Inside the world of SXSW

SAN MARCOS, Texas – With Texas State University hosting Mass Comm Week, Texas State alumni Chris Cantu and Pam Renteria talked about what it’s like to work for Austin’s famous South by South West (SXSW).

In March, SXSW is put on by the city of Austin for about ten days. This festival shows live music, films, social media and new upcoming games. According to Renteria, SXSW’s gaming marketing specialist, this festival is a great way to get discovered.

“South by South West is very forward thinking,” said Renteria. “It launches a lot of different aspects of life, in a sense, and a lot of brands. It helps a lot of products get introduced, and also a lot of people get discovered at South by. For gaming, which is what I do, a lot are discovered and it allows people there to try it out and talk to the creators.”

Cantu and Renteria’s day-to-day life is all about social media. Both employees of SXSW help run their department’s social media. Renteria has worked for SXSW for only a month, so, for now, she is still experimenting on how her audience reacts to some social media posts. As for Cantu, it is all about trial and error.

“As a social media manager, I have to understand there is no one size fits all,” said Cantu. “For us, I have to work with every part of this company from the sales team to the programming team.  The biggest part of my job though is working with my team to help me develop our content.”

To work for SXSW, Cantu and Renteria, highly recommend volunteering or interning for this festival. In November, the signup sheet will be posted on their website for anyone who wants to volunteer. People who are interested can volunteer for music, films, or gaming. As for internships, SXSW are always accepting resumes in any department. Alexandra Briggs, a Texas State digital media innovation student, said she is wanting to finally apply to the SXSW internship.

“I was scared to apply last year,” said Briggs. “I could not tell you why I was scared, I just talked myself out of apply to their internship. However, this year, after listening to them speak more about it, I am determined to apply for another internship at SXSW since it is my last year too.”

By: Alex Urbanczyk