SXSW canceled over coronavirus fears
Kevin Bronson on
2
South by Southwest, the annual music, film and tech festival that draws tens of thousands to Austin every March, has been canceled over escalating fears about the spread of the recent new strain of coronavirus.
The festival announced this afternoon that the City of Austin had ordered the cancellation and that SXSW would “faithfully follow the City’s directions.” The news comes on the heels of the withdrawal of several artists, presenters and showcasing entities in the past few days.
The announcement on SXSW’s website page read:
“We are devastated to share this news with you. ‘The show must go on’ is in our DNA, and this is the first time in 34 years that the March event will not take place. We are now working through the ramifications of this unprecedented situation.
As recently as Wednesday, Austin Public Health stated that ‘there’s no evidence that closing SXSW or any other gatherings will make the community safer.’ However, this situation evolved rapidly, and we honor and respect the City of Austin’s decision. We are committed to do our part to help protect our staff, attendees and fellow Austinites.
We are exploring options to reschedule the event and are working to provide a virtual SXSW online experience as soon as possible for 2020 participants, starting with SXSW EDU. For our registrants, clients and participants we will be in touch as soon as possible and will publish an FAQ.
We understand the gravity of the situation for all the creatives who utilize SXSW to accelerate their careers; for the global businesses; and for Austin and the hundreds of small businesses – venues, theatres, vendors, production companies, service industry staff and other partners that rely so heavily on the increased business that SXSW attracts.
We will continue to work hard to bring you the unique events you love. Though it’s true that our March 2020 event will no longer take place in the way that we intended, we continue to strive toward our purpose – helping creative people achieve their goals.”
I wonder if other music festivals and concerts will end up being cancelled. Treefort Music Fest is in a few weeks and is still scheduled to go on. CRSSD is this weekend in San Diego, and is still scheduled to take place.
[…] South by Southwest Music Festival might have been canceled due to the spread of the coronavirus, but the folks at NPR have followed through with their due […]