South by Southwest names new director in charge
AUSTIN (KXAN) — South by Southwest (SXSW) now has a new director in charge who will lead the festival.
Jenny Connelly said on a post in LinkedIn that she will now work as the director in charge of SXSW, which happens annually every March in Austin.
“I’m traveling to Austin each week and working with a killer group of dedicated, creative & skilled people who throw the world’s most influential festival. We are dreaming up the evolution of this event, so that SXSW never stops helping creative people achieve their goals,” Connelly said in her post.
This comes after Hugh Forrest announced earlier this week that he was no longer running the festival, The Austin Business Journal reported over the weekend.
“Leaving South by Southwest was definitely not my decision,” he said. “I put my heart and soul into this event for more than 35 years, and I was looking forward to leading several more editions. To this end, I will be rooting big time for the Austin team on the go forward. The city, the country, the world needs the positive energy South by Southwest has traditionally provided and needs it now more than ever.”
Connelly was elected by the SXSW board to lead the festival, a spokesperson with Penske Media told KXAN Tuesday. Penske Media said it has had control of SXSW for the last two years.
“When Hugh was told he wasn’t going to get the CEO role at SXSW, and would be reporting to [Connelly], Hugh made the decision to leave SXSW,” the spokesperson said.
Furthermore, the spokesperson said “several key promotions” were announced last Friday in a company Town Hall “as part of succession planning that was already in motion as well as additional promotions of deserving and long tenured talent (averaging more than a decade).”
Those promotions announced within the organization, as provided by Penske Media, includes Peter Lewis, Greg Rosenbaum and Brian Hobbs.
“The 2025 event marked the highest ever sponsorship revenue in the history of the company and the largest SXSW EDU conference in the brand’s history,” the spokesperson said. “SXSW will launch the first ever SXSW London in June as the global footprint of the organization grows after launching SXSW Sydney two years ago.”
There are currently four open jobs to be hired at SXSW, the spokesperson said.
