South By Southwest

South by Southwest (SXSW) is a set of film, interactive, and music festivals and conferences that take place every spring (usually in March) in Austin, Texas, United States. SXSW began in 1987, and has continued to grow in size every year. In 2011, the conference lasted for 10 days, with SXSW Interactive lasting for five, Music for six, and Film running concurrently for nine days.

South by Southwest is run by a company, called SXSW Inc., that plans and executes conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. In addition to the three main South by Southwest festivals, the company runs two other conferences, both also in Austin: SXSWedu, a conference on educational innovation, and SXSW Eco, an environmental conference, both since 2011.