Your Guide to SXSW 2026

It’s SXSW — and downtown Austin has been transformed like never before, with programming even more spread out than usual due to the lack of a convention center. So, what will SXSW’s 40th year look like? Will running the innovation, music, film and TV, and comedy festivals simultaneously be a chaotic mess?  How can Austinites get involved without breaking the bank? And is SXSW ready for the crowds (they’re expecting about the same as last year, when 200,000 people attended, down from a 2018 peak of 432,500) just weeks after the mass shooting on West Sixth Street? Executive Producer Eva Ruth Moravec sits down with Alex Casolaro, the director of credentialed sales for SXSW; and Wesley Lucas, the director of communications for Visit Austin, to find out. Plus, will SXSW go back to the convention center once the new one is built? Casolaro and Lucas say yes, while another company official hinted otherwise to Texas Monthly. 

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