South by Southwest Lays Off 23 Employees

Festival plans “new vision” for growing event

By Carys Anderson, 1:25PM, Fri. Jun. 28, 2024

South by Southwest attendees at the Austin Convention Center in 2023 (Photo by Jana Birchum)

South by Southwest laid off 23 employees Wednesday, the festival confirmed to the Chronicle.

SXSW Co-President and Chief Programming Officer Hugh Forrest declined to share what departments were affected in the layoffs, but provided the following statement:

“Organizational changes are profoundly impactful at any level, and especially for a small business like ours where we’ve had to say farewell to incredible team members who have dedicated their hearts and hard work.

“We are looking forward with a new vision, not just for SXSW as an event in Austin, TX but as a three-stop tour for global professionals with events in Sydney and London. We are also preparing new efforts to position the business as a year-round destination for insights about the future of culture, education, and technology via new roles focused on content and user experience.

“We will continue to center our efforts on SXSW’s purpose of helping creative people achieve their goals.”

Roland Swenson, Louis Jay Meyers, Louis Black, and Nick Barbaro launched South by Southwest in 1987 as a regional music showcase. Since then, the festival has become an industry meetup for rising and established musicians, filmmakers, and tech innovators from across the globe. The festival launched a Sydney, Australia, version of the event in October 2023 and announced a UK run, set for June 2025, earlier this year.

In 2020, the festival laid off around 50 people, about one-third of its staff at the time, following the event’s cancellation at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rolling Stone holders Penske Media Corporation acquired a 50% stake in SXSW in 2021.

Earlier this week, following widespread protests over the U.S. Army’s sponsorship of SXSW 2024, the festival announced that it would not invite the military – or defense contractors, which also appeared at the festival – to sponsor the event in 2025.

Editor’s note: SXSW co-founder and part owner Nick Barbaro also co-founded and owns The Austin Chronicle.

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