As I race to beat the line for Yamaneika Sanders’ “Maestra” comedy set at South by Southwest 2024 I am pleased to find just a short line of 20 individuals. A group of young women with “Staff” badges hurry behind me. One is panting from running to the venue.
“They said to send people over because no one is here,” she says.
“I guess I’ll stay,” her partner responds.
As the showcase begins, comedian Dulce Sloan enters to mild clappter. She tells a joke about a cunning observation of a Black hair care partner at the festival handing out samples to the guests.
“I can’t wait to see their greasy heads,” Sloan jokes. The laughs are clouded by shudders.
While comics often find themselves navigating tricky, quiet crowd dynamics, the comedy festival of SXSW indicated signs of a more… sterile crowd.
Star Yamaneiks Saunders got into a conversation with a heckler, noting how she “didn’t expect to talk about race so much during this set but… here we are.”
“It’s just weird this year,” says Lily Abbott of Small Victory. The bar, a speakeasy just off of 7th St, always sees an influx of patrons due to its proximity to the Paramount Theatre where most of the festival’s biggest premieres take place. Several bartenders say the same of the festival, with a squint in their eyes and a tilt of their heads, as though “weird” is more a condemnation than a goal.
Which is interesting, considering Austin’s claim of “Keeping it Weird,” a capitalization on the quirky, “alternative” countercultural lifestyle that the city and its citizens were known for. Yet the very driving force of that famous “Keep Austin Weird” —to combat big business driving away local business—is being tested by the very corporate shifts in the city. With big tech companies moving into Austin and SXSW itself becoming more and more “corporate prestige,” the two are intrinsically tied in their sanitization of what was once one of America’s most diverse, interesting cities.
The festival encompasses multiple tastes, from rap showcases to Asian-American film premieres to panels on AI (so many panels on AI). But as comedian Jaboukie Young-White noted in one of his jokes at the Gotham Comedy Club Presents showcase: “If you’ve never seen white people, look around. There’s plenty of y’all.”
With series like Black Twitter and “Magic City” premiering at the event, the is clearly attempting to platform and showcase underrepresented histories and talents. But how much of it is celebration of diverse perspectives and culture and how much of it is spectacle, microscopic judgment?
On the contrary, several artists have come forward against the festival’s low pay and mistreatment of musicians during festivals past. Conferences like AfroTech, which focuses on Black excellence in tech, have moved out of Austin to other Texas cities.
The SXSW festival itself was met with much backlash before films even started screening.
Artists like Yaya Bey and Austin local fave, TC Superstar, pulled out of their showcases as a sign of solidarity with the people of Palestine. The Union of Musicians and Allied Workers also stood outside the #ddoxtech activation on 800 Congress in protest against SXSW. Keffiyeh-clad protesters carried signs reading: “”Music should never fund murder” and Fair Pay—SXSW” while sharing testimonies to their distaste for the organization’s connection to the U.S. Army and Raytheon. Musician Faye Webster herself shared her discomfort with the “war profiteers” during her Rolling Stone showcase.
@studybreaksmagazine #fayewebster condemns the “war profiteers” of #sxsw at her @Rolling Stone showcase. #fyp ♬ original sound – Study Breaks
So in a city that is so clearly navigating its identity, where tech bros rub elbows with realtors as they scoff at the unhoused citizens on Congress Ave. As the skyline grows and the housing prices rise, the heart of Texas is shallow. Pockets of honest individuals are scattered about, and you’re lucky to find a real, true lifelong Austinite who’s seen the homes of East Austin shudder into gray modernist monuments.
Run clubs and pub crawls replace artist collectives. Austinites describe “old Austin” as something akin to New York City in the 70s—full of culture and grit. The Gotham-like roots have been pulled out and in its place, a dystopic ideal of utopia is present with high-rise windows and $22 smoothies. Somewhere between the pretension and heat of LA and corporate greed of NYC, Austin is slowly being drained of its life force.
Still, collectives like House of Lepore introduced ballroom culture at the very first (and, so far, last) official SXSW Ball in 2023. The collective continues with presenting Vogue Nights at Swan Dive in the Red River district. Ryan Thompson of the Paramount Theatre created “The Majestic Ball” to celebrate and platform Black queerness on one of the biggest stages in the city.
There is a rich range of culture in this evolving city.
But who wants it?
