SXSW. The Reminder I Needed.
Let me set the scene.
It's Monday morning. I’m ready, my bag’s packed, schedule’s mapped out and my press pass is waiting for me in Shoreditch. I have an all-access pass to SXSW London, one of the most exciting cultural events to land in this city in years and I am going in as press!! This is a big deal for me and for everything I'm building with my CIC.
I attempt to drop the kids at school. It's an inset day. Of course it is.
The thing about working for yourself and being a parent, the plan is always just a starting point. Flapping about it was never going to solve anything, so I made a decision. Military mum took over “Everyone back in the car, we're going to Shoreditch anyway.” I bundled all the kids in, drove up, collected my press pass, got my bearings, and let them soak up the energy of a Shoreditch that was already buzzing with something about to begin. One very lovely member of the SXSW team made their day with a bar of Tony's Chocolonely. Small things.
It wasn't the clean start I had planned, but it was a start..and sometimes that's enough. I went home, regrouped, and told myself: tomorrow, full steam ahead.
What I didn't know yet was that the week I was about to have would give me back something I hadn't realised I'd been missing. A reminder of who I am, why I do what I do, and why the simple things: communication, honesty, showing up as yourself, are not small things at all. They are everything.
Day Two: LEGO and the Art of Knowing Who You're Talking To
My first full day at SXSW and I literally ran between sessions, across Shoreditch, so glad I wore trainers…
First up was Play Bigger: Creativity, Culture and the Power of Scale with Julia Goldin and Federico Begher from LEGO.
I expected this to be interesting, however I didn’t expect it to feel this relevant. The session was about how LEGO built a brand genuinely loved by everyone, across age, gender, culture, and the thing that struck me most wasn't the scale of what they've achieved, it was the INTENTION behind it. Every single person at LEGO is obsessed with understanding their audience. Not in a corporate, spreadsheet kind of way. In a deep, genuine, this-is-our-entire-reason-for-being kind of way, and it was that obsession that unlocked everything.
Once they truly understood who they were talking to, the brand opened right up. They don't just make a product, they create culture. Their Botanicals range is the perfect example. It's a gift, it's decoration, it's a mindful, hands on, screen-free activity in a world desperately crying out to put the phone down. That’s care (p.s remember this, as I later reference Molly Gochman’s correlation between art and care).
I couldn't stop thinking about the artists I represent, the street artists who have spent years consistently, sometimes thanklessly showing up for their audience. Building something real, that relationship doesn't happen overnight.
Then I legged it to my next session.
Healing Arts: Art Cure? was a panel hosted by Cedar Lewisohn, with Daisy Fancourt, Lakwena Maciver and Ren Gill. A conversation about the relationship between art and mental wellbeing that I was not prepared to be moved by in the way that I was.
Lakwena spoke about "speaking life into spaces, through difficulty." Using creativity to transform something painful into something beautiful. She talked about how art alleviated her sense of displacement, how it connected her to people, gave her a community, and gave her, her place.
It reminded me of something deeply personal. When I gave birth to my youngest son at home, I had Jill Scott playing in the background. I remember, so clearly that the music was a pain relief. Not metaphorically, genuinely, because of how it made me feel. That is the power of the arts in its most human, most unadorned form.
The panel talked about funding, limited, as ever but there is movement. Early legislation around art being prescribed by the NHS is making its way through. And the conversation about refusing to define what "good art" is, and who gets to access creativity? That is the entire foundation of my CIC. Art does not belong to a select few, it never did. My purpose is to make sure everyone knows that.
Day Three: Uncomfortable Conversations Create Change
This is the day I found my thread.
Art as Action moderated by Marine Tanguy with artist activist Molly Gochman and cultural leader Patrick Moore and Patrick is one of those people you meet (or in this case, watch on a stage) and immediately think: I really like this man.
He spoke about the 1980s, when artists were provocative, fearless, not waiting for permission from anyone. He got sacked from his job for putting up posters displaying AIDS statistics before getting sign off from above. He questioned whether art is a sufficient response to the state of the world. I don't think any of us had a clean answer to that. But Molly said something that I have not stopped thinking about since.
"The cure to exploitation is care, and art is care."
Molly also spoke about her Red Sand Project, a public installation and how park rangers told her that since it went in, they rarely had to pick up litter in the space. People just started taking care of it, taking ownership of something beautiful, and protecting it.
This is EXACTLY what I have been saying about street art and its role in community. When people feel a sense of ownership over a space, when art gives them something to feel proud of they don't vandalise it. They look after it.
Patrick closed the session with a gem. Marine asked what he would drop from the creative space, and without missing a beat he said: "Only talking to people you know and agree with. The central idea is conversation." I went home that evening and reshuffled my schedule for the following day to include sessions outside of my usual world.
Then Power, Rewritten. Hosted by Lucie Cave with Rochelle Humes, Hannah Holland and Sam McAlister.
I could write an essay on Sam McAlister alone.
The conversation explored how power has shifted for women in business, from having none, to something called soft power, to something altogether more grounded and human. They all agreed that determination and resilience are non-negotiable. That empathy the thing women are so often told to dial down in professional spaces is actually what builds trust. That being yourself, unapologetically, is not a weakness, it’s the whole point.
Sam doesn't believe in power structures, because she genuinely doesn't see herself as above or below anyone. Her mother used to joke that she should be comfortable around both princes and paupers and somehow, that has completely manifested in her life!! She is respected in every room she walks into because she doesn't pander to anyone's idea of who she should be. “Power without merit is privilege,” she said. “Being yourself is what gives you merit.”
I see myself in her and some of the things I give myself the hardest time for, my banter, speaking openly about things that might make people uncomfortable, not always softening my edges for the room were the very things I found most admirable about her.
They talked about boundaries too, be warm, be generous, be human, BUT remember that colleagues are not your best mates, and looking after numero uno is not selfish, it’s necessary.
They were asked who their aspirational figures were. The question made me think about mine, I always find my inspiration in women. Quite often the ones closest to me and watching my daughter grow up, a girl who has already decided she wants to be a boxer, and trains three times a week to make it happen, I know that for her, the concept of limits won't even be a language she speaks. That makes me very happy.
Day Four: Three Sessions, One Message
Men's mental health, boxing, Guinness - come on then lads.
What if We Tried Talking to Young Men, Instead of Just Talking About Them? was hosted by Becca Hutson with Olly Bowman and Tom Ellis from Movember.
I'll be honest, I thought Movember was moustaches and November. I had no idea of the scale of what they actually do for men's mental wellbeing. Deep this: Nearly 1 in 4 men report frequent loneliness and men are 3.6 times more likely to die by suicide than women.
The conversation was about how social media and toxic masculinity are actively shaping what young men believe they should be. Olly spoke about his content creation, how he first needs his audience to see him as cool, as someone they want to invest in and then he uses that trust to shift things. To change norms and perceptions of what being a man actually means. Tom spoke about a pilot called ‘The Confession Box’ men submit anonymous questions, they get pulled out and discussed, and almost always more than one person wanted to ask the same thing. Community, built through honesty.
The media should tell men what they CAN be, not what they SHOULD be. Less optimisation, more room for failure and friction, more humour, more connection, more showing up for each other.
I thought about my eldest son, he uses his creativity as an outlet to communicate in ways he can't always find words for. I want him to grow up knowing that nurturing that is not just ok, it is everything. I want him to be confident in who HE is, not who he thinks he should be.
Then The New Main Event. Tony Bellew and Pete Oliver from DAZN on the business of boxing.
My husband is a professional martial artist. Boxing is woven into the fabric of our life. So I was already invested before Tony opened his mouth, but what got me most wasn't the boxing.
It was HIM.
Tony spoke so openly about his family, his wife Rachael, his sons and how at the end of everything, coming home to them is what matters most. He spoke about the importance of the choices we make, and how the choices he made guaranteed the options he was given. He said, just as Sam McAlister had said the day before, that no one is better than him, and he is no better than anyone.
Two completely different worlds with one shared truth.
And then he talked about his ring walk at Goodison Park, his dream fight, the moment he had worked his entire life towards and he said he was PETRIFIED.
A world champion boxer, at the pinnacle of his career, admitting he was terrified and saying so out loud.
After a morning sitting in a session about what vulnerability looks like in young men, hearing that from Tony was something else entirely. Vulnerability doesn't look the same on everyone.
Finally Have a Guinness with a Creator. A conversation about how a brand stays alive and relevant across generations.
Guinness isn’t a drink, it is a culture. Shared between grandparents and Gen Z without missing a beat. Their approach “community first, grassroots first, never let it look like an advert, lean into the banter and the realness” is a masterclass in brand authenticity. Sponsorship gives you access, they said, but integrating into culture is what creates real impact.
What I'm Bringing Home
I went to SXSW London as press, I had an all-access pass, a schedule full of sessions that I had carefully curated, and a very clear idea of what I was going to get out of the week professionally.
What I did not expect was to spend my time having my own values reflected back at me from every direction. From a LEGO executive, a boxing world champion, a woman who makes art in public spaces, a former BBC producer who doesn't believe in power structures, from a panel about men's mental health and a conversation about a pint of Guinness.
Education, not gatekeeping, community over competition. Showing up as yourself. Uncomfortable conversations creating change. The cure to exploitation is care, and art is care.
These are not new ideas, they are things I already believe, already live, already build my work around through my CIC, through the street artists I represent, every conversation we have about making the art world more accessible to everyone.
Sometimes you need a week like this to remind you that you're on the right track. That the things you quietly second-guess yourself for; the banter, the directness, the refusal to soften the message are not liabilities..they’re the whole point.
It really is the simple things that make me stand out.
And I went all the way to SXSW London to remember that.
-
This is exactly what Georgina Billings CIC is built around. Community workshops, artist representation, cultural strategy all rooted in the same belief that showed up in every session I attended at SXSW London: that the simple things - showing up, being honest, making space for people, who are usually left out, are not small things at all. They are everything.
Gee x