grams like Quark and PageMaker. A lot of what we
do is create documents. It helps to
have a background in the music business, whether
you've worked at a nightclub, a
record store, or maybe a small record
company."
POINTERS FOR THE JOB SEARCH
"Most of the people that work for us were
initially part of our volunteer core. We
have about 900 people volunteer every year for
SXSW that work on literally every
aspect of the event; doing everything from
filing to moving equipment, and answer-
ing phones. Working as a volunteer gives you a
big leg up in getting a job, because
someone on the staff has worked with you and
knows your work ethic, your skills,
and whether you're effective or
not."
ROLAND SWENSON, MANAGING DIRECTOR AND
PRESIDENT,
SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST, INC.
While Roland Swenson's scholastic endeavors at
the University of Texas at Austin
floundered, his music career was launched. "I
was a history major, a journalism
major, and I think I was studying film in the
communication school when a friend
from high school asked if I would manage his
band." Swenson finished out the semes-
ter and never returned to school. Over the next
five years he added other bands to his
roster, worked for a small management firm, an
independent record company, and
even established his own label. In the
mid-1980s, he decided to get out of the music
business and go to work for the
Austin Chronicle. "The Chronicle was just three
years
old and had a very small staff. I would do
everything from deliver the paper to the
proofreader to write stories, edit, and sell
classified ads." Swenson became the news-
paper's in-house organizer of benefits, shows,
and special events. Through involve-
ment with the city convention bureau, he came
up with the idea for an event that
would promote Austin as a music capital and
tourist destination. After selling the
newspaper on the idea, the first South by
Southwest event was held in March 1987.
"The first year we figured if we got 150 to
come, we'd be a success." Initially show-
casing 200 bands, the event attracted 700
attendees. Since that time, SXSW has built a
music industry following that has grown to
nearly 10,000 registrants. Swenson con-
tinued working at the newspaper until 1990,
when he began working on the event full
time in partnership with the
Austin Chronicle. The event grew to include a
film and
interactive media conference in 1994 that split
into the South by Southwest Film
Festival, and the South by Southwest
Interactive Festival, the following year. The film
and interactive events bring another 7,000
people to Austin every March. Also in
1995, Swenson and the
Chronicle spun off their original music event
to include North
by Northwest in Portland, Oregon and North by
Northeast (NXNE) in Toronto,
Canada. One of Swenson's original goals for
SXSW was to create an event that would
bring creative people and companies together to
meet and share ideas and to further
CASE STUDY:
User Comments Add a comment…