AUSTIN, Texas —
Two groups boycotting South by Southwest are partnering together to host two separate events to support their causes Thursday.
The Austin for Palestine Coalition is boycotting over the U.S. Army being a super-sponsor of this year's festival, and United Musicians and Allied Workers demanding fair pay.
The groups are hosting a protest and rally called "Fair Pay at SXSW: Musicians Demand Fair Pay and no Warmongers at SXSW."
At the same time, they are bringing back their Falasteen Street Museum.
They hosted the street museum last weekend at the city hall plaza in downtown Austin, and that's where it will return today from 1:30-10 p.m.
The goal of the pop up museum is to educate the public on the events happening in Palestine and the history of the conflict.
"The organization we're working with, also cares about, the, the the plight of workers, volunteers and musicians, in South by Southwest and, they are also very much, in our partners in this cause us speaking out for Palestine," Zainab Haider, with the Austin for Palestine Coalition, said.
"They helped us do a lot of outreach with musicians. And so, with South by Southwest happening this week, it makes sense to highlight both of these really crucial issues at a rally together."
Many artists and some panelists are withdrawing from festival events because of the sponsorship and low pay.
"They were really excited to be at South by Southwest. It was really good for their careers. It was money that they desperately needed to be paid. And yet when this movement started, an artist started dropping off. They chose to make this principled stance because it's something that they cared about," Haider said.
Haider said more than 100 artists have dropped out of the festival so far. Some of those artists will perform at a showcase at the street museum pop-up.
"South by southwest notoriously underpaid or doesn't pay their musicians. Which is I mean, a lot of musicians come from all over the world and spend a lot of their own money to get here just for the exposure. So the musicians that are dropping out are making, like, a very serious personal sacrifice," Valerie with the Austin for Palestine Coalition said.
The protest and rally will be right outside of the Department of Defense and U.S. Military SXSW stage on Congress Avenue from 6-8 p.m. Thursday.
SXSW wrote on social media that the organization respects artists' decision to boycott and it defended its sponsors. You can get a look at the full response here.