SXSW 2020

SXSW issues sweeping layoffs after festival canceled by City of Austin

SXSW is headquartered on Lavaca Street.

Photo courtesy of SXSW

Update: This story has been updated to include SXSW's official statement.

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Three days after its flagship 10-day festival was canceled by city officials, SXSW has begun layoffs. On Monday, March 9, the company, which is headquartered on Lavaca Street in downtown Austin, laid off about 30 percent of its employees, most of whom are reportedly in the SXSW Music sector.

The news was first reported by Elizabeth Findell, a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, and confirmed by CultureMap by a source with knowledge of the situation. In response, SXSW issued the following statement:

“Due to the City of Austin’s unprecedented and unexpected cancellation of the SXSW 2020 events in March, SXSW has been rigorously reviewing our operations, and we are in the unimaginable position of reducing our workforce. Today we said goodbye to approximately one-third of our full-time staff.”

"Those of us in the business of live events know the level of trust required to execute an event of SXSW’s scale, and we are deeply sad to let people go this soon. We are planning for the future and this was a necessary, but heartbreaking step.”

Despite its dramatic economic impact (the festival brought $355 million into the local economy last year), the decision to cancel SXSW amid fears of coronavirus was made on March 6 by Austin city officials.

Later that evening, SXSW co-founder Nick Barbaro told the Austin Chronicle that SXSW does not have insurance to cover communicable diseases, viruses, and pandemics. (Barbaro is also the publisher of the Chronicle.) This was reiterated by CEO Roland Swenson, who told the WSJ they were "unsure how they will keep the festival going" in the wake of the cancellation.

Despite the cancellation, many members of Austin's music community pledged to continue with non-SXSW sanctioned shows. They were dealt a blow on Monday, March 9, when the city issued the following statement:

"From now through May 1, events with 2,500 or more people are prohibited unless organizers are able to assure Austin Public Health (APH) that mitigation plans for infectious diseases are in place." Read that full statement here.

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This is a developing story.

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Top of the class

UT Austin ranks among best U.S. schools for entrepreneurship in 2025

UT Austin, University of Texas at Austin, top Texas schools, best public universities, best colleges

Photo by Alexander Williams on Unsplash

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The University of Texas at Austin has earned two top-10 spots on The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur’s lists of the best graduate and undergraduate schools for entrepreneurship studies for 2025.

UT Austin's McCombs School of Business ranks seventh in the graduate category, and UT ranks second in the undergraduate category.

The school is no stranger to the prestigious national lists. In the 2024 rankings, UT also appeared as No. 2 among undergraduate programs, and No. 6 in the ranking for the best graduate programs.

This year marks the fourth time that the school has landed in the top 5 on the undergraduate side, and the 12th time in 15 years that McCombs has made the top 10 among graduate programs in the annual ranking, UT notes in a news release.

The only other schools in Texas to make either top-10 list for 2025 were Rice University (No. 1 graduate school) and the University of Houston (No. 1 undergraduate program).

Rankings for The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur’s 2025 lists were based on a survey of administrators at nearly 300 schools in the U.S., Canada, and Europe that offer entrepreneurship studies. Among the more than 40 factors used for the rankings were academic programs, faculty credentials, mentorship opportunities, and alumni entrepreneurship ventures.

"If the focus of the MBA program at McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin were to be summed up in one word, it would be 'collaboration,'" reads the 2025 graduate schools report. "Students in more than 20 concentrations uniformly crow over its 'incredibly collaborative culture,' citing the 'supportive culture' as a top reason they ultimately picked the program. As a 'top 20 school,' the 'rigorous academic[s]' and 'focus on clean energy,' 'technology,' and 'entrepreneurship,' are other stand-out elements of the program."

The top 10 schools on the list of 50 best graduate schools for entrepreneurship studies in 2025 are:

1. Rice University
2. University of California-Los Angeles
3. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
4. Washington University in St. Louis
5. Babson College
6. University of Washington
7. University of Texas at Austin
8. University of Virginia
9. Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands
10. University of South Florida

The top 10 schools on the list of 50 best undergraduate schools for entrepreneurship studies in 2025 are:

1. University of Houston
2. University of Texas at Austin
3. Babson College
4. University of Washington
5. Washington University in St. Louis
6. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
7. University of Maryland-College Park
8. Miami University of Ohio
9. Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico
10. Northeastern University

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The story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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