Looking at Education Through a Creative Lens with Performances | SXSW EDU 2025 Rewind

Musicians, ballerinas, and magicians, oh my! Arts integration in education is at the forefront of our performance programming. Although our stage was more diverse than ever this year, our performances all had the same takeaway: to inspire others to look at education through a creative lens.

Throughout SXSW EDU 2025, we had some exciting musical performances, one of which included student performers from Anthropos Arts. The group, led by Executive Director Dylan Jones and joined by student musicians Brandon Jurez and Robin Ramos, improvised and jammed out while facilitating discussions about the essential need for students to have access to opportunities in music, no matter what their families' income might be.

We took a step beyond a music listening experience with a performance by Aisha Fukushima, a global activist who, as we learned, is the person you must see if you want to be guided through a grounded meditation in the middle of a day of enjoying our programming. Attendees left this performance feeling rejuvenated and with a toolkit of strategies to help create more inclusive classrooms and encourage creativity.

Jill Sobule brought songs from her acclaimed autobiographical Off-Broadway show “F*ck 7th Grade”. After her performance, she led the audience in an interactive song-writing opportunity which allowed attendees to workshop a creative outlet for the memories of adolescence with one another.

For the first time at SXSW EDU, we were joined by a group of student ballerinas. Brown Girls Do Ballet took the stage with Joelle Kimbrough, Alexandra Owens, and Amaya Joseph performing some of their favorite pieces before engaging in an insightful conversation on rethinking arts advocacy and the importance of student voices in arts and education.

Another first for our performance program was a magician! Actually, it was not a magician, it was Global STEM Ambassador and founder of Invent the Chance, Jay Flores, who mesmerized adults and children alike with his STEM inspired experiments. Using the power of entertainment, Jay’s clever idea to disguise science with magic was truly a testament to integrating the art of performance and education.

Our final performance, “Let's Kikabou! Puppets Are Tomorrow's Playful Educators” combined the joy of puppetry with the love of STEAM. As a team of educators, parents, and entertainers, the performers gave the audience an hour and a half of playful learning. Mandi Rudd, the host of the show was joined by her musically inquisitive pals Bouba, Beetrice, Trog and of course, Kiki as they sang some of their most popular songs.

If you are interested in submitting a performance proposal for SXSW EDU 2026, PanelPicker will open for entries on June 24, 2025. You can also sign up for SXSW EDU event updates to know when all our other applications open and for other news. We hope to see you all again next year for an even more exciting program!

Watch SXSW EDU 2025 On-Demand Content

Take a look back at SXSW EDU 2025 and relive exciting Keynotes, Featured Sessions, and more, now available to watch on our official YouTube channel, plus listen to hundreds of audio recordings in the schedule.

Stay tuned for more information about registration and participation opportunities for SXSW EDU 2026 coming later this summer.

Photo by Caleb Pickens