SXSW Sydney locked in for a decade with $24m annual revenue

Sydney has secured a decade-long deal worth up to $140m in its first five years with one of the world’s largest tech and music festivals.

The music line-up set to perform at SXSW in October. From the left, Nigerian-British indie songwriter Connie Constance, Japanese punk group OTOBOKE BEAVER, Canadian new-wave artist EKKSTACY, teenage American rapper redveil and London-based quartet LOS BITCHOS.

Sydney has locked in one of the world’s largest tech, audio and film festivals for the next decade, with the soon-to-be annual event set to bring in $24m in revenue in its first year alone.

NSW Tourism Minister Ben Franklin on Thursday confirmed South by Southwest, a US event which prides itself on having showcased Twitter before it became mainstream, will return to the harbour city for at least four more years following the event’s first overseas launch in October this year.

Dubbed SXSW, the local event will see technology entrepreneur Ben Lamm and venture capitalist and Canva chief evangelist Guy Kawasaki as headline guests while the first keynote will be delivered by Amy Webb, an American futurist chief executive of Future Today.

Colossal Biosciences founder and chief executive Ben Lamm.

Canva chief evangelist Guy Kawasaki.

The event, dubbed Sydney’s ‘biggest since the Olympics’, was announced in June last year and will be the first time it’s being held outside the US.

Mr Franklin described SXSW “the festival of festivals”, announcing it would include keynotes, panels and other events across Sydney’s upcoming Tech Central which spans six neighbourhoods including Haymarket, Surry Hills, Ultimo, Redfern, Chippendale and Eveleigh.

The University of Technology Sydney, where Mr Franklin spoke, was one venue which would host some of the 400 keynote speeches behind as was Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum and the ICC in Darling Harbour.

“These locations will transform into a vibrant interconnected hub of future-focused ideas, unique events and networking opportunities on every street corner at the reinvigoration of this city‘s night-life,” Mr Franklin said.

The launch of the festival will be the first time Sydney’s much talked about Tech Central will be showcased to a local and global audience. The upcoming district has made headlines for months but little development can be seen on the ground just yet.

A map of the SXSW Sydney ahead of the October Event

Mr Franklin declined to comment when asked when further development in the area would be announced ahead of the SXSW in October.

“In this first year alone, it’s estimated that South by Southwest Sydney will attract 27,000 visitors to his city, injecting more than $24m into the state’s economy. By the time we get to 2027, we envisage that it will rise to $44m for that year so it’s a very good return on investment,” Mr Franklin said.

Other notable speakers attending SXSW include Brisbane cybersecurity founder of Baidam Solutions co-founder Jack Reis, Q-CTRL founder Michael J. Biercuk, Netflix director of content Que Minh Luu and Tesla chair Robyn Denholm.

Musical acts include teenage American rapper redveil, Canadian new-wave artist EKKSTACY, London-based quartet LOS BITCHOS, Nigerian-British indie-pop songwriter CONNIE CONSTANCE and Japanese punk group OTOBOKE BEAVER.

American author and chief executive of Future Today Amy Webb.

SXSW managing director Colin Daniels said he was confident the Sydney event would have no trouble replicating the original in the US.

Asked if K-Pop superstars BTS would attend, he said: “What I can guarantee you is that we will get the future BTS, whether that be K-pop, J-pop, artists and talent in creative industries from India or Indonesia.”

SXSW’s original US festival takes place next month between March 10 and March 19 at the Austin Convention Centre.