SXSW London Announces First Year Programme Dates

South by Southwest (SXSW) London (info here) has announced that its inaugural festival will take place from June 2nd to 7th, 2025, in the heart of East London’s creative industries, Shoreditch. SXSW London is the first European edition of the iconic SXSW, a global platform to celebrate the convergence of creativity, culture, and innovation. SXSW London builds on the decades of success of the global festival in Austin, Texas, and now in Sydney, Australia.

According to newly released Nielsen data, SXSW London is expected to attract over 20,000 attendees to its distinctive cross-cultural and tech programming, generating over £75 million in direct economic benefits. Organizers expect this figure to increase as additional programmes for community and industry engagement are developed.

Aiming to put the community at its heart, SXSW London will feature initiatives for workforce development, including partnerships with independent and community-led venues throughout the festival’s Shoreditch campus. Organizers also plan to increase the festival’s impact further by offering a skills development programme beyond the festival dates, creating a long-lasting legacy and pathway for young people into creative industries.

These initiatives will be featured alongside the range of marquee tech, music, and screen programming that attendees have come to expect from SXSW. An increased focus on arts and culture programming will also bring a distinct flavour to the London event relative to the Austin and Sydney editions.

There will also be an opportunity for the SXSW London community to have a significant voice in programming conference activities. Artists thought leaders and industry professionals would be encouraged to submit their ideas and work for consideration for the SXSW programming team via a platform to be launched in the autumn. Leveraged in both Austin and Sydney, this approach is critical to SXSW’s mission to showcase grassroots artists and thought leaders, and will shape the foundation for part of SXSW London’s inaugural year.

The festival also continues to build out its senior team with the announcement of additional new hires. Clare Morris, former Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity marketing lead, will join SXSW London in September as Director of Marketing and Communications. Her experience as a marketing strategist across global brands in media, entertainment, events and consumer products at Universal Pictures, ITV Studios and Samsung make her an invaluable addition to SXSW London.

Anna Bogutskaya joins as Head of Screen and brings a wealth of programming and production experience from the film industry, having worked with the BFI, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, El Deseo, and Underwire Festival, among many others. During her role at the BFI, Anna oversaw events and programming and curated many seasons as well as led the creation of the Woman With A Movie Camera Summit.

Beth Greenacre joins as Visual Arts Advisor, bringing vast experience navigating the art world with private and corporate collectors, commercial and non-for-profit organisations. From early in her career until his death, Beth was curator of the David Bowie collection and with the artist co-curated numerous exhibitions including Sound and Vision as part of Bowie’s Meltdown at the Royal Festival Hall in 2002, Bloc at County Hall, 2005 and The Window Pane Project at Tower Records, Piccadilly.

Randel Bryan, SXSW London’s Managing Director said:

“A shorter date format relative to SXSW in Austin will allow SXSW London to run its conference, music, screen and arts programmes at the same time, ensuring accessibility to multiple programming formats and diverse networking opportunities for attendees from different industries. Bringing SXSW to the streets of Shoreditch will allow us to create a festival like no other, one that unfolds across incredible indoor spaces whilst also showcasing creativity and artistic experiences in unique public spaces, allowing us to capture the energy and excitement of the summer.”

Clare Morris, Director of Marketing and Communications at SXSW London, said:

“SXSW London is dream job territory for me and I am truly excited to join this talented team and bring this culture-defining brand to Europe.”

Anna Bogutskaya, Head of Screen at SXSW London, said:

“Having made London my home, I’m so excited to be a part of bringing the SXSW energy to the city. SXSW London is going to be the biggest creative playground in Europe for filmmakers, musicians, artists and creatives. I’m beyond grateful to be a part of the stellar team shaping the festival and to be given the opportunity to curate films, series and conversations.”

Beth Greenacre, Visual Arts Advisor at SXSW London, said:

“With a deep-rooted interest in the convergence of visual art and music, I’m thrilled to be joining SXSW London as Visual Arts Advisor and working with the team to showcase artists who embrace connections between sound and visual art, and who explore the opportunities that technological innovation has afforded their practices.”