Nerds on the grapevine: Here's where geeks come out to play.
A capital city alive with numerous festivals and overrun by thousands of tourists, performers, commentators and press… you might be forgiven for thinking you’re in Edinburgh during August. But this is March and the circus has come to Austin, Texas.
I've just arrived for the annual South by South West festival. Just as Edinburgh has the Fringe, Austin has the, handily abbreviated, SXSW.
Started in 1987, the reputation of this extended week has grown and been built on.
Alongside that first music conference, there is now a film festival that attracts both Hollywood A-List and smaller indie film-makers, and a trend-setting conference for the online and interactive world.
For eleven days in March, Austin becomes the centre of the cultural world.
David Thomson works for Denki, and represented the Dundee-based digital toy company at SXSW last year. He said: “It was the first time as a company we were in an environment where we could see and learn how the creative industries worked together.
“While there's not one piece of business that's as a direct result of attending, it is massively inspiring and helped build a lot of momentum in our staff.”
What's delightful is the dual nature of the event. During daylight, seminars, keynote presentations and mentor sessions are run in the expansive Conference Centre. But when the sun sets, Austin feels like the largest street party in the world.
Everywhere you turn, people are looking for what's new, prowling the many bars, clubs, stages and cinemas set up on Sixth Street, the closest America can get to the Fringe's Royal Mile.
You can be walking into a bar to listen to Irish band Fighting with Wire; hop a few doors down to share a barbecue with news prediction game creators HubDub while asking them how it compares to Leith; or sharing the Scotland v England rugby score with Scottish actor Tony Curran.
Last year, rock legends Metallica turned up to play a secret gig that everyone knew about... I suspect arriving in articulated lorries trucks with the band's name on the side might have been a clue, but the multi million selling band played in the same small bars that Scottish bands like Unicorn Kid or Frightened Rabbit will be performing in this year.
SXSW is eleven days of new discoveries, old friends, adventure, excitement and just a little bit of danger (being a true Scotsman in America on St Patrick's Day takes a little bit of nerve).
It's a mix like no other event in the year. Over the next week, we're going to bring you a taster of the fun from Austin on STV. This is where the future is on show.
