SXSW Officials Clarify Policy Related To International Acts Amid Immigration Debate [UPDATED]

AUSTIN, TX — Facing growing backlash after an international artist pulled out of performing next week, SXSW officials issued a statement on Friday repudiating Donald Trump's efforts to curb immigration and block Muslims from entering the U.S.

"SXSW opposes discrimination of any kind, and has taken a public stand against President Trump’s travel ban and proposed legislation like SB6 in Texas," SXSW organizers wrote. "We have and will continue to support human rights for all. In this political climate, especially as it relates to immigration, we recognize the heightened importance of standing together against injustice."

The statement comes after Felix Walworth, a musician in the bands Told Slant, Eskimeaux and Bellows, announced Thursday he was backing out of performing at the upcoming music and arts festival. To make his point, he tweeted a photo of a portion of performers' contracts outlining steps festival organizers take if an artist behaves in an objectionable manner while an official SXSW act — including notification of immigration officials.

"After looking through this contract sent to me by SXSW, I have decided to cancel Told Slant's performance at the festival," Walworth wrote in a tweet.

Don Giovanni Records followed suit, saying artists may have to be pulled from performing at SXSW unless the contract language is revised.

"This year, you have put on a showcase featuring artists from countries listed in the Muslim ban," Joe Steinhardt of Giovanni Records said in a subseqent letter. "The language in your artist agreements should reflect your support of these artists rather than besiege them. Please do the right thing and adjust your language to appropriately reflect the current political climate.”

Since then, a group of 50 artists — including the bands BTTM, Girlpool, Shannon and the Clams and musicians Kimya Dawson and Ted Leo — penned a letter to SXSW condemning the rules overseeing international acts.

"As artists and part of the musical community of SXSW, we’re outraged to learn that the festival has been threatening artists who are not U.S. citizens with targeted immigration enforcement and deportation for playing at unofficial showcases," the letter reads in part. "In light of recent attacks on immigrant communities, this practice is particularly chilling. We are calling on SXSW to immediately drop this clause from their contract, and cease any collusion with immigration officials that puts performers in danger."

But organizers pushed back against the allegation that they notify immigration authorities to have performers removed: "SXSW has never reported anyone to any immigration authorities, including Customs & Border Protection (CBP), the agency that deals with participating artists entering the United States," organizers wrote. "Participation from individuals and organizations who bring a different perspective — especially those who travel from all over the world — to Austin each March is what makes SXSW a special event."

Instead, festival organizers said they are helping to facilitate international acts toward a seamless arrival to Austin ahead of the week-long festival.

"We have been coordinating with international acts coming to SXSW to try and mitigate issues at U.S. ports of entry, and will continue to build a coalition of attorneys to assist any who face problems upon arrival in the States," SXSW organziers wrote. "The language in our Performance Agreement is intended to facilitate U.S. entry for international artists and to show CBP that SXSW takes visa issues seriously."

Officials noted the language in the contract was inserted four years ago, but may be amended to next year's festival: "This language has been part of the contracts since the summer of 2013, and we will be reviewing and amending it for 2018 and beyond. In regards to the situation surrounding Told Slant, before we had clarity on the situation we believed this artist had taken our language out of context. We apologize for this error."

From March 2:

AUSTIN, TX — SXSW officials have been thrust into the ongoing immigration debate over contract details related to U.S. entry of international artists, and it's not music to organizers' ears.

At least one band has announced a pullout in participating in the massive arts and music festival 2017 South by Southwest after reviewing contract terms to which international artists must abide. The kerfuffle was sparked on Thursday after Felix Walworth, a musician in the bands Told Slant, Eskimeaux and Bellows, tweeted a photo of his contract for the festival that starts next week in Austin.

"After looking through this contract sent to me by SXSW, I have decided to cancel Told Slant's performance at the festival," Walworth wrote in a tweet.

Accompanying his missive was a snippet of the contract terms determining organizers' actions should an artist behave in a manner that compromises "...the viability of their official SXSW showcase," which includes notifying immigration officials for artists from abroad.

The tweet from the artist has been shared hundreds of times in a matter of mere hours since its original posting. But SXSW officials were quick to refute the artist's assertions, suggesting the contract terms were selectively chosen to present more severe punitive action related to artist behavior.

SXSW managing director Roland Swenson said Thursday afternoon the language posted to Twitter comes from “two different parts of the artist agreement” that were pasted together to portray what he called “a much worse impression than what is real," Austin 360, a blog run by the Austin American-Statesman, reported.

The lower section of the tweet citing rules for international artists entering the country through various non-work visa programs, is merely SXSW “telling the acts what immigration (authorities) would do” if terms of the visa were violated, Swenson explained.
“Most South by Southwest acts are able to perform here on the condition that they’re not getting paid and they’re not doing any other shows than ours, “Swenson said. “That keeps them from having to go through getting a work visa and all that, which is time consuming and expensive.”

But the controversy is far from over, and other artists are expressing some measure of dismay over the rules. The controversy comes at a time when Immigration Customs and Enforcement officials have upped their enforcement of immigration policy, and have readied more than 50 people for deportation in raids that have taken place in the city for the past three weeks.

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