East London communities left reeling after SXSW London 2026
Over 25,300 thousand people attended SXSW London (South By South West London) from the 1st to the 6th of June benefitting from the free talks, mentor sessions, music events, film screenings and food discounts that the festival hosted across East London last week.
A number of London based creatives lucky enough to gain access to a festival pass normally valued at £1.2k were surprised to learn their attendance lay in conflict with boycotts led by campaign organisations and East London locals.
The festival, in its second running year, on one hand presented an opportunity for burgeoning music artists to shine with the likes of rapper Lavz, KeepVibesNear and DJ Co.KR platformed to perform, whilst on the other presented another for financiers and tech companies to argue their right to open an AI data centre in Brick Lane.
Save Brick Lane, Nijour Manesh, Pull the Plug and others in the Save Brick Lane Coalition are among organisations that gathered to oppose SXSW London for its alleged support of plans to build office blocks and a new data centre in the historic Truman Brewery.
A rare appearance from Prince William, the current heir to the British throne, at the London festival on Thursday suggests that there was something more to the event than its opening keynote speech from mayor of London Sadiq Khan had initially suggested.
The London festival has faced previous criticism over links to military sponsors and programmed appearances from ex-prime ministers Tony Blair and David Cameron in its debut last year, after which the BDS Movement called for a meaningful ethical policy on programming and partnerships across the entire festival.
Despite this, this year’s London line up included news media celebrity Piers Morgan and ex-politician George Osbourne who both featured on panels promoting AI at the arts, music and technology festival.
Written by Sophie Yau Billington