Austin Traditions: South by Southwest
As no stranger to live music and festivals, Austin has earned its recognition as one of the top places to catch a live show in the country. South by Southwest (SXSW) is one of the two huge music festivals that take place in Austin each year. While Austin City Limits, or ACL, exclusively handles music, SXSW has expanded into a set of interactive, film, and music festivals and conferences.While ACL takes place in the fall, SXSW tries to capitalize on the traditionally beautiful weather of March in Austin. The festival started as the Austin Battle of the Bands and began calling itself SXSW in 1987. The festival centers on the Austin Convention Center, located downtown, with each of the branches of the festival running somewhat independently and having different start and end dates.
The music portion of the festival alone draws a huge number of performers to the city. Typically, more than 1,400 performers play dozens of venues around Austin over the length of the festival. While it is an industry-based event, SXSW Music ties itself to local events like the Austin Music Awards.
Other events, including Austin City Limits (ACL), contribute a lot to the Austin economy, but South by Southwest takes the cake. It is estimated that it had an economic impact of a minimum of $110 million in 2008 alone.
After starting out as a strictly music event, South by Southwest added film and interactive conferences in 1994. SXSW Film has become a huge film festival. It focuses on new directing talent. Each year, seasoned and rookie directors hold lectures in conjunction with the screening of their movies. In similar fashion, SXSW Interactive has attracted web creators and entrepreneurs.
