SXSW 2026: What to expect from the festival, conferences without the Austin Convention Center

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- South by Southwest turns 40 this year, and there will be a lot of changes compared to previous years... and a midlife crisis isn't to blame for this 40-year-old's transformation.

The Austin Convention Center closed down shortly after SXSW's 39th rendition earlier this year for much-needed renovations. It's expected to stay closed until 2029. Because of that, SXSW will come in a different format for the next few years.

The biggest change SXSW 2026 will see is a cut-down schedule and the elimination of a secondary weekend. The day after the 2025 festival/conferences wrapped up, SXSW leadership announced preliminary plans for next year's event.

“With the Austin Convention Center undergoing a complete redesign until 2029, we’re taking this opportunity to reinvent spaces for our community by creating industry-specific hubs to enable new ways to connect and bring the SXSW community together, all while delivering the stellar programming we’re known for,” the springtime announcement stated.

SXSW announced more details this week about what the festival and conferences will look like. Without the Convention Center, SXSW will essentially take over downtown Austin as a spread-out "village" of sorts.

"Everyone’s been asking us what SXSW will look like without the Austin Convention Center," SXSW's website states, "and we love a good visual, so here’s a sneak peek of our pop-up SXSW village that will convene across downtown Austin."

The website shows an image of a map with key locations, centered around a new concept for SXSW physical hubs called "clubhouses."

There are three of these clubhouses, which will serve as hubs for each of SXSW's tracks:

• Innovation Clubhouse: located at Brazos Hall
• Film & TV Clubhouse: located at the 800 Congress event space
• Music Clubhouse: located at Downright, at 701 East 11th Street

Think of these spaces as your home base. Around them, programming tracks are now aligned with key buildings across downtown. From the moment you land in Austin, it’s never been easier to hop right into the event with ease. If you start to feel lost during the event, you can look to these locations as beacons to orient you and lead you to where you need to go next. Clubhouses are not only spaces where you can recharge but refer to information centers, find exclusive and unique SXSW merch drops, and bump into thought leaders that might just change your life.

SXSW website

There are also changes to how badges will work. According to the SXSW website, each badge now comes with reservations to secure a spot in sessions, screenings, and showcases up to three weeks in advance of SXSW.

Platinum Badges will get three reservations per day, and Innovation, Film & TV, and Music Badges get two. More details and badge pricing can be found on the fest's badge page online.

The conferences and festivals kick off on Thursday, March 12, and everything wraps up on Wednesday, March 18.