Annual innovation and entertainment festival SXSW has announced it will change funding for next year’s event and will no longer accept sponsorship money from military organizations.
A short official statement from the group (posted in their updated Music Showcase FAQ) reads:
After careful consideration, we have revised our sponsorship model, which means that the U.S. military and weapons manufacturing companies will not be sponsors of SXSW 2025.
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In March, several prominent musicians and celebrities denounced the festival’s ties to the US military and historical support for the militarization of Israel, with a total of more than 80 artists and panelists pulling out of the 2024 event.
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Activists and attendees denounced SXSW sponsors RTX (formerly Raytheon), Collins Aerospace, BAE Systems and other weapons manufacturers, as well as the involvement of the U.S. Army (considered a “super sponsor” of the festival. “The defense industry has historically served as the proving ground for many of the systems we rely on today,” SXSW explained at the time. “These agencies are often leaders in emerging technologies, and we believe it’s best to understand how their approaches impact our lives.”
Among the groups speaking out against the affiliation was Irish political rap group Kneecap, who wrote in a statement from X that they were pulling out of the festival “to highlight our solidarity with the Palestinian people and the festival’s deep and unacceptable ties to arms companies and the US military that, at this very moment, are enabling genocide and starvation of a trapped population.”
Additionally, a group of local activists in Austin, Texas organized a protest show and anti-SXSW rally featuring several of the boycotting artists.
SXSW responded to the criticism at the time, saying it “fully respects the decision artists make to exercise their right to free speech.”
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