qantas, Music Festival Major Sponsor Young Henrys, Education Partner UTS, Event Partners Dr. Martens, Handsome Tours, Laneway Festival, Prime Video, The Orchard and Vans, SXSW Sydney Pitch presenter VentureCrowd and Conference Track Sponsors CSIRO and Main Sequence, WPP, Culture Amp, Kingfisher and Remote.
