A SXSW For London?

Lindsey
By Lindsey Last edited 156 months ago
A SXSW For London?

Have your techy, geeky, muso and film friends been disappearing to Austin this week? Are their excitable #SXSW tweets making you jealous and fostering smouldering resentment against your boss/bank account/annual leave allowance for not letting you slope off to the mighty behemoth of a music, film and interactive festival across the Atlantic?

Well stop sulking. Some folk who felt just like that decided to do something about it and set up a London based alternative. Hello, NSEW festival (that's North South East West to you):

NSEW is a festival that highlights existing events in London that take place at the same time as SXSW. Year on year the manic coverage of SXSW grows and dominates the cultural horizon like a giant Texan Deathstar. Well not this year. This year we’re taking some of that horizon back. It’s time to celebrate what’s on our doorstep.

In a nifty and judicious act of curation NSEW has sourced cool music, tech, film and culture events and put them under the festival umbrella. They include the Not@SXSW social, picks from the Birds Eye View Film Festival, networking with @TechHub, carefully selected gigs, exhibitions and a raft of cultural discussions and talks from the likes of the Royal Society, ICA, museums and universities. There's also a free, sort of secret launch party on Friday.

This is only the start. Will the idea fly? You tell us. And in the open spirit of crowdsourcing, if you think they've missed something then do drop them a line at nsewfestival@albionlondon.com.

NSEW is organised by Albion and runs from 11-20 March. Last year Albion ran the rather nifty VennSXSW project.

Last Updated 09 March 2011