When is South by Southwest 2023

South by Southwest is heading to Sydney in 2023, the first time the pop culture and “futurist” festival has branched outside the US since its launch in 1987.

SXSW Sydney will run from 15 to 22 October next year with 1,000 events, screenings and performances across the city, Destination NSW, the New South Wales government’s tourism and major events agency, announced on Thursday.

Details of the lineup and keynote speakers will be announced in the coming months.

Over three decades, the annual Texas festival has welcomed high-profile speakers spanning Hollywood, politics and technology, including Barack and Michelle Obama, Jordan Peele, Taika Waititi, Steven Spielberg, Lady Gaga, Prince, Melinda Gates, Elizabeth Warren and Snoop Dogg. It has also become a hub for film and television premieres, music, gaming, technology and podcasting.

The managing director of SXSW Sydney, Colin Daniels, said the new festival would “showcase the largest group of inspiring international thinkers, creators, innovators and performers ever seen in Sydney at one time” and focus on those working in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Sydney festival is being billed as “the official annual Asia-Pacific instalment of SXSW” but SXSW’s interactive director, Hugh Forrest told Variety that the Sydney event would also extend invitations to individuals from Silicon Valley and Hollywood.

The event producer for SXSW Sydney, Geoff Jones, described the festival as “the Olympics of events for the creator industries”.

“We are thrilled to bring this legendary festival of gaming, music, screen, tech and innovation to Sydney in 2023,” he said.

The state minister for tourism and sport, Stuart Ayres, said the festival would “provide significant benefits for the NSW visitor economy”.

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The Australian Recording Industry Association’s chief executive, Annabelle Herd, welcomed the news, calling it “a real opportunity for Australia to lead the global discussion in future trends, innovation and the value of the creative economy”.

She said it was “a genuine game-changer for Sydney’s cultural outlook, but it is also an exceptional moment for the Asia Pacific region, which has long deserved a conference of this scale”.

The next SXSW will take place in Austin in March.

What Is SXSW?

Every year in March since 1987, hundreds of thousands of people flock to the city of Austin, Texas to attend the South by Southwest festival (otherwise referred as SXSW or South By).

SXSW 2023 is 9 days long and has three main sections (not counting food). The three parts to SXSW is that there is a film festival (SXSW Film), a tech or "interactive" festival (SXSWi), and a music festival (SXSW Music Music).

When Is South by Southwest 2023?

South by Southwest 2023 starts March 10th, 2023 and ends March 19th, 2023.

Here's a great resource if you're wanting to know the real-time countdown to SXSW 2023.

What makes SXSW so different from other festivals is that not only is it multiple different festivals all in one, the unofficial and official SXSW events take place all over the entire city of Austin, Texas.

What Is The Official Way Of Attending SXSW?

If you’re wanting to officially be an attendee at SXSW 2023, you have to go register at SXSW.com and purchase one of the 5 available official SXSW badge types (see below).

Here's a video explaining the different types of SXSW badges that are available.

Official SXSW badges are priced higher than normal festivals.. but also remember that SXSW lasts 9 days.

The majority of official SXSW events require an official badge to attend.

The three main advantages of having an official SXSW badge are:

1.You get to skip the lines for official SXSW events.

2. There are events that only allow people who have official SXSW badges to attend.

3. You can hop to official SXSW event to official SXSW event because you get to skip the line. Meaning, you get to attend more events than someone who has to wait hours to enter each event.

If you're attending SXSW and are willing to wait in lines, you don't necesarily need a SXSW badge. 

Here’s what you need to know:

Many argue that the best events that take place during SXSW every year are unofficial SXSW showcases.

For example, these are all unofficial SXSW showcases:

What Is The Unofficial Way Of Attending SXSW?

Do you need an official badge to attend SXSW?

If you’re not wanting to spend several hundreds of dollars on a badge but are willing to wait in lines, you can still have a blast attending SXSW. 

How do you do SXSW without a badge?

There are plenty of unofficial SXSW events and showcases that go on throughout the week that you don't need an official badge to attend. The only downside about unofficial SXSW events is that they are hard to find if you don't know what you're doing. Lucky for you, we have you covered. 

1. Be sure to RSVP to all of the unofficial SXSW showcases that are announced throughout the month of February and right before the festival.

You want to RSVP as soon as you can because a lot of these showcases only take a certain number of RSVPs until they close the event to the public.

Head on over to our unofficial SXSW 2023 RSVP SHOWCASES AND PARTIES LIST to start RSVPing to unofficial showcases.

We update our master list of unofficial SXSW 2023 RSVPs dailyso be sure to bookmark the page.

Important note:

Even if you have an official badge, you still need to RSVP to unofficial showcases most of the time. Unfortunately, it’s highly advised you RSVP to everything just to be safe.

2. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram (@RSVPATX) throughout the festival.

We’ll keep you up to date on the latest events that have been released, how to RSVP to them, and important breaking news that you know know (without clogging up your timeline with spammy posts you don’t care about).

There are surprise pop-up shows and events throughout the festival, brands giving out free food, free drinks, free gear, and numerous big named celebrities hosting surprise events.

If you're not on Twitter before and during SXSW, you will definitely miss out.

Here are the best Twitter accounts to follow during SXSW 2023:

• @RSVPATX

• @ATXUpdates

• @TechSighting

• @SXSW (official account, not associated with @RSVPATX)

3. If you have a band or artist that you really want to see, you need to get to the event early.

What makes SXSW so incredible is that huge artists perform throughout the festival and you don't always need a badge to get in and see them.

However, the venues fill up fast and if you get to a venue that is hosting a big named artist hours before they come on, you most likely won't get in.

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