Showtime is set to celebrate three of their original programs at this year’s South by Southwest Festival.
The network is bringing SMILF, The Chi and Shameless to the SXSW Conference and Festivals from Thursday, March 15th through Saturday, March 17th with art, food and music at The Showtime House at Clive Bar on Rainey Street in Austin, Texas. The three-day lineup will include performances by Princess Nokia, RUN-DMC’s Darryl DMC McDaniels And WAVVES.
On Thursday, March 15th, Showtime will feature a diverse lineup of female-fronted bands across multiple genres including rising teenage indie rocker Snail Mail and experimental violinist and vocalist Sudan Archives, in honor of the Golden Globe nominated comedy SMILF. Frankie Shaw, who recently received a Golden Globe nomination for her role in the hit comedy series, will make a special appearance introducing headliner Princess Nokia whose music was featured on the show.
Friday the 16th will be dedicated to the hit drama The Chi with food from Harold’s Chicken Shack in Chicago, a custom sneaker gallery, Chicago graffiti art and featuring live hip hop artists. Chicago-based artist Joey Purp will perform, along with Lee Fields & the Expressions whose music is featured on the series. Star Jacob Latimore will introduce RUN-DMC’s Darryl DMC McDaniels who is set to perform a DJ set to conclude the rousing night. For fans of the series headed to the festival early, creator and executive producer Lena Waithe, executive producer Common and actors Jason Mitchell and Jacob Latimore will be participating in a conversation about The Chi on Monday, March 12th.
And finally, what better way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day than with the beloved Gallagher family? The Showtime House will transform into an “Alibi Bar” pop up, where SXSW badge holders can party like a Gallagher with drinks served by Shameless stars Shanola Hampton and Steve Howey. Musical acts include Low Cut Connie, Tank and The Bangas and headliners WAVVES.
For all three days, The Showtime House will also be the official home to Betches at SXSW, offering a custom “Basic Betch” cocktail, free SWAG and live social media commentary.
As if fans need more incentive to come out, Showtime will be giving out 100 gift cards to the Showtime service for the first 100 guests entering the venue for each day of the event. Outside of Clive Bar, the network will also have digital vending machines filled with merchandise that fans can receive for free when they sign up for the Showtime streaming service. One of the top vending machine offers will be a free Roku Streaming Stick.
For the sixth consecutive year, the Showtime brand will be front and center at the festival through the official sponsorship of the multi-platform SXSW GO app, as well as the Film, Interactive and Music Festival’s shuttle buses and the official SXSW bag. The network is also taking over the city-wide bike share program, branding over 60 stations in Austin and offering a valet service at select locations over the two weekends of the festival. Additionally, Showtime will be one of two presenting sponsors of the official SXSW Snapchat filter during the festival.
SXSW Festival & Conferences runs from March 9th-18th in Austin, Texas.
Any fans of the network headed out to Austin in March? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
