South by South West (SXSW) – the Austin-based world-famous festival of tech, creativity and culture – is launching a new edition in London for 2025.
Originally located in Austin, Texas, the festival will see creatives coming together in their thousands to celebrate new ideas across the arts, culture, science and tech industries. It initially started as a music festival, more then 40 years ago, before expanding to include film, television, video games and technology.
The SXSW London expansion will be the third location for the event, which launched SXSW Sydney last year.
Previous speakers at the festival have included director Stephen Spielberg, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex and Barack Obama.
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Sadiq Khan, who has previously attended the festival in Austin, said the move was “a historic opportunity for London to once again bring the world’s most exciting talent together as part of our mission to build a better and more prosperous London for everyone”.
SXSW Europe managing director Randel Bryan told Reuters: “We’ll be calling into every single drop of London’s creativity in and its energy.”
“London has for generations punched way above its weight in its influence in the cultural and entertainment industries and so we really want to tap into that kind of rebellious, disruptive London attitude to bring something unique to SXSW.”
The event is also well-known for acting as a springboard for new and upcoming acts, while also attracting some of the biggest names in the business, with Amy Winehouse, Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish all past performers.
Bryan has confirmed there are plans to “bring a similar scale of artists and talent to London”.
The festival will not clash with the Cannes Lions marketing festival.
