SXSW 2020 Canceled Due to Coronavirus Concerns

[MacRumors]

South by Southwest (SXSW), a major annual event that features film festivals, interactive media, music festivals, and conferences, has been canceled, the city of Austin announced today. SXSW was set to take place from March 13 to March 22.

Austin has declared a health emergency, and SXSW has been canceled on the advice of local health experts who have warned that it could cause COVID-19 to spread.

SXSW event organizers say they're exploring options to reschedule and are working to provide a virtual SXSW experience for 2020 participants.

The City of Austin has cancelled the March dates for SXSW and SXSW EDU. SXSW will faithfully follow the City's directions.

We are devastated to share this news with you. "The show must go on" is in our DNA, and this is the first time in 34 years that the March event will not take place. We are now working through the ramifications of this unprecedented situation.

As recently as Wednesday, Austin Public Health stated that "there's no evidence that closing SXSW or any other gatherings will make the community safer." However, this situation evolved rapidly, and we honor and respect the City of Austin's decision. We are committed to do our part to help protect our staff, attendees, and fellow Austinites.

We are exploring options to reschedule the event and are working to provide a virtual SXSW online experience as soon as possible for 2020 participants, starting with SXSW EDU. For our registrants, clients, and participants we will be in touch as soon as possible and will publish an FAQ.

SXSW typically draws well over 70,000 people from around the world, and up until today, the organizers had planned to keep the event going despite multiple companies pulling out.

Apple was planning to debut new Apple TV+ content at SXSW, but earlier this week said that it would no longer attend. Other companies that include Amazon Studios, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Panasonic, SAP, HBO, and Intel had all declined to attend because of COVID-19 fears.

Article Link: SXSW 2020 Canceled Due to Coronavirus Concerns

 

[thadoggfather]

Color me both surprised and not surprised at the same time.

the city held out and doubled down for a very long while before doing this. on a week's notice no less

 

[arn]

yeah... super last minute notice, but it's hard to imagine them proceeding with all the companies canceling and the general sentiment about coronavirus. Massive international conference just isn't a good idea right now.

 

[CarlJ]

This is a good thing. (I mean, it's all bad/unfortunate, but this is the correct thing for them to do.) It seemed like they were trying pretty hard to hold out.

 

[cardfan]

Well that stinks. Wait why do I care about this again?

 

[arn]

This is a good thing. (I mean, it's all bad/unfortunate, but this is the correct thing for them to do.) It seemed like they were trying pretty hard to hold out.

This article suggests that it was because they needed it to be canceled by Austin for insurance reason s. They couldn't cancel without losing a lot... and conferences do run on small margins

Why Isn’t SXSW Canceled Yet? It May Come Down to Insurance and the City

Music industry experts discuss whether the cancellation of the Ultra Festival is a bellwether for South by Southwest and Coachella.

variety.com

But he understands the hesitance to cancel — because even if most major promoters probably spent extra to have communicable disease provisions in their cancellation insurance, it wouldn’t likely kick in if they made a unilateral decision to cancel without the city forcing their hand to do so.

 

[DotCom2]

Shame, but I think it's the right thing to do. I feel that Apple is probably going to cancel WWDC as well. I would be surprised if they didn't. This thing isn't even going to START to get over until well into the summer I am afraid.

 

[R3k]

I understand this is more of a music festival than a film, interactive media and technology festival. A music festival with extra stuff if you will. Article does not paint this picture imo.

 

[thadoggfather]

Shame, but I think it's the right thing to do. I feel that Apple is probably going to cancel WWDC as well. I would be surprised if they didn't. This thing isn't even going to START to get over until well into the summer I am afraid.

Gotta wonder how Apple will handle that. Because the show must go on, of a roadmap for future Apple software and including developers in the loop.

Maybe it will just be virtual? The collaboration aspect in real life cant be replicated, but they have to be wondering how they will proceed, without cancelling 10.16 and iOS 14

 

[arn]

I understand this is more of a music festival than a film, interactive media and technology festival. A music festival with extra stuff if you will. Article does not paint this picture imo.

It's a bit of everything now. It started as a music festival, but it's very much all of the above now. It runs full conferences for Film and Interactive as well as Music.

Edit: music is that green line at the bottom

 

[w5jck]

The right thing to do. When I lived in Austin I always hated SXSW because it screwed up traffic and entertainment for about three weeks and benefited myself and most Austinites ZERO percent. Now the bigger question is whether Japan cancels the Tokyo Olympics. They should...but they have a lot more invested than Austin does in a relatively small annual conference like SXSW. They could perhaps move it by a year though.

 

[DotCom2]

Gotta wonder how Apple will handle that. Because the show must go on, of a roadmap for future Apple software and including developers in the loop.

Maybe it will just be virtual? The collaboration aspect in real life cant be replicated, but they have to be wondering how they will proceed, without cancelling 10.16 and iOS 14

Yep, I think it will be virtual. I'm sure Apple has always had a "Plan B" for just this sort of problem and if not, they should have. Let's just hope for the best and plan for the worst as they say.

 

[justperry]

Don't think it will help, cov19 seems to be extremely contagious, lots of people infected without them (or others) knowing they are infected, the problem is that some people get seriously ill or even die while the majority have mild symptoms, if we all had the same symptoms it would be much easier to diagnose.

 

[DTphonehome]

WWDC is gonna be next. Actually a good opportunity for Apple to demonstrate their streaming prowess by doing a remote conference.

 

[unobtainium]

Color me both surprised and not surprised at the same time.

the city held out and doubled down for a very long while before doing this. on a week's notice no less

Nobody wants to be the epicenter of an outbreak. Feel bad for them and everyone who is going to lose tons of money over the next few months. (and of course anyone who actually gets sick, which will hopefully be a small number)

 

[smithrh]

Nephrologist in da haus!

 

[Kierkegaarden]

It was inevitable. Austin residents are rejoicing.

WWDC could be moved a few months, and the iPhone event could be moved to end of Oct/beginning of Nov.

 

[macmyworld]

Getting out of hand. Are we all going to live in a bunker for the next 4 months? Austin has a state of emergency even though they have no cases. What happens when they have actually disease there? Armageddon?

 

[Professor Rucy]

I’m not understanding why all of these communities are boarding up their events to prevent the spread of sickness and disease yet ignore the obvious, vile areas with needles/feces nd people blindly still go about their business.

 

[nostaws]

A weeks notice? How about 3 days?

SXSW EDU starts Monday the 9th. Scrambling to cancel my Sunday flight.

I am concerned about covid19, but not so concerned that I was going bail on SXSW.

Color me both surprised and not surprised at the same time.

the city held out and doubled down for a very long while before doing this. on a week's notice no less

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[jayducharme]

This thing isn't even going to START to get over until well into the summer I am afraid.

Yet there are already people theorizing that come the fall, the virus will ramp back up even worse than now. We've got a ways to go before we're in the clear. And if this virus becomes a strain that sticks around every year, who knows what toll it will take?

 

[apps1991]

The small businesses of Austin will definitely appreciate Virtual SXSW

 

[azentropy]

I'm going to the BNP Paribas Open Tennis tournament next week (In Palm Springs CA area) and just got an email saying they are giving refunds for people who request them and also the list of precautions they are taking. This is one of the largest attended tennis tournaments in the world (typically only behind the 4 majors) drawing over 450,000 over the two weeks by people from all over the world. It is going to be interesting to see how much the attendance drops off.

 

[gugy]

Man, sorry for sounding like a black cloud but I think this is only going to get worse. Maybe around Summer things will get better but the next 3 months this is going to be an huge issue. The Olympics might be the next casualty. Right now having large crowds of people together is a bad idea.

 

[outskirtsofinfinity]

The right thing to do. When I lived in Austin I always hated SXSW because it screwed up traffic and entertainment for about three weeks and benefited myself and most Austinites ZERO percent. Now the bigger question is whether Japan cancels the Tokyo Olympics. They should...but they have a lot more invested than Austin does in a relatively small annual conference like SXSW. They could perhaps move it by a year though.

My film played at SxSW in 2013 and it was a lot of fun. Your Main Street (6th?) was a riot. But, yeah, I guess we screwed up traffic -- sorry about that. I worked on another film that's been pre selected for Cannes this year. Which I suspect will be cancelled too. Weird times...