SXSW Will No Longer Work With the U.S. Army or Defense Contractors

SXSW is ending its partnerships with the U.S. Military and defense contractors right after professional-Palestine protests this calendar year. “After careful consideration, we are revising our sponsorship design,” the competition explained following opening purposes for 2025. “As a consequence, the U.S. Military, and providers who have interaction in weapons manufacturing, will not be sponsors of SXSW 2025.” More than 60 artists and participants boycotted this year’s pageant around SXSW’s ties to protection teams that offer Israeli weapons in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The U.S. Army was a “super-sponsor” of the 2024 competition, and Collins Aerospace, a corporation underneath protection conglomerate RTX Company (f.k.a. Raytheon), also participated. “A tunes pageant need to not involve war profiteers,” claimed Squirrel Flower, just one of the first artists to boycott. “I refuse to be complicit in this and withdraw my art and labor in protest.”

SXSW formerly defended its armed forces ties amid this year’s controversy. The pageant known as the defense field “a proving ground” for new technology and mentioned doing the job with the Military “is portion of our motivation to deliver ahead tips that shape our earth.” The Army stated it was “proud” to sponsor SXSW, which it named “a distinctive possibility.”