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SXSW ‘heartbroken’ after letting go a third of staff due to festival cancellation over coronavirus


SXSW has let go of a third of its staff after the festival was cancelled over worries about coronavirus (Picture: AFP)

A South By Southwest spokesperson has confirmed the festival
has let go of around ‘one third’ of its staff after they unexpectedly had to
cancel this year’s event due to worries over coronavirus.

It was announced on Friday that the nine-day music and film festival, due to take place in Austin, Texas, from this this weekend, would be cancelled.

Due to the event, commonly known as SXSW, no longer taking
place, organisers had to make the ‘heartbreaking’ decision to lay off a third
of their workforce.

A spokesperson confirmed: ‘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.

‘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.

The festival was due to take place from 13-22 March in Austin, Texas (Picture: AFP)

‘We are planning for the future and this was a necessary,
but heartbreaking step.’

The festival had been cancelled over fears around the spread
of coronavirus, and the news was announced on social media last week.

The official social media accounts for SXSW told fans: ‘The
city of Austin has cancelled the March dates for SXSW and SXSW Edu. SXSW will
faithfully follow the city’s directions.

Organisers had been advised the large gathering would ‘make the community safer’ (Picture: Getty Images)

‘We are devastated to share this news with you. “The show
must go on” is in our DNA, and this is the first time in 34 years that the
March event will not take place.

‘We are now working through the ramifications of this
unprecedented situation. As recently as Wednesday, Austin Public Heath stated
that “there’s no evidence that closing SXSW or any other gatherings will make
the community safer”.

‘However, this situation evolved rapidly and we honor and
respect the City of Austin’s decision. We are committed to doing our part to
help protect our staff, attendees and fellow Austinites.’

The cancellation came after sponsors including Amazon and TikTok pulled out of the event, as well as musician Ozzy Osbourne.

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