Opinion: Wealth inequality crashes a celebration of culture, art and innovation at SXSW Sydney

I speak about wealth inequality a lot. I’ve said it’s humanity’s greatest threat; that it prevents 10 of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, that it drives the political extremes kicking the legs out from under our democracy and fuels the hellscape that is the public discourse in 2023. 

I’ve asked: why bother fixing climate for a future only a few of us can afford to live in?

The problem with these statements is that they’re too big. Especially that question. They’re too big for people to relate to and feel like they can change when they’re busy going about their lives, trying to pay their bills, trying to be happy, and maybe, just maybe, trying to get away on that holiday that seems harder and harder to save for every year (because it is). 

So when I saw wealth inequality in a bite sized chunk this month I was saddened, but also excited. Excited, because I had an example people could see, feel and grasp, but saddened because the example itself was found amidst a celebration of culture, art and innovation — the very things we most need to address inequalities.

This week SXSW, “one of the biggest cultural events in the world”, will occur in Sydney, the first time ever outside its home of Austin, Texas.

SXSW is, according to event managing director Colin Daniels, “the World’s Fair for creative content industries….The Olympics of Festivals”. The ABC calls it “the festival for big industry moments”.

Twitter was launched at SXSW in 2007. An exiled Edward Snowden gave the keynote in 2014. It’s where Al Gore goes to talk about the extinction event we’re trying desperately to prevent, and where former Presidents, celebrities and thought leaders jostle to appear on opening night. It’s a meeting of all the minds that influence changes most difficult to achieve, and which need all the support they can find. 

It’s a place where multiple Walkley Award-winning journalist Tracey Spicer will talk about how AI is excluding women from a narrative that will soon impact the world. It’s where Techstars managing director Kirstin Hunter, an incredible advocate for equality in the startups that shape our future, will share her important message on 3 separate panels. It’s where Craig Blair, the co-founder of the country’s biggest venture capital firm, Airtree, will talk about what they invest in and why, which is invaluable information for young people with ideas that can change the world.

It’s where I will present my panel, Finance Industry Emergency: A Threat To Our Future, and discuss with a bank CEO, professor and financial educator, how the finance industry is the biggest contributor to wealth inequality in the world and how we must act to change it. 

In so many inarguable ways, SXSW Sydney is the very place where inequality should be least welcome. And yet it is core to the festival.

It will cost you $1,895 to buy a ticket to hear all of the above people talk and attend all that is offered over the week-long festival. Or, in terms felt by the people who can’t afford to attend, a month’s rent.

In an article explaining SXSW Sydney, ABC journalist Genevieve Dwyer picked up on this problem when she posed a question for readers, ‘Can I go? Is it open to the public?’ before answering, “Yes and no. While it is targeted at the creative industries, tickets are open to the public — but not necessarily at accessible prices”

As Dwyer rightly picked up on, all of the above people, and so many more with invaluable stories, will be heard by rooms full of wealthy people that the most important stories affect the least.

According to event organisers, 60% of the people appearing at SXSW Sydney have flown in from overseas, so important are the stories they have to share — stories that will be limited in impact by the audience they’ll be shared with.

Dozens of people not afforded access to SXSW Sydney have asked participants if their sessions will be filmed, so that they and others can be a part of important stories that affect everyone. When told that they wouldn’t be, that SXSW Sydney is not allowing them to be – a last-minute policy reversal – every single one of those people said “oh… I so want to be there, but I can’t afford it”. 

This is a perfectly condensed, perfectly real example of how wealth inequality limits the world. It stops people from doing the things that matter most to them and stops people from doing things that matter because of them. 

The people most passionate about culture, art and innovation in our society are often those who ‘just can’t afford it’. The least wealthy are the people who most need to hold onto such things, to draw value from the role they can play in improving their lives, and the hope that comes with that. These are the people who rely on the promise of culture, art and innovation to give them what others can find in the choices that wealth provides. And yet, as this past weekend confirmed for all Australians, the people most needed in these conversations are so readily the ones excluded.

There are many solutions to these issues at SXSW Sydney and I don’t know why they haven’t been pursued. All I know is that when I read the mission of the actual Olympics, I’m not sure SXSW Sydney has earned the right to call itself the Olympics of anything…

This isn’t an attack on SXSW Sydney or its incredible team of organisers; they’re to be applauded. And, I very much hope they’ll still let me speak there this week. But, if they don’t, I’ll miss out on hearing Tracey, and Kirstin, and Craig, and all of the incredible voices that influence my future, because I have rent to pay.

Perhaps next year we’ll do a panel outside the event, and invite everyone who can’t afford to get inside. Or, perhaps next year SXSW Sydney will find a more inclusive way to celebrate — an innovation of its own that everyone can be part of.

After all, that’s what SXSW is all about, making next year better. Especially for those who can’t afford to be in the room. 

Kane Jackson is the co-founder of fintech Maslow.