After launching her own website last year, Cyan Grandison plans to spend her Spring Break growing that site into a media outlet at South By Southwest. And she’s not alone: in recent years, Syracuse University students have been added to the list of those basking in the array of SXSW’s festivities.

SXSW is an annual interactive media festival that features film and music conferences and concerts in Austin, Texas. It has grown immensely in size since its inception in 1987.

SU is sending groups of students from the College of Visual and Performing Arts and the School of Information Studies to the festival. The group is comprised of 37 VPA students from the Bandier Program for Music and the Entertainment Industries and additional iSchool students who will also be participating in the week’s events.

Grandison, a senior information management and technology major, is attending the festival to combine her love for entertainment journalism with her desire to grow within her major. Her website, TheDaily411.com, is an entertainment website that provides daily news about Hollywood stories. Grandison hopes that this experience will turn her site into its own media outlet.

“By attending SXSW, hopefully this will open the door for other business ventures for The Daily 411 and for me personally,” Grandison said. “This is also a chance for me to learn from other media professionals who have already established themselves in the business, who can give me more insight on how I can grow my website and break into the entertainment industry.”

Grandison will also be a panelist for the BiTHouse panel, “Your Voice Matters.”  BiTHouse, a business development cultivator for minority entrepreneurs to learn, fund, launch and promote their own websites, is sponsoring the panel to mentor about how social media and marketing provokes leadership diversity.

Grandison said she is thrilled to take part in the opportunity. “Hopefully, we can inspire someone to come up with a unique idea that will change the game for technology,” she said.

Kelly Benini, a senior Bandier major, will be attending for her fourth consecutive year at the interactive festival this Spring Break. Benini said the experience offers a great way to see a variety of musical acts in a five-day period.

While it is an unconventional way to spend Spring Break, Benini said in an email that, “As a senior at SU, two months out from graduation — I couldn’t think of a better way spend my Spring Break.”

Benini, who is also a member of the University Union staff as the executive director, said that the experience will offer a chance for her to make connections for SU and beyond.

“All of my industry connections from the past four years normally attend the conference (and attending) makes it easier to reconnect with those professionals who will be able to help me secure a job upon graduation.” She added: “I will be scouting artists for University Union.”

Blair Shulman, one of Benini’s fellow UU members, is another Bandier program student attending SXSW.  The sophomore music and entertainment industries major said in an email that the Spring Break experience at SXSW is an amazing way to get your foot in the door when it comes to the music business.

Aside from seeing some of the diverse artists like Sam Smith, BANKS, Martin Garrix and The 1975 at SXSW concerts, Shulman is excited to attend the “Back 2 School Special: Truth Behind College Buying” panel.

Said Shulman: “There are so many important people from every facet of the industry who attend SXSW.”

Published on March 4, 2014 at 12:56 am

Contact Lauren: ljporter@syr.edu