What You Need To Know About Session Select And Music & Screen Festival Submissions

February 8, 2023

Like the original SXSW®  in Austin, Texas, SXSW Sydney is all about collaboration and convergence. It’s definitely not your usual conference or festival and a big part of what makes SXSW®  different is how we generate ideas from our community. After all, SXSW Sydney is for you, so we want to help share your ideas with a global audience this October.

You can get involved with SXSW Sydney in a number of ways – whether you’re pitching an idea for the Conference via Session Select, or submitting your work for the Music & Screen Festivals.

If you’re familiar with SXSW®  in Austin, you might already know a bit about how this works, but SXSW Sydney will be a little different. So let’s run through it all.

What’s The Deal With Session Select?

Session Select is the name of SXSW Sydney’s proposal platform, where you’ll be able to submit your ideas for how you’d like to participate in the SXSW Sydney Conference.

There are two main ways to get involved through Session Select: you can pitch your own proposal to be a speaker at the Conference, and you can also submit ideas for panels, sessions, workshops.

Not only that, but Session Select will give you the chance to vote on other submissions once all applications are in, so you’ll get the opportunity to shape the Conference into something truly special.

It’s all about involving the community and generating as many thought-provoking discussions as we can, as well as making sure we’re digging deep into every pressing topic that we can across our key industries – so if there’s something you feel should be shared on the world stage, this is your opportunity.

Submissions for SXSW Sydney Session Select close on 28 February 2023 at 11:59pm AEDT.

What about Music?

Glad you asked! Music has always been a central part of SXSW® and SXSW Sydney will be no different. Whether you’re an artist on the rise, an established act or an industry scout, there’ll be no better place to witness the future of music than the SXSW Sydney Music Festival.

You can submit yourself or your band to be a part of the showcases during the Music Festival. Entries are open to all genres and it doesn’t matter whether you’re signed or unsigned, a homegrown act or from elsewhere in world, whether you’ve played 100 gigs or none at all. We just want to showcase as much great music as possible.

Application fees apply, check here for more information.

What about Screen?

Over the last 10 years, the Screen industry has undergone an incredible transformation. SXSW Sydney Screen Festival will dive into it all, from the best short-form creators to breakout films to incredible music videos. And of course, we want you to be a part of it.

You can submit a wide variety of work to be shown at the Screen Festival, including features and documentaries, TV or episodic work, short films, music videos and even XR and AR experiences. Like with the Music Festival, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a local creative or you live and work outside of Australia. All we’re looking for is the best and most captivating work.

Application fees apply, check here for more information.

That all sounds great, so what do I need to do?

It does, doesn’t it?

To read more about it and to submit your ideas through Session Select, you can head right over here. For all Music submissions, head to this link. And for all Screen submissions, head over here.

So set up some diary alerts, put a reminder on the fridge, do whatever you have to do – now’s your time to show SXSW Sydney your A-game.