The festival on Monday morning (Feb. 24) announced Conversations About America’s Future, a two-day lineup in collaboration with The Texas Tribune featuring interviews with several Democratic presidential candidates including Senator Amy Klobuchar, Senator Elizabeth Warren and former U.S. housing secretary Julian Castro.
The event will feature speakers across the political spectrum. Also on the lineup are former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, former Denver Governor John Hickenlooper, former Ohio Governor John Kasich, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind. Additional speakers are expected to be announced.
“There is no better place to have these important conversations about the future of our country and the many issues facing it than SXSW,” said SXSW chief programming officer Hugh Forrest. “Our audience is made up of a young and diverse group of people, who are savvy, smart early adopters from the creative industries and beyond. I couldn’t think of a better group to have participate in helping solve these complex problems.”
Several high-profile interviewers will take part in the series. Recode editor-at-large Kara Swisher will interview Klobuchar, BuzzFeed News editor-in-chief Ben Smith will interview Hickenlooper and HuffPost editor-in-chief Lydia Polgreen will interview Castro.
Conversations About America’s Future will take place March 9-10 at ACL Live at The Moody Theater. It adds to a politics-heavy SXSW lineup that includes speakers Stacey Abrams, Representatives Will Hurd and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Mazie Hirono.
SXSW takes places in Austin from March 8-17.