South by Southwest gathering educates, empowers isle groups

The offices of Makaha Studios are not plush. The video and multimedia production company is housed upstairs in a Wai­anae strip mall where a fluorescent light buzzes and blinks outside the office door.

Inside, though, the atmosphere is different. Whiteboards line the walls, filled with ideas and projects. The young staff projects confidence. These people are going places — including Austin, Texas, site of the South by Southwest interactive, film and music conference, March 9 to 18.

South by Southwest, better known as SXSW, is a networking event where new technology and rising stars in film and music get the spotlight. Eight Makaha Studios staffers and a consultant to the organization will be there.

Wendy Suite, the Makaha Studios consultant, attended SXSW last year. She describes it as an immersion experience, with branded electric cars and buses cruising the street to pick up riders who are encouraged to tweet along the way; scannable "QR" codes on attendees’ badges that allow others to simply hold up their smartphones and find the wearer’s bio; and hundreds of demonstrations on getting a project made, funding it and reaching an audience.

"You come back feeling so connected after meeting so many like-minded people," she said. "Hawaii’s not isolated anymore."

Staffers dropped on couches in the conference room, finishing off takeout dinner as producer Keoni Fernandez outlined Makaha Studios’ mission to offer students on the Wai­anae Coast internships and guidance directing them to college and careers.

Supported by a $4 million grant from the Kellogg Foundation to Kauhale o Wai­anae, an alliance among Makaha Studios, Searider Productions at Wai­anae High School, and Ma‘o Farms, Makaha Studios is sending most of its staffers to SXSW, joining 50,000-plus others from around the world. Business manager Nicki Mani­vanh, who works with students as an education resource specialist, is going. So is producer Fernandez, and Web designer Bill Evangelista.

"We’re there to ask the hard questions: ‘How do you guys do it — get resources for funding?’" Fernandez said. "To see what other filmmakers have done."

Providing service to Wai­anae is also on the agenda. Last year, he said, Makaha Studios staffers met up with social entrepreneurs who work in Detroit, sharing ideas about the ways creative young people can bring back a sense of possibility to a community suffering from economic and social woes.

During the conversation, producer/director Nick Smith sent a tweet to a New Zealand director he hopes to meet on an upcoming trip.

"I’ve started paying more attention to Twitter" because of SXSW, he said. "Twitter is powerful.

"What I’m saying is the world is continually getting smaller. You can argue about it but it is happening. … When I hear back from a director on Twitter, it’s proof that they are human. And that gives us more opportunity to get our ideas out."

THE CONFERENCE also educates on effective ways of doing things, and it’s not all high tech. Marsha Bolson, newly named vice president for community relations and communications at Kamehameha Schools, said a prime lesson learned last year was simply in nurturing innovation — encouraging staffers to stop and meet wherever inspiration strikes, including the hallways, which have been outfitted with whiteboards so if an idea arises it can be immediately shared.

Bolson is attending for the first time this year. Her specific interest: finding tools to measure which efforts best reach Kamehameha Schools’ target audience.

"We’ve ramped up our use of interactive technology to connect with our audience," Bolson said. "We have to know if it’s the right channel. Is it getting to the people that we want to reach?"

Andreas Arvman, digital innovation manager at Kamehameha Schools, calls SXSW "an intense, cutting-edge cultural experience." He’s returning for a second year.

"Everything is cast in this hip, fun, colorful bright light," he said. "They used to be probably more geeky and more techie, but as a nature of the (growing) audience, they’re broadening the focus … (to) management of technology, strategy, social media policy.

"All you need is an iPhone and you’re done. The barriers to networking are gone."

ULTIMATELY the hope is that SXSW will create work, too. Musicians go looking for a record deal or a like-minded band to pair up with on tour. Filmmakers and techies can shop their creations or their skills.

Pimpbot’s Fernando Pacheco, whose band was accepted for showcase performances in 2009 and 2010, said the group learned about promotion and networking. "It was crazy, just seeing how much music there is in the world," he said.

Phil Tripp, the liaison for SXSW attendees from Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand, said he would like to see more presenters — filmmakers, musicians and tech innovators — representing Hawaii at the festival.

But he acknowledges the burden of distance and preparation. While born in the United States, he now lives in Australia, which subsidizes promotion aimed at helping Australian bands sell their music outside the country.

Oriental Love Ring was the first Hawaii band to be invited to SXSW in 1990, and Hapa notably appeared at the Texas showcase after their debut in 1993. This year, Jake Shi­ma­bu­kuro is the sole musical representative of the islands.

"There are bands that are not widely known, and after they appear at SXSW, they’ll be media darlings," Tripp noted.

Those acts have included Norah Jones, Wolfmother and My Morning Jacket.

"BBC sends 45 people to SXSW," Tripp said. "Rolling Stone, a dozen. They’re all looking for the next new thing."

Bands don’t get "discovered" often under the current model, Tripp said, "but revelations do happen.

"(SXSW) has an attitude that I love. We want the people who come here to succeed. This is a business conference — with 2,000 bands. It’s an industry event. The biggest story is in the growth of interactive. It’s the story of how the convergence of media and entertainment software and networking are all happening, right now."