After a massive inaugural event earlier this year, South By Southwest (SXSW) has announced the dates for their second year in Sydney. The Austin-born multidisciplinary festival is returning to Gadigal Land from Monday, October 14, and sticking around until Sunday, October 20, 2024. SXSW Sydney 2.0 is promising a packed line-up of talks, shows, workshops and events set to shine a light on innovators and creatives from across the world.
Having built its reputation as a super cool melting pot of ideas, innovation, creative connections, underground live music gigs, and exclusive parties from its base in Austin, SXSW choosing the Harbour City for its first ever event outside of Texas in 2023 was a pretty huge deal. The festival’s overseas debut manifested in the Harbour City with an event series that was so much more than it said on the tin; with seven days of insightful workshops, groundbreaking film premieres and secret pop-up parties that brought together 97,462 people from 41 countries.
During the 2023 edition we were exposed some iconic moments including the premiere of hot doco Hot Potato: The Story of the Wiggles (with almost every past and present Wiggle in attendance), Nicole Kidman spilling secrets at a live in-conversation, Courtney Act serving a glamorous tribute to our Nicole at the after-party of the premiere of Baz Luhrmann's Faraway Downs, Chance the Rapper delivering a lecture on the history of hip hop, and hundreds of performances from local and international music talents at secret underground venues and the main stage in Darling Harbour's Tumbalong Park.
Self-described as a “futurist conference and festival”, SXSW will bring a similar offering to the city in 2024. In partnership with the NSW Government, SXSW Sydney 2024 is set to play host to leading thinkers in the tech, music, screen, games and creative industries.
The first ever edition of SXSW Sydney was also tinged with confusion and exclusivity, with the full program being announced fairly close to the actual start of the festival, and many exciting events only being accessible to those who forked out for exxy Festival Badges. But, there was also lots of incredible free and cheap events, as well as more accessibly priced Wristbands for specific programs like the gaming, film and music streams. With the awkward first date over, we're enthusiastic about what this promising multifaceted event has in store for 2024.
Applications will open for participants and attendees in the new year, and you can keep an eye out for tickets and new announcements over here.