PICTURE THIS
Downtown Austin transforms into a global, week-long village for creatives and innovators. As the Austin Convention Center undergoes redevelopment, SXSW 2026 spills out across the city into mini, badge-specific neighborhoods. Walking through each area will feel like stepping inside an immersive world designed for those who love film and television, made for people who live and breathe music, and dedicated to the folks who take bright ideas and make them a reality.
In partnership with Austin-based design firm Overstory and the inimitable Taiwanese-American illustrator, Josh Cochran our newly-revealed key art for 2026 comes to life, complete with decades of SXSW lore dotted onto an iconic stretch of Congress Ave; a cowboy riding a woolly mammoth, The UT Austin marching band and Artemis II astronauts next to a boisterous DJ booth and a barking robot dog. If you’ve attended SXSW before, you’ve experienced some of these fun, unexpectedly surreal interactions that have led to game-changing connections that sparked new ideas. The vibrant illustrations depict diverse creatives gathering in our incredible, reimagined downtown Austin landscape. SXSW 2026 marks our 40th year in our flagship city in Austin, and it's slated to be the most innovative experience yet.
And in honor of our 40th iteration, we’re switching things up by going back to our roots, bringing Music, Film & TV, and Innovation programming all together for the first time in decades; over the course of 7 days you can experience the full spectrum of what our event is all about. Most excitingly, when it comes to our Music Festival, we’re expanding into 7 consecutive nights of showcases, adding an extra night because we want to provide even more chances to discover new artists and experience breakthrough performances you won’t want to miss.
There’s so much more exciting news to come, and we’re kicking it all off with applications, which are now open for Innovation, Pitch, Music, and more.
