There’s been a major change at the top over at South by Southwest. The longtime director, who’d been with the festival for more than 30 years and had been president since 2024, suddenly stepped down on Friday. Yep, no warning, just gone.
Fast forward to Tuesday, and the mystery is solved. Jenny Connelly made it official with a LinkedIn post, saying, “I’m happy to announce that after 3+ years on the SXSW board of directors, I’m now working as Director in Charge of SXSW.” So there you have it, she’s the new head honcho.
If the name sounds familiar, it’s probably because Jenny works at Penske Media Corp. (PMC), which owns a chunk of SXSW. Her move to the top spot wasn’t exactly a surprise to folks who’ve been paying attention. A spokesperson confirmed that her official title is now “director-in-charge.”
Right after Jenny posted her update, Billboard (which, yep, is also owned by Penske) dropped a story about it, several days after buzz about the previous director’s exit and some reported layoffs started making the rounds.
Now, if you’re wondering whether Jenny or PMC gave any heads-up about this leadership change earlier, nope. Messages sent to Jenny on Sunday got crickets, and the PMC media team wasn’t exactly chatty either. They did, however, call out some earlier reports about the leadership shake-up and Forrest’s departure as “inaccurate and false.”
So what’s next for SXSW under Jenny’s leadership? That remains to be seen. But one thing’s clear: the iconic Austin festival is entering a whole new era.
So here’s where things get a little murky. According to Billboard, Hugh Forrest, who’s basically been part of the SXSW DNA for more than 35 years, was given the option to stay. The catch? He’d have to report to Jenny Connelly. Apparently, he wasn’t down with that.
Billboard quotes a PMC spokesperson saying, “When Hugh was told he wasn’t going to get the CEO role at SXSW, and would be reporting to her, Hugh made the decision to leave SXSW.” Sounds simple, right?
But Forrest isn’t letting that narrative fly. He clapped back in a statement to the American-Statesman, saying, “I was fired on Friday morning.” He added that leaving SXSW wasn’t his call. So… yeah, there’s definitely some corporate drama simmering beneath the surface.
Meanwhile, changes are already hitting next year’s festival. A month ago, PMC announced that SXSW 2026 will have a shorter schedule. That second weekend, which has historically been all about music, is getting trimmed down. No word yet on exactly what that means for artists and fans, but it’s definitely a shift.
In her LinkedIn post, Connelly made it clear she’s deep in the trenches already. “I’m traveling to Austin every week,” she wrote, “working with a killer group of dedicated, creative & skilled people who throw the world’s most influential festival.”
She also teased a bit of vision for the future, saying, “We are dreaming up the evolution of this event, so that SXSW never stops helping creative people achieve their goals.” Sounds ambitious, and maybe necessary, given all the industry changes.
Trying to balance out the headlines, PMC pointed out that SXSW 2025 was actually a financial win. They boasted about record-breaking sponsorship revenue and the largest SXSW EDU conference ever. In the same breath, they mentioned that there are currently four open jobs at SXSW, although only three are listed on the official site right now: product manager for sales and partnerships, senior social media manager, and experience design manager.
The fourth position? Head of comedy programming—a role that wasn’t even posted yet, despite rumors of layoffs hitting the Comedy team and parts of programming. Coincidence? Hmm.
PMC also revealed that Peter Lewis has been promoted to chief partnerships and strategy officer, signaling even more leadership shifts in the works.
