South by Southwest is officially canceled after much speculation over fears of coronavirus.
The annual music festival-turned tech and media event released a statement Friday afternoon saying the city of Austin, Tex., where the event is held, decided to cancel SXSW, scheduled to begin next weekend. This is the first time in 34 years of the event that it will not take place, organizers said, and it appears to be the first instance of a U.S. city intervening to cancel a large event. SXSW draws more than 150,000 people to Austin for a weekend of performances, panels and branded events.
“We are devastated to share this news with you,” the statement reads. “’The show must go on’ is in our DNA.…We are now working through the ramifications of this unprecedented situation.”
The so-called “unprecedented situation” is the feared spread and effects of COVID-19, better known as coronavirus, a flu-like virus that has gripped public consciousness in the last several weeks as it spread from an epicenter in China to most continents and roughly 100,000 confirmed cases of the disease.
SXSW is just the latest event to be canceled over the virus, but organizers noted that, “as recently as Wednesday, Austin Public Health stated that ‘there’s
The annual music festival-turned tech and media event released a statement Friday afternoon saying the city of Austin, Tex., where the event is held, decided to cancel SXSW, scheduled to begin next weekend. This is the first time in 34 years of the event that it will not take place, organizers said, and it appears to be the first instance of a U.S. city intervening to cancel a large event. SXSW draws more than 150,000 people to Austin for a weekend of performances, panels and branded events.
“We are devastated to share this news with you,” the statement reads. “’The show must go on’ is in our DNA.…We are now working through the ramifications of this unprecedented situation.”
The so-called “unprecedented situation” is the feared spread and effects of COVID-19, better known as coronavirus, a flu-like virus that has gripped public consciousness in the last several weeks as it spread from an epicenter in China to most continents and roughly 100,000 confirmed cases of the disease.
SXSW is just the latest event to be canceled over the virus, but organizers noted that, “as recently as Wednesday, Austin Public Health stated that ‘there’s
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