Hackney Council confirms Hackney House Austin plans for SXSW cancelled
Hackney Council has confirmed the cancellation of its annual venue at SXSW, Hackney House Austin, just weeks before the festival take place.
The Drum understands that the annual venue, which aims to promote the tech companies working in the London borough, has been forced to pull its plans after failing to achieve the required level of sponsorship.
A Council spokesperson said: "We are disappointed to confirm that for 2015, Hackney House Austin will not be taking place. This is due to a short-fall in funding despite the offer of time and sponsorship by a number of generous Hackney businesses and partners."
They continued: "Over the last two years, Hackney House Austin generated an estimated £18m of investment from a range of businesses whilst enabling the borough to forge close working relationships with Austin and the Norwegian capital Oslo that was celebrated last year with Oslo meets Hackney 14', which for the second year running saw an industry delegation from Oslo host a number of events in Hackney in December ‘14’.”
Last year, the venue saw sponsorship come from major companies such as British Airways, Stella Artois, Absolut, the V&A and Nordic Connection among several others.