The South by Southwest Music and Media Conference was expected to attract a record number of attendees in 2010 and while some Austinites welcomed the events into the Live Music Capital of the World, others found the influx of people to be an impediment to their daily routine.
The SXSW events from March 12 to March 21 invited tens of thousands of people, both performers and spectators, into the city. The music portion alone brought in nearly 2,000 showcasing acts across 88 stages with over 11,000 conference participants in 2009. Though the number of registered participants in the music division is expected to remain unchanged in 2010, this estimate does not include the unregistered acts that played last week and the expected 40% and 25% growth in the Interactive and Film segments of the conference, respectively, according to an interview with Hugh Forrest, director of the festival, on www.Austin360.com.
While the official figures for 2010 have yet to be tabulated, Austin locals have noticed the swelling attendance and expressed concern with the strains such a flood of visitors has put on the city’s transportation infrastructure and how it affects them.
Angela DeLaney, who lives near South First Street and Barton Springs Road, has certain expectations of travel in Austin. DeLaney waited at her residence Wednesday for her boyfriend to arrive, but said, “it literally took him an hour to go the distance of a mile and a half.”
The inconvenience brought on DeLaney and her boyfriend has undoubtedly damaged their opinion of the events, DeLaney saying, "My first SXSW in Austin as an Austinite was a giant fail. It caused more harm than good."
Even the patrons of public transportation, Capital Metro Austin, had trouble getting around while SXSW activities were under way.
Brigette Gonzalez, a history major at the University of Texas, stood at a bus stop on Lamar Boulevard surrounded by pedestrians who were waiting to cross the street. “The bus totally ignored me,” Gonzalez said. As she watched, the bus whizzed by without stopping. She suspects the bus driver could not distinguish her from the pedestrians and thus left her waiting for the next bus to arrive.
Gonzalez, an Austin native, is no stranger to the annual SXSW mayhem, but reflecting on this year's happenings said, "This is just too insane."
According to the SXSW website, the 2009 festivities were directly and indirectly responsible for bringing in $103 million to the Austin economy. The importance of this kind of activity was not lost on even the less-than-pleased citizens of Austin.
“It’s good for business, that’s the only thing I see good about it,” said Gonzalez.
Beyond the economic effects of the events, participants and attendees made note of the unique encounters afforded to them by such a large gathering of media enthusiasts.
“I had never heard a real phonograph in person before,” said Matt Woolly, an audio production student at the Art Institute in Austin, “but that was the most spectacular sound I had ever heard.” Woolly continued his praise of the festivities, saying, “When this many people gather for a common reason, music in this case, it is incredible.”
Not everyone in Austin falls so clearly to one side of the love-hate spectrum, though. Some Austinites detest the traffic nightmares, but find overwhelming value in the experiences provided by SXSW.
“I’m from Austin, and it’s a [expletive] hassle,” said Jackson Dyre-Borowicz, cell biology major at the University of Texas and life-long Austinite, “but I’m so into music, it didn’t matter.”
The SXSW conference is not only a showcase of musical talent from around the world, but also of the local Austin music experience. A central component to this experience is the welcoming Austin population. Adhering to Texas’ motto of friendship, Dyre-Borowicz said about the events as a whole, “I guess I feel like I was getting to share my city. I’m not too selfish with my town.”
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