SXSW
South by Southwest (SXSW) has welcomed ELLIOT WILLIS, ADEM HOLNESS, KATY ARNANDER and ALEX POOTS to the senior team of its London outpost ahead of the creativity and innovation platform’s first European event in 2025.
Founding Artistic Director of The Shed in New York City, Poots has been named Creative Advisor to the London festival. He was also the founding Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the Manchester International Festival (2005-2015) and the Artistic Director of the Park Avenue Armory (2011-2015).
Arnander has been appointed Director of Programming, having previously worked at performance organisations including Ambassadors Theatre Group, Sadler's Wells, Southbank Centre and Barbican, focusing on arts programming, show production, commissioning, curation, and audiences.
Following a tenure as Head of Contemporary Music at the Southbank Centre, Holness joins SXSW London as Head of Music, leading the music programming team and overseeing music partnerships and event curation within the music industry.
On the commercial side, Willis joins the organisation as the European Commercial Director responsible for driving sponsorship, partnership, sales, and commercial operation of the festival in London.
RANDEL BRYAN, SXSW London Managing Director, commented: “Our goal is to create a London edition of SXSW that bottles the essence of UK-based creativity and innovation through working with some of the best in the business. I’m delighted to have Elliot, Adem and Katy joining the team on the ground along with Alex to shape the inaugural year.”