Sydney’s spring schedule is ramping up, with year two of SXSW Sydney on in the Harbour City very soon. After announcing their return to Sydney back in December, the SXSW Sydney team have been drip-feeding us program updates: with the first round of headliners (spanning global CEOs to Sydney-born songwriters) announced in May, and an extended line-up with more than 500 speakers, artists and thought-leaders announced in June. Now, the program is pretty much finalised (we’ve been told we could expect a few surprise additions), so if you haven’t already, it’s time to start mapping out your SXSW schedule.
Whether you’re a ticket holder who’s blocked off the whole week to hop between events, an eager traveller keen to get in on the action or a curious local keen to make the most of what’s free to access on this year’s program, this round-up of highlights should help.
What is SXSW Sydney?
South By South West (SXSW) was born in Austin, Texas, back in 1987, as a small multidisciplinary festival of talks and music. That first event featured 15 panels, 177 artists and 15 stages, and it’s since gone on to become an annual festival of ideas and creativity with a boundary-pushing program of conferences, talks, performances and parties, and more than 300,000 attendees. Back in 2023, the first-ever SXSW to take place outside of Austin popped up in Sydney – brining talks, movie premieres, musical performances and a lot of surprise parties to venues across the city. Next month, SXSW Sydney is back for round two – returning to Gadigal Land from Monday, October 14 until Sunday, October 20, 2024.
How does the program work for SXSW Sydney?
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, as well as local creatives and thought leaders who are shaping the way we think and live right here in Sydney. The program is split into several pillars, with the conference pillar covering the big speakers, talks and panels across Tech and Innovation, Music, Screen, Gaming and more.
A music festival will bring a wildly diverse curation of artists to stages across the city, the screen showcase will introduce Sydney to a heap of incredible new movies, documentaries and shorts from around the world to complement the film industry talks and panels, and the games festival will celebrate all things gaming through a hands-on showcase.
What’s on for SXSW Sydney Conference 2024?
The conference line-up for 2024 includes a solid range of tech leaders, academics, creatives, cultural critics, filmmakers, CEOs, comedians and an astronaut. Big names include Katherine Bennell-Pegg (Australian Space Agency), Grace Tame, Luke Hemsworth and the incredible writer and journalist Johann Hari. Among the keynote speakers, Sydney’s very own The Kid Laroi will be taking to the stage, and on the tech front, we can expect to hear from the likes of Armand Ruiz (Vice President of Product at AI Platform at IBM; Co-Founder of Metaphysic.ai and Codec.ai) and Noelle Russell (Founder and Chief AI Officer at the AI Leadership) Institute. You can check out the conference line-up in full over here.
What’s on for SXSW Sydney Music Festival 2024?
On the music front, we can expect to see artists from across the globe light up Sydney’s stages, with headline acts including Grammy nominated singer-soungrwriter Jorja Smith (UK), Voice of Baceprot (Indonesia), I’mdifficult (Taiwan), Death of Heather (Bangkok), JESHI (UK) and Phoebe Rings (NZ). Local Aussie artists on the line-up include multi-hyphenate artist Ayesha Madon (Heartbreak High), Sydney-born indie favourites The Buoys, Vic-based surf rockers The Grogans, and rising Marranunggu brothers J-MILLA & Yung Milla. You can check out the full line-up for the music showcase over here.
What’s on for SXSW Sydney Screen Festival?
Alongside Australian and international premieres, the SXSW Screen Festival will feature a heap of short films including Make Me a Pizza from USA-based director, writer and producer Talia Shea Levin; Fishtank from LA-based writer and producer Wendi Tang; Meat Puppet from British-Greek director Eros V; and Vivie from Malaysian-raised, New Zealand-based director/actor/producer Hweiling Ow. Screenings will take place across some of Sydney’s best cinemas, including the Ritz in Randwick and Palace Central. You can browse the full screen program over here.
What’s on for SXSW Sydney Games Showcase?
The games festival will celebrate the near-infinite world of online gaming, with headliners including Blood Reaver (Hell Byte Games, Australia), Curiosmos (Céline and the Darlings, Belgium), Demon Spore (DinoBoss, UK), DICEOMANCER (Ultra Piggy Studio, China), FRUITBUS (Krillbite Studio, Norway), Hyper Light Breaker l (Heart Machine, USA), Mystiques (Lemonade Games, Australia), No Case Should Remain Unsolved (Somi, South Korea), Rose and Locket (Whistling Wizard, New Zealand) and Window Garden (CLOVER-FI Games, Philippines). You can check out the full line-up for the games showcase over here.
What are the best free events at SXSW Sydney?
Thankfully, not having a ticket won’t preclude you from getting involved, with a huge program of free events popping up at Tumbalong Park. Top of our list of free fiestas is a gin-fuelled knees-up brought to life by Papa Salt (Margot Robbie’s gin brand) with music from Touch Sensitive and Colombian psychedelic funk band BALTHVS – going down on Saturday, October 19. The following day (Sunday, October 20), Tumbalong Park will play host to a huge celebration of India’s creative communities, brought to life with support from the Centre for Australia-India Relations. Head down any time during the day and you’ll be greeted with performances spanning hip-hop, pop, R'n'B, club and neo-classical. Throughout the week, Tumbalong Park will play host to a tech and innovation tasters spotlighting some of the festival’s most mind-bending technological movements and developments – with a showcase of robotics, rocketry, electric motorbikes and more. For the gamers out there, The Acer Predator League Academy will be hosting a Gamers showcase on Saturday, October 19 – with a live Fortnite competition and appearances from Team PWR and Fortnite icons Lachlan and Loserfruit.
That's just skimming the surface of what to expect from the six-day festival – you can view the full program over here.
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