Forbes: Political Issues Take Center Stage At SXSW

Just a week after the election, 50 team members from the South By Southwest (SXSW) Programming Group gathered in Austin, Texas. Attendees included members from SXSW Interactive, SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Eco and SXSWedu. For the members, the election results hung in the air. Hugh Forrest, the Director at the Interactive Festival, described the meeting this way: “Over the 20+ years that I have worked at SXSW, I have sat through plenty of meetings — some of them less engaging than others. But, I can’t remember a meeting with as much passion and as much emotion and feeling as this one.”

In reviewing the 2017 Government track panels, here are a few that seem likely to provoke conversations:

• 2016 Election: How We Got it Wrong! Sam Sanders of NPR gives his first-hand experience covering the 2016 Presidential Election.

• Building Bridges When Others Want to Build Walls. Documented and undocumented immigrants in the United States are facing a tremendous amount of uncertainty. The panel includes James Kenney of The City of Philadelphia, Javier Gonzales of The City of Santa Fe and Kate Brick, of New American Economy.

• How Elections Change Next Gen Cause Engagement. It’s a fact that Millennials value cause engagement. But what happens during an election year? The panel includes Abby Phillip of The Washington Post, Carolyn Dewitt of Rock The Vote, and Emily Yu of The Stephen Case Foundation.

Read the full article: “Political Issues Take Center Stage at SXSW“