South by South Lawn

Earlier this year, President Obama traveled to South by Southwest® for a conversation on civic engagement. In Austin, he called on creative thinkers and entrepreneurs from across the country to help tackle our toughest challenges. On Monday, October 3, we're celebrating that spirit of innovation at South by South Lawn, a White House festival of ideas, art, and action. At SXSL, we'll call on every American to roll up their sleeves and discover their own way to make a positive difference in our country. And it's an opportunity to celebrate the inspiring work so many Americans have already accomplished. So join us on October 3, no matter where you are. The festival will be streamed live on WhiteHouse.gov, Facebook.com/WhiteHouse, and sxsw.com/live. Join the conversation using #SXSL to share your ideas and tell us how you’ll make a difference in the world. In coordination with the American Film Institute (AFI), the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH), the National Park Foundation, and South by Southwest®, we’re excited to share the latest on what you can expect to see at SXSL –stay tuned for more updates! President Obama will join a conversation with Academy Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio and climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe about the importance of protecting the one planet we’ve got for future generations. Following the conversationattendees will watch the domestic premiere of DiCaprio’s new climate documentary film Before the Flood presented by National Geographic in a first-of-its-kind film screening on the South Lawn of the White House. SXSL will host panel discussions throughout the day that will explore how leaders in art, technology, food, innovation and social change are helping to move the country forward. Interactive booths will give attendees a hands-on opportunity to engage with and learn about new products and types of content that are transforming how we interact with our world. On the President’s desk there’s a plaque that reads, “Hard things are hard.”  For artist James Turrell and architect David Adjaye, taking on the hard work has motivated them to push physical limits, build audacious structures, and consistently challenge the standards of art and architecture. For over half a century, Turrell has worked with light and space to create works that challenge the limits of human perception. Since the late 1970s, he has been working on Roden Crater, a large-scale artwork created within a volcanic cinder cone in Northern Arizona. Adjaye, has designed innovative structures around the world including to London’s Rivington Place, the Nobel Peace Center in Norway, and D.C’s newest landmark, the National Museum of African American History and Culture. To kick-off SXSL, Turrell and Adjaye will discuss the challenges and rewards of taking on the “hard things” through their groundbreaking projects. How can we harness technology to solve our biggest, most stubborn problems? At South by Southwest® earlier this year, President Obama called on the tech community to focus its attention on making America and the world more tolerant, fair, healthy, and full of opportunities. This panel will explore the work of entrepreneurs and social innovators who are leveraging new technologies to address some of our most critical challenges – and ask you to think about how you might lend your own time and efforts toward lasting change. ModeratorJenna Wortham, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine Panelists Stewart Butterfield, co-founder and CEO of Slack Jukay Hsu, founder of Coalition for Queens (C4Q) Chris Redlitz, managing partner of Transmedia Capital Nina Tandon, co-founder and CEO of EpiBone Learn more about the Fixing Real Problems panel here. How will we sustainably feed ourselves in the coming decades? Ballooning populations, evolving diets, and a changing climate present serious obstacles to our future food supply. This panel will introduce us to some of the people leading the charge to make food more accessible, sustainable, and healthy, as well as explore the role you can play  to best prepare for the future of food in your own community. ModeratorDanielle Gould, founder of Food+Tech Connect Panelists Will Allen, farmer, founder and CEO of Growing Power Maria Rose Belding, co-founder and executive director of the MEANS Database Caleb Harper, principal investigator and director of the Open Agriculture Initiative (OpenAG) at the MIT Media Lab Nikiki Masumoto, organic farmer and agrarian artist Learn more about the Feeding the Future panel here. How do we foster innovation and collaboration in cities and local communities? Los Angeles offers some good lessons. While the city owes part of its dynamism to the growing presence of new tech and media firms, its progress has been driven by leaders in non-profits, government, and social innovation working together to brighten the future for the City of Angels. Find out how they’re doing it, and get inspired to improve the dynamism and resilience in the community where you live. Moderator Jonathan Gold, Los Angeles Times Panelists Yael Aflalo, founder and CEO of Reformation Krisztina 'Z' Holly, Chief Instigator of the MAKE IT IN LA initiative Oscar Menjivar, founder and CEO of URBAN Teens eXploring Technology (URBAN TxT) Brian Mullins, founder and CEO of DAQRI Learn more about the LA, a Case Study in Innovation panel here. What role do citizens have in bringing real and lasting change to our country? “America is not the project of any one person,” President Obama said in Selma last year. “The single-most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘We.’” Indeed, unelected citizens seeking change—people channeling the power of “We”—have been behind some of the biggest social and economic movements of the past eight years, from achieving landmark victories in the struggle for LGBT rights to shining a new light on the enduring struggle for civil rights. These agents of change have transformed hashtags into movements and delivered real progress in our society. Find out how they did it, and what you can do to bring about the change you want to see in the world. IntroducerThe Honorable John Lewis, congressman and civil rights icon ModeratorAnil Dash, entrepreneur and activist Panelists Brittany Packnett,  Vice President of National Community Alliances at Teach For America and co-founder of Campaign Zero Carmen Rojas, CEO of The Workers Lab Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry Learn more about the How We Make Change panel here. The event will feature musical performances from both well-known and emerging artists who are using their music to inspire. The lineup will include: Stay tuned for additional acts to be announced! On Sunday, October 2, the American Film Institute (AFI) will welcome the young artists of the 3rd Annual White House Student Film Festival with a day to premiere their work. Students in grades K-12 submitted more than 700 short films on this year's theme: The World I Want to Live In. Some of these aspiring filmmakers from around the nation will be joined by professional artists who work behind and in front of the camera. Special guests will include Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer and President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities member Alfre Woodard. At the South Lawn festival on Monday, three official student film selections will be screened along with appearances by members of the Stranger Things cast: Millie Bobby Brown (Elle), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), Finn Wolfhard (Mike) and Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin). Following the White House event, AFI will continue to nurture these young artists and their storytelling skills by providing Film Fest participants with one-on-one mentorships with alumni from the AFI Conservatory. Learn firsthand what it’s like to be locked up in solitary confinement. This virtual reality experience that places the viewer inside a 6-foot by 9-foot cell with little more than a bed and toilet. In the 9 minute experience, people can experience the psychological impacts of confinement like blurred vision, hallucinations, and a sense of floating that may occur after long-term sensory deprivation. The Guardian used game engine technology and The Mill worked from first-person accounts of cell design and spatial audio capture to create this groundbreaking and innovative documentary. At the Cancer Moonshoot booth, visitors will be able to interact with technology and experience the future of cancer care, share how they’ve been affected by cancer as part of a compiled video diary, and learn about volunteer opportunities in their communities. Visitors will engage with an Internet of Things experience that shows how wearable technology could enable greater collaboration between cancer patients, physicians, and scientists to improve cancer care delivery. Chuck Close, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities member, is best known for his large-scale, photo based portrait paintings. He is also an accomplished printmaker and photographer whose work has been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions in more than 20 countries, including major retrospective exhibitions at New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and most recently at The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. At South by South Lawn, Chuck will capture life-size portraits using a 20-by-24-inch Polaroid camera. Few modern artists have the ability to transform a blank canvas into an arresting creative work like David Garibaldi. Hailing from Sacramento, David turned his passion for graffiti into an explosive career by mixing the creative elements of street art and popular music and culture into a riveting painting performance in which he can create life-size portraits within 6 minutes. A finalist on America’s Got Talent, David performs at shows across the country, including at events like the NBA Finals and several award shows. To him, every performance is an opportunity to give back, either through teaching young people to explore their talents or through providing resources and support to the community. The National Park Foundation has a new way to inspire the youngest generation of innovators to find their park. As part of the National Park Service’s Centennial celebration and the Find Your Park/Encuentra Tu Parque movement, the Find Your Park Machine is a digital wayfinding sign that gives visitors the opportunity to experience all of America’s 400+ national parks in 60 seconds using audio, visual, and geo-location elements. Local National Park Service Rangers and National Park Foundation staff will be on site to speak with visitors and share commemorative pins made exclusively for SXSL Food + Future is a group of entrepreneurs, based in Cambridge, MA, that is exploring the future of food, solving major food challenges, and building food-related businesses. At SXSL, the team - a collaboration between Target, IDEO, and MIT Media Lab - will showcase cutting-edge technologies that are helping people understand more about their food. The interactive space will feature three initiatives. POLY helps kids understand where their food comes from through fun, interactive classroom experiments. Illuminate helps individuals and companies understand exactly what they are selling and buying -- and how their choices will personally impact people. The Open Agriculture initiative helps farmers of all size understand the science of their environment in order to help them create healthier, more sustainable food systems. Join Sara Hendren and the Adaption + Ability Group at Olin College for an immersive, interactive, and surprising look at technologies for human ability, disability, and body variation. From things you wear to the environments you live in, this large-scale installation invites people to test the basic assumptions we make about what counts as normal. Whether its ramps for skateboarders and wheelchair users, furniture for unusually short stature, or customized prosthetic limbs, visitors will investigate the designs that have helped and hindered atypical bodies. Through the signature Justicefor.us digital experience, visitors will be able to take an empathy-inducing look into the system through the eyes of those most entrenched in it. At SXSL, an interactive story-game will allow them to step into the shoes of a judge and make decisions that directly affect the lives of individuals and our society at large. The White House South Lawn also happens to be a National Park. So as SXSL visitors tour the grounds, they’ll see some original art work from Nathan Sawaya, an award-winning artist who creates inventive works of art from LEGO® bricks. As you walk, you just might see a painstakingly crafted, life-size scale LEGO sculpture resting on one of the park benches that dot the South Lawn. Through the Ages: President Obama celebrates America’s National Parks transports you on a journey to Yosemite with President Obama as he honors the legacy of our country’s national parks. This first-ever virtual reality experience featuring a sitting president provides an up-close-and-personal look at President Obama’s trip to Yosemite with his family over Father’s Day weekend this year. Hear from President Obama firsthand as he reflects on the importance of conservation and combatting climate change while you explore every angle of the breathtaking surroundings, including El Capitan, the Cathedral Rocks, Mariposa Grove, Yosemite Falls and the Merced River. This interactive booth, run collaboratively by Black Girls CODE and Sphero, gives participants the opportunity to paint, program, and play with round robots. The hands-on experience will bring coding to life while showcasing how fun it is to learn the fundamentals of computer science. The U.S. Digital Service and the Presidential Innovation Fellows program are bringing top technologists into the federal government to tackle our nation's most important challenges. From modernizing our immigration system, to improving our veterans' access to benefits, to increasing access to cancer clinical trials, these teams are using design and technology to build a more awesome government for all Americans. Visitors can meet these tech gurus on the South Lawn to see demos of their work, meet the team, and learn how you we can all help bring public service into the 21st century. Attendees will have the opportunity to both see and taste the whole food cycle like never before with the celebrated Chef José Andrés and Bill Yosses. Food will be picked fresh from Green Bronx Machine’s tower aeropinic systems and cooked using various clean cookstoves, which use efficient, sustainable and affordable technologies and fuels to meet the needs of people around the world. DAQRI is the world’s leading enterprise augmented reality company. As part of the interactive portion of South by South Lawn, DAQRI will be showcasing its revolutionary products and technologies. DAQRI Founder and CEO Brian Mullins will also be sharing his insight on the future of AR during the panel discussion portion of the event. Attendees will have access to the latest information on wearables like DAQRI Smart Helmet™, next generation phase modulator displays, and cutting edge computer vision products, delivering on the DAQRI promise to bring AR Everywhere. Created by Adam Savage with a team of makerspaces in Baltimore, the SXSL sign physically embodies the interactive nature of the whole event. The seven feet tall letters are internally illuminated with LEDs that respond to social media activity throughout the day. There is still a lot of work left to do and, with the help of a sticky-note installation designed by Illegal Art, a collective of artists whose goal is to create participatory-based public art, attendees can jot down the actions that they will take after South By South Lawn to continue to make a positive impact in their community, in the country, or the world. This installation of To-Do was made possible by the generosity and expertise of IDEO. The Up Next lounge will provide a place for SXSL attendees to relax and charge their devices, while also highlighting its mobile messaging platform, the Better Make Room campaign, and First Lady Michelle Obama’s "Reach Higher" initiative. Up Next provides high school and college students and college graduates with information, encouragement, and assistance with college applications, financial aid, and loan repayment. Visitors to the Up Next lounge will get to immerse in the Up Next messaging experience. They will be able to interact with the message flows that students are receiving this fall; create motivational messages and images to send to students in their schools and communities; and see how Up Next texting technology provides real-time, one-on-one college and financial aid advising from an Up Next advisor. The Starbucks Upstanders Booth will offer an interactive experience that aims to inspire attendees by sharing stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to create positive change in their communities. Attendees will have an opportunity to record and share their own Upstander story. Participants' stories will be considered for the next season of the Starbucks Upstanders series. South by South Lawn is made possible thanks to support from National Geographic, CraigConnects, DAQRI, Hyatt, Sara & Evan Williams Foundation, Simons Foundation, Starbucks, and Target. Q: I or someone I know was nominated to attend the event. What’s happens now? In just ten days, we received more than 20,000 nominations to attend from people that are doing inspiring work to improve the lives of their fellow Americans and people around the world. All of the invitations have been sent to the selected nominees. If you can’t make it to the event in person, make sure you watch and engage online using #SXSL.  Q: I received an invite to SXSL and RSVP'd to the event, but I haven't seen additional details. What do I need to know? We're looking forward to seeing you at the White House! You will receive additional information via email in the coming days. You should plan to be at the White House and outside on the South Lawn from approximately 11am to 9pm.  Q: How can I tune into the event if I can’t be there in person?  Watch and engage with South by South Lawn from anywhere! The entire festival will be streamed live on WhiteHouse.gov and Facebook.com/WhiteHouse. Join the conversation using #SXSL to share your ideas and what kind of difference you want to make in the world.