Earlier this year, the South by Southwest festival (SXSW) was canceled due to health concerns from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. However, the organizers behind the event have announced that SXSW will return as a new digital experience in 2021.
SXSW was one of many physical conventions, festivals, and other gatherings like TwitchCon to be canceled or delayed due to the pandemic. The festival is normally held in the city of Austin, Texas opening a space where creatives in different fields can meet, network and share their work. It will be reformatted into SXSW Online between March 16 and 20, 2021 as organizers work to get things back on track.
The event will be similar to other digital conversions like Tokyo Comic Con, and is going to be divided between two different sessions: SXSW Online and SXSW EDU Online. The first will primarily be covering staple activities for film and music festivals, as well as hosting several panels for discussions. The EDU Online session will center around promoting discussions between learners and entrepreneurs across the fields of education, and furthering connections amongst a community of creatives.
South by Southwest will be accepting submissions and proposals for both sessions starting Tuesday, October 6. Since the event was canceled in March, organizers are working to get the previous presenters and artists back on board for the newly online festival. However, among other things left to be reorganized, there’s no word on the SXSW Gaming Expo in yesterday’s announcement post.
Previously, South by Southwest’s Gaming Expo has hosted a gaming award show as part of its Interactive branch, during which titles competed for Game of the Year recognition among other awards. The SXSW Gaming Expo even had major figures from gaming industry veterans show up, some of whom like Reggie Fils-Aime were planning to make an appearance this year. With COVID-19 forcing the festival to close, SXSW had to make many changes to their plans, which included canceling these appearances and announcing the gaming award winners online.
It is possible the organizers could do the same for SXSW Online by streaming the gaming awards, having a panel dedicated to gaming, or any number of other options. South by Southwest is not the only festival forced to change its plans with the current state of the world, but the organizers are adapting accordingly and will hopefully be able to proceed more smoothly into next year with SXSW Online.
Source: SXSW
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