SXSW cancelled amid growing coronavirus concerns

by: David Klemow Mar 6, 2020

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There’s still a lot to learn about coronavirus, though one thing is certain—it has an alarming festival fatality rate. Following Ultra’s flagship Miami and Abu Dhabi events cancellations, Austin’s SXSW is the latest event to fold in the wake of the spreading virus. News of the cancellation comes just days after Austin city officials announced the event would proceed as planned, even despite numerous companies and performers dropping out.

Speaking to reporters Friday afternoon (March 6), Austin Mayor Steve Adler said,

“I’ve gone ahead and declared a local disaster in the city, and associated with that have issued an order that effectively cancels South by Southwest this year,”

Originally slated to run March 13 – 22, 2020 will mark the first cancellation for the festival in 34 years. Facebook, Twitter, Mashable, Google, Trent Reznor, The Beastie Boys, and Ozzy Osborne, were just a handful of the entities that dropped out prior to the event’s cancellation. Organizers are said to be working on rescheduling the event for later this year, as economic impact of last year’s event on the city was estimated to be $355.9 million.

This story is still developing.