My thoughts go out to the people of Austin and everyone who is economically impacted by the decision,” Baumgart said on Monday. If they continued with the festival, it’s likely the experience would have been diminished by the fear and uncertainty of the coronavirus. “Although the news was devastating, I’m not surprised the city and organizers decided to cancel SXSW.
Baumgart, like so many others, is deeply disappointed. It’s the first time in 34 years that the massive art, music and technology festival won’t happen. Then came the announcement Friday that SXSW was canceled due to concerns over spread of the coronavirus. “I was near tears of excitement, but really it was just, ‘OK, we’ve got to get to work. I never thought it was actually going to happen,” Baumgart said last week. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, not just to perform but to network with others in the music industry and get his name out to the thousands of media members in attendance.
The 2007 Green Bay Southwest High School graduate who performs under the hip-hop name TeawhYB landed a spot as a showcasing artist, an honor that goes to fewer than 2,000 acts each year at a festival that draws from across the world. Green Bay native Tyler Baumgart was among the hundreds of thousands expected to descend on Austin, Texas, this weekend for South by Southwest.
