South by Southwest Sydney (SXSW Sydney) has revealed a wide range of attendance options which ensures a wide range of people can attend and customise their experience to suit their interests and schedules.
Attendees will be able to choose from free events, Conference Day Passes, single movie screenings and Festival Wristbands, alongside all-access 7-day Passes, which will be $400 cheaper than in 2024 during early bird release. They will go on sale from March 20.
• The new, limited Conference Day Pass starts at $295 for 75+ daily sessions across Tech & Innovation, Business & Leadership, Marketing & Media, Future & Sustainability, Culture & Lifestyle and Creative Industries.
• Full-week Conference and Festival access this year starts from $495, demonstrating a clear commitment to opening the event to a broader audience, and include hands-on professional development to upskill attendees.
Earlier this year, SXSW Sydney CEO, Geoff Jones, told Mediaweek there would be widespread changes to the event in 2025.
“We learned a lot from last year and from the exit surveys we’ve worked out the predominant reasons people go to SXSW – that’s networking, and education. It’s about getting ahead of the evolving world,” he said.
“This year we’re going to introduce more flexible ways to attend. We know our audience have time constraints, and there’s some obvious budgetary constraints in the world we live in, so we’re going to make what we used to call badges, which was your accreditation, into your pass.”
He added he wanted as many people as possible to enjoy their time at the world-famous festival of ideas.
“We’re not trying to gouge people, so we think by making the ticketing more flexible, it makes it attainable to more people. That’s what we want it to be.”
The Kid Laroi
Sarah Murdoch
As a result, alongside the Conference Sessions and Festival Showcases, professional development programs have been extended, workshops, mentor sessions and networking meetups designed to foster innovation, leadership, and career growth.
• Conference-led professional development will cover AI and entrepreneurship, governance, marketing, leadership and more, providing practical skills, expert insights, and meaningful connections, to tackle the big questions.
• The Screen Festival will include seminars, film commentaries and matchmade mentoring to connect early- and mid-career filmmakers with industry vets. Covering technical filmmaking, funding, marketing, the festival circuit, audiences and more, it will provide insider insights, in an in-the-room and off-the-record environment.
• The Music Festival program will focus on future business, upskilling artists and professionals at all levels with a series of panels, workshops and mentor sessions on the topics of AI, new markets, careers and marketing trends.
• The Games Festival’s professional development will focus on investment and business development skills and global markets to empower indie game developers to find ongoing success commercially, as well as creatively.
Nick Kyrgios with Ryan Levy
Mary Meeker with Mel Perkins
SXSW Sydney is also expanding its free programming significantly with extensive brand and partner experiences already planned, alongside must-see music showcases from Wednesday to Saturday, and new for 2025, free access to the Innovation Expo on Saturday, and free family-friendly entertainment all day on Sunday—all in and around Darling Harbour.
Also new for 2025, single-session movie tickets ($25) will be available for all film screenings, alongside multi-day Festival Wristbands ($100 during early bird), for either the Screen, Music or Games Festival Showcases.
SXSW Sydney 2024 featured 1,600 sessions and events, including 400+ conference sessions, 150+ professional development sessions, 300+ music performances, 95 film screenings, 150 games, more than 400 brand-led events, while attracting over 300,000 attendees from 56 countries. SXSW Sydney 2025 promises to elevate the event experience even further, with both Conference and Festival submissions tracking 20% higher year on year, from predominantly new contributors.
Conference Submissions remain open until 23 March, with public voting on potential Conference Sessions opening March 17th.
