Making its UK debut in 2025, SXSW London brought the world-renowned South by Southwest (SXSW) festival from Austin, Texas to the streets of East London. Globally recognised for its fusion of music, film, technology and culture, SXSW’s first international edition transformed venues across the capital into a week-long celebration of creativity, innovation and collaboration.
It was a privilege to be part of SXSW London 2025, supporting TAIT, the Producing Partner responsible for delivering this landmark event’s production and operations across London.
As Producing Partner, TAIT led on all aspects of production — from design, look and feel, and show producing, through to operations, staffing, venue management, licensing, safety, procurement and sustainability — spanning 28 venues across four boroughs in and around Shoreditch between 2–7 June 2025.
Working alongside Tom White of Draft Line Studio, John contributed to the creation and updating of venue drawings and technical overlay plans, dot plans, queueing layouts and GPS geo-located plans, all of which were used within the event’s operational software. A huge part of the project’s success came from close collaboration with Joey Fletcher (Production Director), Harriet Clark (Production Manager), Rebecca Brower (Creative Lead) and the wider TAIT team — a truly collective effort that brought the spirit of SXSW to London for the first time.
Here’s hoping it will return in 2026.
[The event] brought creativity, innovation and excitement to venues across Shoreditch
Sadiq Khan
