Austin is not only the capital of Texas, it has also been described as “The Live Music Capital of the World” and is home of the massive media festival known as South by Southwest (SXSW).
SXSW was founded in 1987 and annually overtakes the downtown area and beyond. This year 114 feature films and 57 shorts films were presented from March 7-15. Musical and comedic performances pop up all over the city accompanied by travel destination activations and podcast panels with live tapings.
The 12th Annual Big Queer Kickoff Party was held at Rain on 4th on March 7, and Rotten Tomatoes hosted a GLAAD panel the next morning at the convention center to discuss the cultural aspect of LGBTQ+ stories.
The queer community came out to display their dynamic talents and important projects for the world to see. Sam Jay was one of the many queer comedians who came to slay and gay director Nyle DiMarco took the Audience Award for Deaf President Now!
Out and proud acts expressed themselves freely for the public like Los Angeles rocker Black Polish and “The Queen of Bounce” Big Freedia, who took listeners to church with samples from her forthcoming gospel album.
Australian band Joan and the Giants performed outside the Parlor Room and queer lead singer Grace Newton-Wordsworth danced barefoot for the crowd. The group talked to WCT after their set for their first US interview about influences ranging from Joni Mitchell to Chappell Roan. This inspiration is apparent in their new single “Still Breathing” and Gracie spoke about another song “Cool Kid” stating, “The song is about the first time I fell fully in love with a woman. I grew up with an intense Christian family and when I came out it was really hard. The lyrics cover me processing my childhood shame and how I am much better now.”
When questioned about what she would say to her younger self. She replied, “You are on the right track and you will find your people one day. Everything will be okay and you are not going to Hell.”
Russian-Czech singer Aiko met up early in the week before her four showcases at SXSW. She was supported by her girlfriend, Spanish drummer Kat Almagro, who she met while both of them were competing on Eurovision Song Contest 2024. She described her latest offering “Cleopatra” as “all about female empowerment and sexual liberation” and she packs up the track to take it on the road to Japan later this year.
Bisexual British singer Beth McCarthy spoke about her identity during a private interview, explaining that, “Being bisexual can be a weird thing to navigate because if you are with someone who is the opposite gender then it appears to be heteronormative and you can feel left out of the LGBTQ community. We do belong and it’s cool to be bi.”
McCarthy described her live set as a “shared experience of queer joy” where her fans sing back the powerful lyrics to her track “Good Bi.” Her new EP is scheduled to debut in May.
A rainbow of representation graced the red carpet on March 10 for a world premiere of the film For Worse, a story about a newly divorced woman looking for her next chapter.
Actress, writer and director Amy Landecker said, “I learned from being in Amazon’s Transparent about the incredible art that is created from bringing people together who have various backgrounds, genders and sexual orientations. The world has turned it into something to be afraid of, but it’s actually a beautiful thing. It was important to me when I made this movie I wanted everyone to be represented. I have a non-binary child and Liv Hewson is a major star who said yes to playing the person of honor Esther.”
Landecker’s husband Bradley Whitford added, “People who are against representation think of it as checking a box, but that’s not what it is, having representation grows the story and makes the storytelling more interesting by bringing in more voices. It’s a win-win.”
Hewson followed that sentiment by saying, “I don’t get to play non-binary characters as much as I would like and I would love to see more of them written. That was a big piece of the appeal to do this project and I want to do it more often.”
Openly queer performer Briana Venskus played Justine in the film and described the atmosphere on the set as “inclusive and really lovely. Amy created a perfect Utopia and everyone was incredible. Pronouns were respected on the set and everyone hit the ground running to work together on this film.”
For better or worse, South by Southwest will be making significant changes in 2026 as a result of Austin Convention Center’s renovations. Stay tuned to sxsw.com for updates surrounding the future of the festival running March 12-18 next year.