South by Southwest is getting a revamp for the festival’s 40th anniversary.
For the first time ever, SXSW — held March 12-18, 2026 in Austin, TX — will feature all of its programming running simultaneously across innovation, film & TV, and music for seven days, including an extra night of music.
“At South by Southwest, a big part of our mission to focus on community and connection and bringing everyone together,” Greg Rosenbaum, SXSW’s SVP of programming, tells Variety about the way dates for this year’s festival aligned.
“We’ve historically had innovation on the front half and then music on the back half, and film and TV over the course of a nine-day festival. That’s a long run,” Rosenbaum explains. “We know that if we can consolidate that energy into seven days in the downtown area of Austin, Texas, that will really bring a lot of different communities together.”
The footprint for the 2026 festival will be physically expanded, too. The Austin Convention Center has been home to SXSW for many years, but with the venue undergoing a full renovation, the team was inspired to reimagine the logistics for the event. As a result, SXSW will take over downtown Austin, transforming the area into a “creative village for global creatives” anchored by three dedicated Clubhouses for each slate of programming: the Innovation Clubhouse (Brazos Hall), the Film & TV Clubhouse (800 Congress), and the Music Clubhouse (The Downright).
SXSW also announced the first wave of featured sessions, with more than 50 conference sessions, and newly refined tracks spanning Brand & Marketing, Cities & Climate, Creator Economy, Culture, Design, Film & TV, Health, Music, Startups, Sports & Gaming, Tech & AI, and Workplace. The sessions include:
Badges are now on sale for this year’s event, and for the first time, badgeholders can secure daily reservations for the high-demand sessions, screenings and showcases. The Platinum badge affords attendees access to all three clubhouses as well as three daily event reservations. Meanwhile, the Innovation, Film & TV, and Music badges each include access to their dedicated clubhouse and two daily reservations.
“We’re excited to introduce a new reservation system that allows attendees to really be thoughtful in their approach,” Rosenbaum says. “Part of the magic of South by is both those planned experiences that you know are going to be central to your time in Austin and the serendipity of discovery while you’re on site. This opportunity allows people, across all of our badge types, to plan ahead and then have the flexibility to discover while they’re at the event.”
The new reservation system is an upgrade to the previous program, South by Express, which allowed attendees to save their seats 24-48 hours in advance. The new system will allow guests to secure reservations as much as three to four weeks ahead of the festival.
Rosenbaum adds: “This allows people to make those plans before they’re ever on the plane on their way to Austin.”