In less than four months’ time, a swath of the most trendy enclaves of east London will be taken over by an attempt to recreate Europe’s version of SXSW, the clash of music, art and technology events annually thrown together in Austin, Texas.
South by Southwest London has already sold thousands of tickets — out of a total run of 20,000 — according to Katy Arnander, director of programming for the week-long conference. SXSW London has drawn attendees from more than 600 companies from 36 countries so far.
“We’re above the target of what we were expecting, and we haven’t done our big announcement of speakers,” Arnander told the Financial Times in Shoreditch Town Hall, a Grade II-listed building that will serve as one of more than 25 venues across the trendy district of the UK capital that will be taken over by the event in June.
“What’s been really evident is quite a lot of appetite for it, not least in the number coming from around the world, which is really encouraging,” she added.
The decision to choose London to host the European edition of SXSW is a boost to the city at a time when the British government is hoping to jump-start investment in the tech and creative industries sectors as part of a broader push for economic growth.
Founded in 1987, the SXSW event in Austin, Texas is known for launching the careers of music acts, from Florence and the Machine to Billie Eilish and The White Stripes. Music will feature prominently in London, alongside art installations and other creative industries, but technology and business will form the backbone of the programme.
Artificial intelligence is also expected to be a big focus at a time when Whitehall officials are hoping that the development of the fast-evolving technology in the UK will give British businesses a competitive edge over overseas rivals.
The event — which marks the second time that SXSW has moved outside of the US, after a Sydney edition launched in 2023 — has also been welcomed by London officials.
Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan described the decision to bring SXSW to the capital as confirmation of “our place at the heart of Europe’s tech and creative sectors and as a global capital of culture”.
Arnander, who previously worked at the Southbank Centre and Ambassador Theatre Group, said London and the UK government had been “super supportive”.
“SXSW could have gone anywhere in Europe, and it’s come to London, because London has this sort of energy and dynamism and innovation and creative economy . . . a big melting pot and dynamic powerhouse of a city,” she added.
South by Southwest Europe is owned by Panarise, a live entertainment company, which in turn is owned by investment group Panarae. Ali Munir, founder of Panarae, sits on the board of Penske Media, the publisher behind Rolling Stone magazine and Billboard, which also owns a large stake in the Austin-based music, tech and film festival.
SXSW Europe chose Shoreditch, known as much for its bars, restaurants and clubs as its industrial district and for being home to many tech start-ups today. The area is sometimes still referred to as “Silicon Roundabout”, a name coined by then Conservative prime minister Lord David Cameron more than a decade ago as his government sought to develop a cluster of start-ups around Shoreditch, Hoxton and Old Street.
Venues in June will include Shoreditch Town Hall, the Truman brewery and sites around Hoxton Square. Arnander, whose team was appointed in June last year, said it was “really important for SXSW to absolutely lean into the local fabric . . . working within Shoreditch, presenting and facilitating content that allows people to intersect and have kind of beautiful collisions”.
The organisers have committed to a 10-year plan for the festival in London, she added, with hopes to expand its offering over time.
SXSW London is mostly a business conference, featuring keynote speeches about tech, film and music, but with enough cool art installations and parties to go beyond the typical networking event. The event is mostly funded through ticket sales and sponsorship.
Businesses sent staff and high-ranking executives, Arnander said, to “get a little bit of a taste of what’s new and what’s next and what’s upcoming”.
The festival also has a consumer-facing part, with some of the music events, for example, expected to be open to the public.
Arnander said she expected between 400 and 450 sessions in the conference part of the week-long event, a mixture of keynotes, panels, workshops and roundtables. Talks could range from med-tech to AI, she said, with delegates able to discuss “Big Society and the ethics of living forever [then] hop into somewhere like 93 Feet East to see a singer-songwriter set”.
The hipster conference programme is partly generated by the audience, with an open call for submissions for the conference in a number of categories and topics as well as for music and film.
Event organisers expected about 500 submissions, but received 2,500 in two weeks. These were then put to a public vote, and through to further vetting and an advisory panel.
SXSW London will announce the first conference speakers, music partners and music talent this month, followed by the visual arts programme and the screen plans, with more added as the event nears its start date of June 2.
Delegates can buy an overall ticket, or choose a screen or music badge if they want only to network and watch events in these areas.
“In the music world, you’ll get producers, labels, agents coming in to do business or to see talent,” said Arnander. “And on the screen side, you’ll get distributors, producers, filmmakers coming to sort of see what’s new and what’s next that could inform some of their future plans.”
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