WeDC at SXSW kicks off Saturday morning, bringing music from the nation’s capital to the annual music, film, and tech festival in Austin, Texas. Last year, Rare Essence became the first go-go group to perform at the event. This year, WeDC’s music offerings will be anchored by Wale, who takes the house stage to headline on Tuesday.
The purpose of WeDC, led by the Washington DC Economic Partnership, is to help foster the city’s technology sector by encouraging start-ups to call DC home.
Before the organization decamped for Texas, it hosted a kick-off event at the forthcoming Big Chief in Ivy City. WeDC put together a reel of  residents and partygoers talking about why they love DC (“the diversity”, “the best foods”, “it’s fucking rad”), but the real prize is at the end: a two-minute neighborhood roll call by rapper and activist Asheru, rhyming out nabes in DC, Maryland, and Virginia (Asheru will also play the festival).
SXSW and artist guidelines prohibit WeDC from broadcasting the music event in Texas, but a social media team will be Periscoping and tweeting as much as possible. Expect a time-lapse video of Kelly Towles installing one of his signature inflatables on top of the event house, plus interviews with speakers and performers.
Amanda has contributed to Washingtonian since 2016. She has written about the right-wing media personality Britt McHenry, chronicled her night with Stormy Daniels, and come clean about owning too much stuff. She lives on H Street. She can be reached at [email protected].
