A new report commissioned by SXSW festival in Austin, Texas has brought up changes that could see the festival ban all unofficial events and performers.
Following an incident at this year’s festival, in which four attendees were killed in a car crash, the festival commissioned a safety report from architecture and event planning specialists Populous.
The results of the report advised the festival to implement new procedures to ensure maximum safety at the 2015 festival.
As Texas Monthly reports, the changes suggested include “soft searching” street entrants for prohibited items; banning buskers from playing music during the festival; and restricting events that take place in adjacent parking lots” on the main 6th Street strip of the festival.
The report also asks for the implementation of a “clean zone” in the form of a sectioned-off area. The suggested perimeter around the main event would “protect the brand equity of SXSW and its sponsors but would be made to work with existing businesses and their interests so as to uphold sponsor values and private property rights.”
This could alter the event, which traditionally features a host of impromptu, pop-up gigs in makeshift locations as well as the more conventional and sponsored events.
Although the report is not a final demand, it does state that SXSW “will eventually need to make decisions about whether or not they can continue to exist in their current format and location.” They add that if these ideas are not enforced that “it is very possible that SXSW will have no choice but to entertain notions of bidding their event to other cities to sustain their business model.”
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