Culture is a massive concept. On one end, it’s the vast, centuries-old tapestry of human creativity that builds civilizations and drives us forward. On the other, it’s the daily content that keeps us entertained – from the playlist you have on repeat to a TikTok skit with 5 million views.
Whether epic or everyday, culture serves one core purpose: it’s a space to tell stories, understand the world and bond over shared values. Culture acts as a catalyst for progress, inspires innovation and builds entire industries.
This year, SXSW London is showcasing the most exciting corners of contemporary culture through music, film and fundamental conversations across a program that sees culture, tech and business converge. One of its six core themes – ‘Culture Can Save Humanity’ – will spotlight how culture heals people and the planet, even in a fractured world.
Time Out sat down with Katy Arnander, Chief Programming Officer at SXSW London, to talk about this year’s lineup, why the UK capital is the perfect stage for these conversations and what "saving humanity" actually looks like in practice.
Time Out has just named London the best city in the world for culture right now. I want to start by asking you – outside of SXSW London – what cultural moments are you most looking forward to in the city this year?
There's so much coming up and there's so much I've already seen this year already. I mean, if people haven't been to see it, they must go and see Cynthia [Erivo] in Dracula, which was fantastic. The new Light Room show about David Bowie's life has just opened, which is really fantastic. That's on for a good few months and I would really recommend that. Romeo and Juliet with Sadie Sink, which was a great highlight for me. I took my teenage daughter to go and see it for her GCSEs. A very good way to get young people into Shakespeare.
In your role as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW London, what signals tell you what's next in culture?
One way we look out for signals about what's next is the fact that we programme a lot of up and coming and undiscovered talent. So whether it's across our music programme, we have an open call for musicians. We have a great number of co-curators. We represent different, diverse music communities. One area, for example, that I've noticed is really taking off is Bangladeshi Bangla electronica music. That's sort of bubbling through, so we've got some of that this year. In music, that's how we see things coming through. In terms of how work is presented theatrically or immersively, it's just seeing what's really appealing to audiences and how they want to experience that culture – the mixed reality experience. I suppose a great example of that, which has now been going on for sometime, is ABBA Voyage.
But that sort of tech, live music interactivity is only going to increase more and more. We see it in the type of activities, shows and films that come through.
SXSW is based on the idea of creativity, tech and business coming together. How is London uniquely positioned for conversations at the intersection of those three?
London's the best! Literally London's the best. I mean, there are so many great examples of where we have this convergence. One of the reasons why SXSW London is located in Shoreditch is that it's a great crossing point of convergence. So you've got the city just down the road at Liverpool Street, you've got fintech up at ‘Silicon Roundabout’ at Old Street, clearly a long history of great artists (the YBAs) coming out of Shoreditch – the Tracey Emins, the Gilbert & Georges, [were] all based in Shoreditch.
There are six main themes this year at SXSW London, but the one that immediately piqued my interest was ‘Culture Can Save Humanity’ – which feels particularly pertinent in the world today. What does that look like in practice?
When we look at some of the topics and some of the talks that have slotted into that category – if you like, that theme – looking and seeing what they're talking about gives an indication of how we can hope that culture can save humanity. So one example, is the wonderful Brian Eno and his music charity EarthPercent [which] is all about, what are we going to do to combat climate? How are we going to fight against climate change and support our climate? So in EarthPercent, artists who sign up give a percentage of their royalties towards projects that combat climate change.
In Time Out’s survey for the best city in the world for culture, London scored really well for affordability because there's so much free access to galleries and museums. However, I'd love to hear from you what you think London could be doing more to make culture in the city, or the city more generally more accessible for everyone?
I think it's developing really well and continues to develop well. I think localism is helping a lot, which is leaning into the community where an institution or festival is located, and making sure that there's a great number of affordable or free tickets to people from that community – and to different age groups.
What kind of cultural moments are you excited for people to discover and experience at SXSW London this year?
What I love about SXSW London – and we call it this sort of non-obvious way of doing things – is that pairing of putting together a cultural person with a tech person. It's like, ‘oh, that was unexpected’.
Also, we're leaning so much into London and we talk about positive optimism around the talks and sessions that we're presenting. [It’s] a love letter to London, making sure that we have a great representation of London on our stages through the people that we're platforming.
Some great names we have from the world of screen, we've got the Russo brothers in conversation. They are the directors of The Avengers, but [we have them] in conversation with Don Mustard, formerly of Epic Games and Fortnite. So that's going to be a very interesting take on how gaming and screening and storytelling is sort of merging.
Also on the screen side, we've got Sharon Horgan and we've got Russell T Davies. We've got our premieres where we've got actors like Richard E Grant, Claire Foy, and various other actors coming down to the openings and premieres of the films that we're doing.
On the music side, we have a great combination of different special guests, ranging from the world of Afrobeats and hip-hop. We have Earl Sweatshirt, ODUMODUBLVCK, Infinity Song – a beautiful group from America who are a harmonised group – Rachel Chinouriri and many others.
We’re talking about a whole range of different things, but always at that intersection of culture, creativity, business and tech.
SXSW London takes place across 20+ grassroots venues in Shoreditch from 1-6 June, 2026. Passes are on sale now.