Rapper Jeleel! performs in 2023 at the South by Southwest Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas. (Patrick Quiring)

AUSTIN, Texas — The Army and companies that make weapons have been dropped as sponsors of the South by Southwest Conference and Festival after more than 100 artists and performers protested military participation in the event.

“After careful consideration, we are revising our sponsorship model,” festival organizers said in a statement posted to their website. “As a result, the U.S. Army, and companies who engage in weapons manufacturing, will not be sponsors of SXSW 2025.”

The Austin festival is held annually in March to celebrate music, film, education, technology and culture and has increasingly in recent years had participation from the Army, other service branches and defense industry giants including Collins Aerospace, BAE Systems and RTX, formerly known as Raytheon.

The combination of the Army signing on as a 2024 “super sponsor” and the ongoing war in Israel with Hamas militants drew heavy criticism earlier this year from artists and pro-Palestine organizations.

“This is a tremendous win accomplished by the hard work of activists and the principled artists who withdrew their labor in protest of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza,” the Austin for Palestine Coalition, a local advocacy group, wrote in a statement. “We commend SXSW for listening to the demands of the artists.”

The nine-day festival, which began in 1987, is now attended annually by roughly 300,000 people, according to the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau. The 2024 event included nearly 1,200 artists and performers and hosted world premieres for the movies “The Fall Guy,” “Civil War,” and “Road House.”

Past keynote speakers have included former President Barack Obama, actress and director Olivia Wilde and author Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth and Army Futures Command Gen. James Rainey attend the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, on March 9, 2024. The Army participated in the event as a sponsor. (Katie Smith/Army Futures Command)

Army Futures Command has been based in Austin since 2018 and has been involved with the festival in some form every year since. Some of the 2024 Army-hosted events included a discussion about the future of power, another about the “greatest innovator in the history of the world,” and a talk about tech in the Army with Army Secretary Christine Wormuth and Gen. James Rainey, commander of Army Futures Command.

Some of the Army’s bands and the Army eSports Team also participated in events. Participants had a chance to try out the Army Combat Fitness Test as well.

A joint group of innovation units from across the Defense Department has also hosted an event throughout the festival titled “This is Our House,” which featured battling robots, a flight simulator, talk of electric tactical vehicles and a forum on psychedelics for treating post-traumatic stress disorder. At night it transformed into a concert space with SPIN magazine.

“We appreciated the opportunity to join South by Southwest in 2024,” Lt. Col. Jamie Dobson, spokeswoman for Army Futures Command, said in a statement. “With U.S. Army Futures Command headquartered in Austin, we value any opportunity to join with our community to ignite discovery and make new connections.”

Despite the Army being dropped from SXSW, Dobson said the service will “continue to seek opportunities to meet technology innovators and leaders, explore new ideas and insights, and create dynamic industry partnerships because tomorrow is worth protecting.”