Much has been made about South by Southwest’s future this year as attendees experience the 2026 fest without a convention center.
Organizers have had to officially state that no, the festival is not ending; and yes, they’ll be back next year. Many publications, including this one, wondered what on earth SXSW would look like without a central hub. But SXSW without a convention center has been, well, fine.
The building was demolished last year and a new, revamped convention center is expected to open in 2029. To make up for the loss, SXSW introduced clubhouses for each track of the festival as if to say, “Here’s three little convention centers where you can gather.” The Film and TV clubhouse is located across the street from Paramount Theatre, for example, and attendees can pop in and out of the spaces.
Badge pickup is spread out this year, too, at different hotels around downtown. This only made my Day One trek easier — I grabbed my badge right around the corner from the movie line I needed to be in.
Where smaller panels and other events are held isn’t all that different from previous festivals, but bigger keynote talks, like this year’s with Steven Spielberg, have been moved to hotel ballrooms instead of the convention center’s biggest rooms.
A friend volunteering for the festival this year told me some attendees were confused about what to do in between sessions, asking where the expo center and Flatstock were located while picking up their badges. And while those two events, which usually occupied huge spaces on the first floor of the convention center, have been moved to two separate hotels, it’s only good that more people are getting pushed out into our city.
Take the festival’s block party — Congress Avenue is closed to traffic between West 10th Street and West Seventh Street through Thursday at 11 a.m. The party includes free drinks, snacks, and swag, and offers itself up as a great meeting point or hanging around point like the convention center used to. It should have always been part of SXSW. Being in the center of Austin is fun, too.
Many have wondered how the festival’s tendency for stumbling upon something cool would fare in this brave new world of clubhouses and no convention centers. But I don’t think that tendency was born out of having one space for congregating. That’s all Austin.
Spreading the festival throughout the city feels like SXSW is becoming the event that matches its growing city. Of course, more streets should be closed off. Of course, a free shuttle for attendees should exist! And absolutely, it should take over more space downtown.
SXSW’s survival is not dependent on a convention center. Instead, look at the years following the pandemic. Sponsors changed, topics shifted, and attendance dropped. The festival, much like the city it inhabits, is more tech-focused these days. Whether it continues for another 40 years is up to the festival itself and the programming provided, not some building.
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