The first round of artist and speakers added to next year’s South By South West (SXSW) festival have been announced, and the local contingent is mighty strong.

The Australian and New Zealand acts set to perform are:

Bad Pony (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Brightness (Newcastle AUSTRALIA)
Castlecomer (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Cursed Earth (Perth AUSTRALIA)
Stella Donnelly (Fremantle AUSTRALIA)
Fatai (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Ruby Fields (Cronulla AUSTRALIA)
Fis and Rob Thorne (Palmerston North NEW ZEALAND)
Gang of Youths (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Hatchie (Brisbane AUSTRALIA)
Jade Imagine (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Benji Lewis (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Dean Lewis (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Lolo Lovina (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Sloan Peterson (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Jess Ribeiro (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
RVG (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Stonefield (Macedon Ranges AUSTRALIA)
Totally Mild (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Voyager (Perth AUSTRALIA)
Marlon Williams (Christchurch NEW ZEALAND)

With Ruby Fields, Stella Donnelly, Hatchie and Brightness all stand-outs at this year’s BIGSOUND conference in Brisbane, and with ARIA nominated acts Gang of Youths and Dean Lewis also on the bill, SXSW 2018 will see Australia represented in fine form indeed.

Also headed to Austin, Texas in March will be our very own Keith Urban – if you count New Zealand as part of Australia like Americans often do). Urban has been announced on the speaker lineup to wax cultural as part of ‘Music Culture and Stories,’ one of 24 tracks of programming under SXSW’s Interactive, Film, Music and Convergence groupings.

While he hasn’t been listed on the showcase lineup, we’ve got our fingers and eyes crossed for a Keith Urban serenade. Urban last played at SXSW in 2014 as part of an iTunes event at ACL Live.

Applications for artists to perform at SXSW 2018 (March 9-18) are being accepted until October 20.

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FULL LIST OF SXSW 2018 SHOWCASING ARTISTS (FIRST ROUND)

Ace Tee (Hamburg GERMANY)
Aero Flynn (Minneapolis MN)
Altre di B (Bologna ITALY)
Antytila (Kyiv UKRAINE)
Aries (Bilbao SPAIN)
Automelodi (Montreal CANADA)
Avatar Darko (Seattle WA)
Bad Moves (Washington DC)
Bad Pony (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Alice Bag (Los Angeles CA)
Lee Bains III + The Glory Fires (Birmingham AL)
Bajaga and Instruktori (Belgrade SERBIA)
Baywaves (Madrid SPAIN)
Benin City (London UK-ENGLAND)
Dan Bettridge (Bridgend UK-WALES)
The Bishops (Austin TX)
Blackberries (Solingen GERMANY)
Blood Wine or Honey (Hong Kong CHINA)
Boogat (Montreal CANADA)
Moses Boyd Solo Exodus (London UK-ENGLAND)
Brightness (Newcastle AUSTRALIA)
The Britanys (New York NY)
Abraham Brody (Vilnius LITHUANIA)
Marla Brown (London UK-ENGLAND)
Buddy (Compton CA)
C-Kan (Guadalajara MEXICO)
Dylan Cameron (Austin TX)
Fabrizio Cammarata (Palermo ITALY)
Cape Francis (Brooklyn NY)
Castlecomer (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
ChihiroYamazaki+ROUTE14band (Tokyo JAPAN)
CIFIKA (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Cilantro Boombox (Austin TX)
Cirkus Funk (Cali COLOMBIA)
C.Macleod (Stornoway UK-SCOTLAND)
Kelvyn Colt (Bingen GERMANY)
Coma Pony (Chihuahua MEXICO)
Crumb (Brooklyn NY)
Cursed Earth (Perth AUSTRALIA)
Curved Light (Austin TX)
Cut Worms (Brooklyn NY)
Mikaela Davis (Rochester NY)
Jarv Dee (Seattle WA)
Helena Deland (Montreal CANADA)
Deluxe (Aix-En-Provence FRANCE)
Dirgahayu (Kuala Lumpur MALAYSIA)
Stella Donnelly (Fremantle AUSTRALIA)
Keelan Donovan (Portland ME)
Joey Dosik (Los Angeles CA)
Draper (London UK-ENGLAND)
DYGL (Tokyo JAPAN)
El Otro Borges (Buenos Aires ARGENTINA)
El Otro Grupo (Santa Marta COLOMBIA)
Farina (Medellin COLOMBIA)
Fatai (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
FAVX (Madrid SPAIN)
Charlie Faye & The Fayettes (Austin TX)
Ruby Fields (Cronulla AUSTRALIA)
Fis and Rob Thorne (Palmerston North NEW ZEALAND)
The Fish Police (London UK-ENGLAND)
Flyte (London UK-ENGLAND)
The Foreign Resort (Copenhagen DENMARK)
Forever (Montreal CANADA)
FOXTRAX (New York NY)
Francobollo (London UK-ENGLAND)
Freedom Hawk (Virginia Beach VA)
Fuglar (Santiago CHILE)
GANGES (Madrid SPAIN)
Gang of Youths (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Nubya Garcia (London UK-ENGLAND)
Samantha Glass (Madison WI)
William Harries Graham (Austin TX)
Grand Analog (Toronto CANADA)
Grandchildren (Philadelphia PA)
Greenbeard (Austin TX)
Grim Streaker (Brooklyn NY)
Grupo Rebolu (Colombia NY)
Gulfer (Montreal CANADA)
Gurr (Berlin GERMANY)
Sinead Harnett (London UK-ENGLAND)
Hatchie (Brisbane AUSTRALIA)
Hater (Malmo SWEDEN)
Ashley Henry Trio (London UK-ENGLAND)
Higher Brothers (Chengdu CHINA)
The Homesick (Dokkum NETHERLANDS)
Honduras (Brooklyn NY)
Warren Hood (Austin TX)
Husky Loops (London UK-ENGLAND)
HUXLEE (Los Angeles CA)
IAMDDB (Manchester UK-ENGLAND)
Izzy True (Trumansburg NY)
Jade Imagine (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Joji (Tokyo JAPAN)
JP The Wavy (Tokyo JAPAN)
Keith Ape (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Sarah Klang (Gothenburg SWEDEN)
La Banda Morisca (Andalucía SPAIN)
Manu Lanvin (Lyon FRANCE)
Leather Girls (Austin TX)
Luna Lee (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Lethal Bizzle (London UK-ENGLAND)
Benji Lewis (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Dean Lewis (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
LNG/SHT (Cancun MEXICO)
Los Wilds (Madrid SPAIN)
Lolo Lovina (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Luneta Mágica (Manaus BRAZIL)
The Magnettes (Pajala SWEDEN)
Manatee Commune (Seattle WA)
Mannequin Pussy (Philadelphia PA)
Maréh (Cali COLOMBIA)
MARLENE (Stockholm SWEDEN)
Anna McClellan (Brooklyn NY)
MC Lars (Berkeley CA)
Melo Makes Music (Chicago IL)
Milk & Bone (Montreal CANADA)
Miqui Brightside (DJset) (Madrid SPAIN)
Mogli (Hamburg GERMANY)
Mothership (Dallas TX)
Museless (Barcelona SPAIN)
My Life as Ali Thomas (Bangkok THAILAND)
Hans Nayna (Mahebourg MAURITIUS)
Night Beats (Austin TX)
Not3s (Hackney UK-ENGLAND)
No Vacation (San Francisco CA)
October (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Nnamdi Ogbonnaya (Chicago IL)
Okey Dokey (Nashville TN)
ONR (Glasgow UK-SCOTLAND)
The Orielles (Halifax UK-ENGLAND)
Our Girl (London UK-ENGLAND)
The Outer Vibe (Nashville TN)
The Outfit, TX (Dallas TX)
Jay Park (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Partner (Windsor CANADA)
Peach Pit (Vancouver CANADA)
Sloan Peterson (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
pH-1 (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Phe Reds (Seattle WA)
Sara Pi (Barcelona SPAIN)
Plastic Picnic (Brooklyn NY)
pronoun (Brooklyn NY)
Punjabtronix (Bristol UK-ENGLAND)
Oliver Rajamani (Austin TX)
David Ramirez (Austin TX)
Rancho Aparte (Quibdó COLOMBIA)
Ratboys (Chicago IL)
Gemma Ray (Berlin GERMANY)
Lou Rebecca (Paris FRANCE)
*repeat repeat (Nashville TN)
Jess Ribeiro (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Rich Chigga (Jakarta INDONESIA)
R.LUM.R. (Nashville TN)
Lucy Rose (London UK-ENGLAND)
Rude Kid (London UK-ENGLAND)
RVG (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Salem’s Bend (Los Angeles CA)
Sammus (Ithaca NY)
sarasara (Lille FRANCE)
Sassy 009 (Oslo NORWAY)
Say Sue Me (Busan SOUTH KOREA)
Ed Schrader’s Music Beat (Baltimore MD)
Shamir (Las Vegas NV)
Shopping (London UK-ENGLAND)
Sik-k (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Silibrina (São Paulo BRAZIL)
Raz Simone (Seattle WA)
Smut (Cincinnati OH)
Snail Mail (Baltimore MD)
Sonars (Bergamo ITALY)
SPORTS (Philadelphia PA)
SsingSsing (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
Steak (London UK-ENGLAND)
Stefflon Don (London UK-ENGLAND)
Stonefield (Macedon Ranges AUSTRALIA)
Sturle Dagsland (Stavanger NORWAY)
Sun Seeker (Nashville TN)
Surfbort (Brooklyn NY)
Surma (Leiria PORTUGAL)
Talisco (Paris FRANCE)
Tennis System (Los Angeles CA)
Terry vs. Tori (Seville SPAIN)
Theodore (Athens GREECE)
TiKA (Toronto CANADA)
Adam Torres (Austin TX)
Totally Mild (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Touts (Derry UK-N. IRELAND)
Uni (New York NY)
Us and Us Only (Baltimore MD)
Dhruv Visvanath (New Delhi INDIA)
VOWWS (Los Angeles CA)
Voyager (Perth AUSTRALIA)
VVV (Austin TX)
Warbly Jets (Los Angeles CA)
The Watchers (San Francisco CA)
The Weather Station (Toronto CANADA)
The Wedding Present (Leeds UK-ENGLAND)
Jerry Williams (Portsmouth UK-ENGLAND)
Marlon Williams (Christchurch NEW ZEALAND)
Wo Fat (Dallas TX)
Woodie GoChild (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)
“World Music Unleashed” by SIPM (Austin TX)
Yemen Blues (Tel Aviv ISRAEL)
Yultron (Los Angeles CA)
Yungen (London UK-ENGLAND)
The Zephyr Bones (Barcelona SPAIN)
Violetta Zironi (Reggio Emilia ITALY)

SXSW 2018 KEYNOTE/FEATURED SPEAKER ADDITIONS

Keynotes

Darren Aronofsky (Film Keynote) – Brooklyn born and raised, Academy Award®-nominated director Darren Aronofsky is the founder of Protozoa Pictures. He is the writer and director of mother!. Last year, Aronofsky produced Jackie. He directed, co-wrote, and produced Noah (2014). Before that he directed the indie box office phenomenon, Black Swan (2010). It starred Natalie Portman who won an Academy Award® for her performance. Aronofsky directed and produced The Wrestler (2008). His earlier credits include directing and writing the acclaimed films: The Fountain (2006); Requiem for a Dream (2000); and Pi (1998).

Featured Speakers

Luvvie Ajayi (Social Impact) – Luvvie Ajayi is a New York Times best-selling author, speaker and digital strategist who thrives at the intersection of comedy, technology and activism. A fourteen-year blogging veteran, she is the voice behind Awesomely Luvvie, a widely-respected humor blog that covers everything pop culture – from TV, movies and technology to travel, race and life’s random adventures.

Steve Ballmer (Startup & Tech Sectors) – Steve Ballmer is co-founder of Ballmer Group and owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. Ballmer retired as Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft in 2014 after leading the company for nearly 14 years. He remains a significant investor. Through philanthropy and civic activism, Ballmer Group strengthens promising and proven approaches that increase economic mobility for children and families in the United States. Ballmer also leads USAFacts, a project seeking to improve transparency in government.

W. Kamau Bell (Social Impact) – W. Kamau Bell is a sociopolitical comedian based in The People’s Republic of Berkeley, Calif. Bell is the host of the Emmy Award-winning CNN Original Series United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell. The series also received an Emmy and a Television Critics Association Award nomination in its first season. The third season will premiere in 2018 on CNN.

Stefan Blom with Josh Constine (Sync, Stream & License) – Stefan Blom is Chief Content Officer at Spotify. In his role as CCO he has responsibility for the company’s content and distribution operations, including all licensing, programming, studios & original content, industry & creators relationships and products globally. Prior to his role at Spotify, Mr. Blom held senior positions at EMI Music, most recently as CEO and Chairman of the group’s Nordic operations, and prior to that as EVP Commercial Development in a global capacity. Josh Constine is the Editor-At-Large for TechCrunch where he specializes in deep analysis of social products.

Sandy Carter (Startup & Tech Sectors) – Sandy Carter is an AWS VP focused on Enterprise Workloads and helping companies with innovation. A leading pioneer in the digital business revolution, Sandy was a driving force of Innovation at IBM for the last decade. She is an extreme innovator and bestselling author with her 5th book Extreme Innovation, built on her research with Carnegie Mellon.

Ana Marie Cox, and Bree Newsome (Social Impact) – Ana Marie Cox is a political columnist and culture critic. She conducts the “Talk” interviews featured in The New York Times Magazine. She also hosts With Friends Like These, a podcast from Crooked Media. Bree Newsome is a community organizer and activist who removed the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina State House. Newsome rallies the spirit with her impassioned message about racial equality and illustrates how, with courage, zeal and the support of others, ordinary people can make an extraordinary difference.

Ira Glass (News & Journalism) – Ira Glass is the host and creator of the radio program and podcast This American Life. The show is heard each week by over 2.2 million listeners on more than 500 public radio stations in the United States, Australia and Canada, with another 2.5 million listening to the podcast. Under Glass’s editorial direction, This American Life has won the highest honors for broadcasting and journalistic excellence, including five Peabody awards.

Tristan Harris (Design) – Tristan Harris was previously a Design Ethicist at Google and left to lead Time Well Spent, a non-profit movement to align technology with our humanity. Time Well Spent aims to transform the race for attention by revealing how technology steers two billion people’s thoughts and choices, and by demonstrating how new incentives and design practices can transform our technology environment to align with our best interests. Harris has spent a decade researching what influences our minds, drawing on insights from sleight.

Hugh Herr, Aimee Mullins, and Professor Hans Georg Näder (Intelligent Future) – Time Magazine coined Dr. Hugh Herr the “Leader of the Bionic Age” because of his revolutionary work in the emerging field of Biomechatronics – technology that marries human physiology with electromechanics. Athlete and model Aimee Mullins became the first amputee in history to compete in the NCAA and was the first person ever to be outfitted with woven carbon fiber sprinting prostheses. Hans-Georg Naeder heads one of Germany’s largest orthopedic device makers, Otto Bock Group. The family business has worked with the Paralympics since 1988, producing hockey sledges and custom prosthetics for skiers, snowboarders and sprinters.

Yiying Lu (Design) – Yiying Lu was born in Shanghai China, Educated in Sydney Australia & London UK, now based in San Francisco Silicon Valley as a Creative Director. She is an award-winning artist and designer with more than 10 years of experience in the creative realm. Lu was named a “Top 10 Emerging Leader in Innovation” in the Microsoft Next 100 series.

David Marcus (Intelligent Future) – David Marcus is the Vice President of Messaging Products at Facebook responsible for Messenger, which is used by hundreds of millions of people around the world daily. David joined Facebook in 2014 from PayPal where he spent the previous two years as the company’s President and previously as Vice President of Mobile, leading its mobile products and business.

Bruce Mau (Design) – Bruce Mau is a brilliantly creative optimist whose love of thorny problems led him to create a methodology for whole system transformation. Twenty-five years in the business of design gave Bruce the practical, holistic insights for going into the design of business with his Massive Change Network five years ago. In doing so he laid the foundation for the new discipline of enterprise design, successfully applying his design thinking methodology to economic, cultural, governmental, environmental and social change.

Daniel H. Pink (Workplace) – Daniel H. Pink is the author of several books about management, work and behavioral science, including The New York Times bestsellers Drive, To Sell is Human, and A Whole New Mind. His books have won multiple awards and have been translated into 35 languages.

Brian Solis (Brands & Marketing) – Brian Solis is Principal Analyst and Futurist at Altimeter, the digital analyst group at Prophet and has been called one of the greatest digital analysts of our time by CMOs and CEOs of top brands. Additionally, Solis is an award-winning author of seven best-selling books including X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, What’s the Future of Business (WTF), and The End of Business as Usual.

Roy Spence (Workplace) – Roy Spence is the chairman and co-founder of the advertising agency GSD&M and author of the books The Amazing Faith of Texas and It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For: Why Every Extraordinary Business Is Driven By Purpose. Spence is also Co-Founder and CEO of The Purpose Institute which helps organizations and leaders discover and fulfill their purpose.

Keith Urban (Music Culture & Stories) – Keith Urban is a premier songwriter, vocalist, musician and virtuoso guitarist. Over the course of his career, Urban has earned four Grammy Awards, ten Country Music Association Awards, eleven Academy of Country Music Awards, a People’s Choice and an American Music Award. His eighth studio album, RIPCORD, produced four #1 songs, bringing Urban’s total of #1s to twenty-two. Having achieved platinum status in 2016, one of only two country artists to hit that mark, Urban extends his historic streak of nine platinum or multi-platinum albums.

Lawrence Wright (Government) – Lawrence Wright is a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of nine previous books of nonfiction, including In the New World, Remembering Satan, The Looming Tower, Going Clear, Thirteen Days in September, and The Terror Years, and one novel, God’s Favorite. His books have received many prizes and honors, including a Pulitzer Prize for The Looming Tower. His latest book, God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State, will be released in Spring 2018.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.