Flinders University’s new Tonsley building will be the first Adelaide venue on a South by South West Conferences and Festivals (SXSW) tour tonight.

The Flinders New Venture Institute (NVI) will host the free event from 6pm and incorporate an opportunity to network with SXSW Interactive, Film and Music entrepreneurs and professionals.

From 6.30pm, the audience will hear a panel of SXSW professionals talk about their festival experiences and receive tips and advice to help them in their own careers, followed by a special screening of SXSW’s feature movie presentation, Outside Industry, which tells the story of how the festival has grown over its long and successful history.

The Adelaide stop-off is a special addition to a series of events set up for the east coast to provide information and encouragement to aspiring creatives to make the trip to Austin, Texas, for next year’s SXSW Festival from 11-20 March.

In 2002, only 20 Australians and five bands attended, but with the assistance of Austrade and the South Australian Government, South Aussie attendance has soared in recent years.

New Venture Institute Director, Matt Salier, said he had helped to bring the SXSW tour to Adelaide because he wanted his start-up founders to be part of the biggest South Australian delegation yet in Austin, Texas.

“Our inspiration is to add momentum toward a delegation of start-up founders to join with those in the music, film and creative space in Adelaide to take advantage of the largest festival of its kind in the world in 2016,” said Mr Salier.

“With Austin as a sister city of Adelaide, we’ve been talking to the City Council and Brand SA about how we might take the city of entrepreneurs global in a big way.

“We hope to inspire the biggest and best yet South Australian delegation at Austin in 2016.”

Speakers at the Adelaide SXSW tour event will include Wendy Perry from Workplace Blueprint, who is the SA Delegation Leader to SXSW 2015; David Grice, Managing Director of Musictec Ltd, a music technology company at SXSW 2015; Sosefina Fuamoli, Live Music Editor at the AU review; and Kirsty Stark, former Flinders University student and Producer of Epic Films’ Wastelander Panda (2013).

Event details:

Date: Monday, August 3rd from 6pm Venue: New Venture Institute, Flinders University

RSVP:www.eventbrite.com.au/e/sxsw-meet-n-greet-adelaide-panel-and-movie-night…