SXSW Sydney, the APAC version of the Texas festival, announced it will not continue in 2026, closing after three years when the NSW government decided to pull the pin on its five year investment plan.
Organisers cited “prevailing market conditions” and a challenging global events environment as its main downfall but the event had previously faced scrutiny over ticket prices, speaker quality and logisitcs.
Industry reactions to its demise have varied from sorrow to nonchalance and some critics saying the festival was a waste of money. B&T has rounded up a selection of industry views.
Adam Ferrier, founder, Thinkerbell
A complete waste of money and creative opportunity. Imagine if the money had been invested into something artistically or creatively meaningful.
Con Raso, managing director and founder, Tuned Global
It’s disappointing to see SXSW Sydney not continue, because what it really provided was a rare global meeting point on Australian soil. As an international music tech company born in Melbourne, it allowed us to have meaningful conversations at home with people from around the world — particularly across Asia — rather than always needing to go offshore.”
In 2025, we were on stage discussing how music technology is being used in health, including how AI can help make music-based therapies more accessible and scalable. In 2023, we were part of discussions with Warner Music Group focused on innovation in music technology more broadly. In both cases, the audience engagement was strong — rooms were full, people were lining up to get in, and the conversations carried well beyond the stage.
Looking ahead, we’ll continue to engage with SXSW in Austin. In March, we’ll be on stage with SoundCloud and Audiomack discussing the future of streaming in a superfan era — the kind of global, forward-looking conversation we would have loved to host in Australia. The local music industry, and Australian artists in particular, deserve access to these discussions with major platforms and brands on home ground, not just overseas. We look forward to continuing to be part of that conversation.
Geoff Main, marketing director and founder, Passionberry Marketing
What’s most concerning about SXSW Sydney being axed isn’t just the loss of one event, but the loss of momentum for bringing creative and innovation communities together at scale. Those moments matter for collaboration, talent and attracting global attention.
The opportunity now is to ensure future investment – from brands, partners and public programs – continues to flow into these same communities, supporting platforms that build long-term capability & economic revenue, not just one-off moments.
Jessy Wu, managing director, Encour
I’ve been a vocal critic of SXSW Sydney, which today announced it would not be returning in 2026.
This comes after state and local governments paid over $12 million to bring the conference to Sydney, in franchise fees paid to the company that owns the SXSW brand, plus grants and in-kind sponsorship from the City of Sydney.
I’ll make no secret of the fact I’m glad to see the back of SXSW Sydney. To me, it was a scourge that hoovered up government funding, sponsorship, attention from corporates, and L&D budgets… all while delivering a conference that was, frankly, quite lackluster.
Over the years, there were numerous complaints about attendees not being able to get into sessions, venues spread so far apart it was impossible to scoot between them, and sterile panels where no one said anything particularly novel or provocative.
SXSW Sydney was, in my view, a classic example of rent-seeking. The conference took millions in public funding earmarked for driving tourism and innovation, and optimised for extracting value from a community they didn’t build.
They leveraged the fact that their brand had social cachet and promptly started charging people ~$2,000 in ticket fees for access to their own community, all while relying heavily on unpaid labor from that same community. And then, they had the gall to aggressively demand $5,000 in ‘affiliate fees’ from local organisations who wanted to run events during SXSW week.
“That’s not creating something of value. It’s erecting a barrier between people and things they already want to do together and collecting the toll.
Brendan Furdek, business director, TBA Group Australia
Over its three-year run, SXSW Sydney injected fresh energy, global perspective, and real economic impact into the local creative and innovation community, and its ending shouldn’t overlook this legacy.
Its conclusion is a reminder that major events need to evolve. In a world of digital noise, the brands that stand out are those investing in live, culturally relevant experiences that create real emotion and connection. The future of events isn’t necessarily the largest production; it’s deeper integration with culture.
Ben van Rooy, CEO, Human Digital
The decision is disappointing, though not entirely unexpected. Events of SXSW’s scale demand long-term commitment, funding and patience. That said, SXSW Sydney was clearly gaining momentum. I attended twice, most recently as a speaker, and the calibre of thinking, contributors and international relevance was improving year on year. From an industry perspective, it felt like an event still in its growth phase, not one in decline”.
SXSW Sydney will be missed. It filled a critical gap by offering a genuinely global platform for strategic thinking. The void it leaves is significant. In 2026, I expect the industry will fragment further, with senior marketers travelling offshore to Austin for inspiration while the local event circuit shifts towards smaller, niche formats. This creates an opportunity for a new event to emerge, but what’s been lost in the meantime is a rare, shared moment for collective industry thinking.
Alex Hayes, principal, Clear Hayes
As a self-confessed SXSW addict – I’ve been to 13 different iterations across the world. So I’m genuinely gutted to see SXSW Sydney cancelled, it leaves a massive hole for many people. But sadly I am not all that surprised.
SXSW Sydney brought something completely different and fresh to the event scene in Australia – a festival that spanned a real breadth of important and interesting ideas and brought people from many different walks of life together.
It wasn’t perfect, no event at this scale ever could be – but the surprisingly small core team did a great job of listening and evolving year on year. It definitely felt like it had built momentum with attendees and created its own centre of gravity.
Unfortunately the tough economic climate and short-term event market meant the commercial realities for owners TEG and Penske would always decide its future, not the good will of the punters. It’s a shame it couldn’t get one more year, but someone needed to take the risk to cover those costs and unfortunately it seems that wasn’t forthcoming.
We got involved as a last-minute decision in year one and created Clear Hayes House as a house of brands for partners who wanted to get involved. We evolved the House over the three years as a hub for the marketing/media/advertising community at the event and we welcomed more than 10,000 people through the door over that time. It gave me a front-row seat to the evolution of SXSW Sydney and how people’s expectations and attitudes changed over that time.
I’m immensely proud of what our small but mighty team were able to put on at the venue – for the countless conversations sparked, laughs shared and beers and gyozas consumed. It definitely had a positive impact for us and many of our partners in terms of business growth, which is what it is all about. I think we proved that showing up and giving people a great experience still counts for an awful lot, and if a business of five people can do what we did, what’s holding so many others back?
RIP SXSW Sydney – you will be missed by many.
May Samali, founder and CEO, Human Leadership Lab
I’m not surprised SXSW is withdrawing from Australia. Destination NSW’s multi-million-dollar investment imported a global brand, only to deliver high ticket prices and a corporate-heavy model that priced out many founders, creatives, and early-stage operators, while pulling oxygen away from local, community-led events. The opportunity now is to redirect that public funding into Australian-led festivals, conferences, and founder programs that are affordable, community-driven, and designed to strengthen the ecosystem year-round, not just for one week.
