After our success at SXSW 2025, Blast Theory’s Business Director Anne Rupert has pitched a panel of incredible minds to next year’s festival to discuss sustainable models for creating XR (Extended Reality) artwork.
SXSW’s PanelPicker lets the SXSW community have a voice in what sessions are programmed. And with community votes making up 30% of the final selection decisions, we need your votes!
Community voting ends on 24 August 2025.
You can cast your free vote here. Simply load the page, click the heart icon next to our title and sign up.
About the panel:
The Systems We Build: Business Models for Meaningful XR
XR is booming… Or is it? How secure are business models in the interactive/immersive sector and how well do they support creators to have social impact? And how do you thrive – not just survive – as a creator, producer, developer of this type of work, right now? Acknowledging challenges and uncertainty but also highlighting opportunities, the panel reflect on their own journeys – including successes, challenges and startings-over – to explore alternative models and offer practical advice for creators and producers to make work that matters: including protecting your IP and your wellbeing.
Joining Anne on the panel:
Jonathan Williams: Jonathan is founding partner at immersive media company VRX and co-founder of the Intro to VR course at California Public Library. Jonathan’s work uses future technology as a catalyst for social impact, with his award-winning VR works exploring topics including homelessness in LA and intergenerational communication.
Danielle Giroux: Danielle works at the intersection of storytelling, technology, craft, and community. After working in XR distribution for ASTREA, Danielle is now piloting an XR distribution research project focused on facilitation and soft skill frameworks, bridging grassroots efforts in New England and France with Unframed Collection.
Sarah Ticho: Sarah is a multidisciplinary artist, creative strategist, and change maker working at the threshold of immersive storytelling, healthcare, and collective healing. She is the founder of Hatsumi and the creator/co-director of the multi award winning SOUL PAINT, an XR experience that transforms body mapping into an interactive journey through emotion, sensation, and narrative.
