DEPARTMENT: Economic Development
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Rene Dominguez
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: City-wide
SUBJECT: EWDC Briefing on SXSW 2018 Initiative
SUMMARY:
In 2016 & 2017, the City of San Antonio - through the Economic Development Department (EDD) and the Department of Arts & Culture, along with a number of economic development, government, and nonprofit organizations - partnered to present San Antonio-themed programming at SXSW. In 2018, EDD is supporting Tech Bloc in establishing a presence at the SXSW Job Market. The booth will highlight San Antonio’s quality of life and strong job opportunities to attract skilled workers for hard-to-fill technology positions in San Antonio, and falls in line with the key issues identified in the community’s economic development strategy, Forefront SA.
BACKGROUND:
The annual SXSW Music, Film, and Interactive Festival in Austin, TX attracts an audience with an interest in innovation, entrepreneurship, technology, arts, and culture. With 75,000 registered trade show visitors and 13,000 job market attendees in 2017, the festival is a prime opportunity to showcase the many ways in which San Antonio is thriving.
In 2017, in preparation for our SXSW activation, EDD organized a series of stakeholder meetings and conference calls with community partners including leadership from the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, Visit San Antonio, the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, Launch SA, the City’s Department of Arts & Culture, Geekdom, and Tech Bloc, intending to gather feedback on past SXSW activations and to compile recommendations for future participation that would result in meaningful and measurable outcomes for the San Antonio community.
During these discussions, all community partners expressed a desire for a highly targeted approach to SXSW. The group recommended a stronger focus on the job market, given Tech Bloc’s positive experience in 2017, when they were able to collect more than 200 resumes from attendees who expressed a willingness to move to San Antonio for the right job opportunity.
The working group also agreed to collaborate on a long-term strategy to include an expanded job market presence and other targeted approaches for future SXSW festivals and other events.
In 2018, support from the City will assist Tech Bloc in creating a modular booth that can be reused at future events. Tech Bloc will act as a liaison to local industry, staff the booth during the event, and provide meaningful post-event follow-up with identified candidates.
ISSUE:
EDD is supporting Tech Bloc’s 2018 SXSW Job Market Initiative with $23,000 from the Economic Development Incentive Fund (EDIF), in line with the EDIF Guidelines which allow for the allocation of EDIF dollars for efforts that promote growth in the targeted industries, as well as targeted projects in support of entrepreneurial and workforce development.
RECOMMENDATION:
This item is a staff briefing and requires no recommendation.