SXSW (South by South West) returns for its 10-day pop-culture festival that covers everything from film to music to Interactive. The festival based out of indie-town Austin, Texas is a breeding ground for innovative companies and creative individuals to converge. The festival starts on March 8 and goes till March 17.
"In the world of start-ups, SXSW is pretty crucial to attend. It's like if you're not there, you're not on the map," said Lori Cheek to MSN who attending SXSW to launch a smart phone app for her online flirting service Cheekd.com.
The event is separated into "Interactive," Film" and "Music." March8-12 is dedicated to Interactive. "SXSW's original goal was to create an event that would act as a tool for creative people and the companies they work with to develop their careers, to bring together people from a wide area to meet and share ideas," says SXSW's website. "That continues to be the goal today whether it is music, film or the Internet. And Austin continues to be the perfect location."
SXSW is an important event for creatives to attend. MSN reported that three years ago the app called "Siri" won the Aceelerator award for innovative web technology before Apple got on board with Siri.
"The crossbreeding of ideas and personalities at SXSW is an extraordinary opportunity to enhance one's thinking as well as one's social network," Steven Lowe, founder and CEO of Innovator said to MSN.
A film festival is also a big part of SXSW and is focused on March 8-16th. Much of this year's program embraces love and the need, search (and) desire for connection," said SXSW Film director Janet Pierson to MSN. "We're lucky to have a plethora of hugely entertaining and audience-pleasing films."
The festival includes almost 250 films which includes shorts and documentaries. Check out the schedule here.
"SXSW Film Conference & Festival champions the vitality, innovation and opportunity that drives the entertainment and media landscape, and boldly tackles the evolution of all aspects of "film" today, down to its very definition," says SXSW's website.
The music festival starts from March 12-17 and this years shows are chock-full of amazing acts. Past acts have included the likes of Duran Duran, The Black Keys, The Flaming Lips and MGMT. This year includes Tegan and Sarah, Cold War Kids and more. See the full lineup here.
The first SXSW Music Conference and Festival was held in 1987. "Austin's eclectic music scene goes back to early in the city's history (from Mexican, German and colonial origins) and encompasses a wide variety of music including country, folk, jazz, blues and rock," said SXSW's website. "Central Austin boasts more original music nightclubs in a concentrated area than any other city in the world."
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