SXSW Conference Announces New Panels

SXSW Music nabbed the morning headlines with the unveiling of a second keynote speaker and 200-plus acts on the 2017 bill. But the conference also dropped a few non-Music speakers into the mix today, including a Muslim journalist who started a movement and a producing powerhouse who co-parented a Terminator.

First-generation Libyan American Noor Tagouri ruffled some feathers in September when she appeared in Playboy – fully clothed, in a hijab, and challenging preconceived notions about what TV news reporters should look like in America. At the March conference, the 22-year-old activist (#LetNoorShine) and Newsy.com reporter will take part in a conversation with Shiza Shahid, who co-founded the Malala Fund with Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and Malala’s father, and now runs NOW Ventures, which provides seed money to start-ups looking to effect positive change in the world.

Meanwhile in SXSW Conference’s Film & TV Industry Track, the subject of How to Make Art, Pay the Rent, and Survive Piracy is what’s putting celebrated producer Gale Anne Hurd (The Terminator, The Walking Dead), producer and founder/president of Film Colony Richard Gladstein (The Hateful Eight), and Creative Future CEO Ruth Vitale on the same panel.

Also announced today: Shake Up the Industry by Entertaining With Empathy featuring actor/activists Rainn Wilson (The Office's Dwight Schrute) and Justin Baldoni (Jane the Virgin's Rafael), and Dr. Dieter Zetsche in conversation, in which the head of Mercedes-Benz Cars Division will discuss “the ever growing importance and opportunities of maps for future mobility.”

This year, SXSW is emphasizing the intersectionality of its 24 far-ranging conference tracks, including Intelligent Future, Music Influencers, Social Impact, Sports, and VR/AR. Not sure what badge is right for you? SXSW has an online quiz that can help you narrow it down.

Read more about today’s additions as well as previously announced SXSW 2017 speakers like filmmaker Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), “management thinker” Adam Grant, and Mt. Everest photographer Cory Richards, at SXSW.com. The 2017 SXSW Conference and Festivals runs March 10-19.