(CNN)Here’s a look at South by Southwest, a collection of music, film, and interactive conferences and festivals held annually in Austin, Texas. It is nicknamed “South by” and is abbreviated to SXSW.
11-20 March 2022 – The South by Southwest conference and festivals are planned.
16-20 March 2021 – The South by Southwest conference and festivals are held online only due to the ongoing pandemic.
facts
The purpose of SXSW is “to give creative people the opportunity to develop their careers by bringing people from all over the world together to meet, learn and exchange ideas”.
SXSW Inc. also hosts SXSWedu, which started in 2011 to focus on teaching and education.
statistics
In 1987, the first year of the conference, 700 participants attended.
In 2019 there were more than 280,000 visitors.
The economic impact of SXSW on Austin’s economy in 2019 was $355.9 million.
timeline
1986 – Louis Jay Meyers and Roland Swenson approach Austin Chronicle’s Louis Black and Nick Barbaro to organize a music festival in Austin similar to the New Music Seminar, a music conference in New York.
12-15 March 1987 – The first South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival takes place in Austin.
1993 – SXSW is moving to the Austin Convention Center in downtown Austin, where it is currently being held.
1994 – The SXSW Film and Multimedia Conference is launched and joins the music segment.
1995 – SXSW Film and Multimedia splits into its own separate conference.
1999 – SXSW Multimedia is renamed to SXSW Interactive.
2007 – Microblogging startup Twitter gains prominence at SXSW Interactive.
2009 – Social networking website Foursquare is launched at SXSW Interactive.
2010 – SXSW Interactive Traffic surpasses SXSW Music for the first time; 14,251 interactive registrants and 13,020 music registrants.
2017 – For the first time, SXSW is a unified 24-track Interactive, Film, Music and Convergence event open to all badge holders via primary and secondary access.
March 6, 2020 – The city of Austin is canceling South by Southwest, which was scheduled for March 13-22, due to the coronavirus. This is the first time in 34 years that the event will not take place.
March 9, 2020 – South by Southwest is laying off about a third of its full-time employees due to the unexpected cancellation of the 2020 event.
October 6, 2021 – It is announced that South by Southwest will be held online due to the pandemic.
March 22, 2021 – SXSW announces its return to an in-person event in 2022.
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