2008 Woodie Awards
The instant culture of South by Southwest
By: Renata Limon
Issue date: 3/31/06 Section: The Arts
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When I describe my hometown of Austin, Texas to Minnesotans, I usually toss in the word “oasis” as quickly as possible. By this I mean that Austin is an oasis of culture in what is otherwise a barren wasteland, with the exception of a few rural spots that are funny in an ironic way. So I was excited this Spring Break to finally be bringing friends home with me. And not for just any spring week in Austin, but for a week that is known for being saturated with music, art, good-looking people and similar phenomena that people are usually reluctant to imagine existing in Texas.
South by Southwest, a week-long international music and film festival, has taken place in Austin annually since 1987. While I've been in the city ever since the festival's inception, this was the first time I actually paid for festival passes and planned on being downtown every night. By the end of the week, however, I was dreaming longingly of happy hour in a broken down Lockhart Pool Hall where the cowboy hats were covered not in satin but in dust and the belt buckles hadn't been bought for thirty dollars at a kitschy thrift store. I left the festival feeling fairly disgusted, and I now see South by Southwest as evidence of an urban environment where individuals are encouraged to exist as if the world were a giant amusement park, department store and reality show all rolled into one.
Whereas Austin was once known for its unique local music scene, which produced such music legends as Janis Joplin, Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators and Daniel Johnston, it now seems to be best know internationally for SXSW. It seems we have traded an urban community that fosters unique local talent for the financial rewards of catering to the music industry. While it has always commodified music and art, SXSW at least used to serve as a way for new musical acts to find an audience. This kind of opportunity has almost entirely vanished and it is now supposedly extremely difficult for unknown acts to gain exposure at the festival. Instead, the chief aim of the festival is to capitalize off of a roving trans-metropolitan crowd of young people wealthy enough to fly out to Austin for a week and cough up anywhere from $200-500 for festival passes. (And that isn't counting the cost of a week's worth of over-priced cocktails.) The official South by Southwest website estimates that revenues at music venues, bars and restaraunts increase roughly 45 percent during SXSW week and 16,490 rooms a week are booked at local hotels. As a native, I have an interest in seeing the city of Austin make money, but am also worried that we are selling-out our unique local culture and investing in fleeting tourist attractions for the sake of financial gain. It's like the city has dropped out of school, stopped painting and started bartending and dealing coke because it enjoys the immediate financial success and glamorous lifestyle. But are we really investing in things that will pay off in the future?
South by Southwest, a week-long international music and film festival, has taken place in Austin annually since 1987. While I've been in the city ever since the festival's inception, this was the first time I actually paid for festival passes and planned on being downtown every night. By the end of the week, however, I was dreaming longingly of happy hour in a broken down Lockhart Pool Hall where the cowboy hats were covered not in satin but in dust and the belt buckles hadn't been bought for thirty dollars at a kitschy thrift store. I left the festival feeling fairly disgusted, and I now see South by Southwest as evidence of an urban environment where individuals are encouraged to exist as if the world were a giant amusement park, department store and reality show all rolled into one.
Whereas Austin was once known for its unique local music scene, which produced such music legends as Janis Joplin, Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators and Daniel Johnston, it now seems to be best know internationally for SXSW. It seems we have traded an urban community that fosters unique local talent for the financial rewards of catering to the music industry. While it has always commodified music and art, SXSW at least used to serve as a way for new musical acts to find an audience. This kind of opportunity has almost entirely vanished and it is now supposedly extremely difficult for unknown acts to gain exposure at the festival. Instead, the chief aim of the festival is to capitalize off of a roving trans-metropolitan crowd of young people wealthy enough to fly out to Austin for a week and cough up anywhere from $200-500 for festival passes. (And that isn't counting the cost of a week's worth of over-priced cocktails.) The official South by Southwest website estimates that revenues at music venues, bars and restaraunts increase roughly 45 percent during SXSW week and 16,490 rooms a week are booked at local hotels. As a native, I have an interest in seeing the city of Austin make money, but am also worried that we are selling-out our unique local culture and investing in fleeting tourist attractions for the sake of financial gain. It's like the city has dropped out of school, stopped painting and started bartending and dealing coke because it enjoys the immediate financial success and glamorous lifestyle. But are we really investing in things that will pay off in the future?
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