One-Third Employees Laid Off After SXSW 2020 Cancellation
Promptly following the cancellation of the 2020 SXSW Festival, slated for March 13-22, organizers have laid off one-third (approx. 50 of 175 members) of their staff, claiming, it was “the only way to stop the bleeding.”
While noting that they face losses in the tens of millions, CEO Roland Swenson, “Due to the City of Austin’s unprecedented and unexpected cancellation of the SXSW 2020 events in March, SXSW has been rigorously reviewing our operations, and we are in the unimaginable position of reducing our workforce.”
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They add,“Today we said goodbye to approximately one-third of our full-time staff. Those of us in the business of live events know the level of trust required to execute an event of SXSW’s scale, and we are deeply sad to let people go this soon. We are planning for the future and this was a necessary, but heartbreaking, step.”
Furthermore, the statement says, “We are planning to carry on and do another event in 2021, but how we’re going to do that I’m not entirely sure.”
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