Creativity is Resistance.

At SxSW London I found myself shell shocked, converted, and reporting back that the world is, to quote Michelle Obama, looking “bloody brilliant”.

I came in art minded, curious, and quietly fearful that this was going to be a very expensive exercise in corporate optimism dressed up as culture. I was wrong. Not entirely - but wrong enough to admit it…

It all started with Michelle. Running through the pouring rain to get there, navigating every possible snafu along the way, and somehow pulled through the press line with a seat close to the front - soaked and slightly breathless.

She sat on stage with her brother Craig Robinson talking about swerving - those moments when life doesn't go to plan and that we should embrace them rather than fighting for a plan. Instead of fighting to check the boxes, follow your passions. Share your struggles. Stay nimble. Fight for yourself. The message was simple yet ever so powerful today.

The chaos, the rain, the mad dash - and then that moment of coming together with someone I felt like I already knew, speaking so casually about the importance of talking to your friends and family. Someone I so admire, and yet there she was, just having a chat. It was worth every drop of rain.

Then Ben Cohen. From Ben & Jerry's, standing on a stage receiving - kid you not - a five minute standing ovation for talking about his fight to save his brand from the grip of the Magnum Corporation and their efforts to squash everything he built.

Civil justice. Ending wars. Equal rights for LGBTQ families. A company built on values, now fighting to be resold to investors who actually share them. A genuine, principled human being getting that kind of reception in a room full of tech investors and media conglomerates.

And then a few hours later CEOs take the same stage to talk about the efficiency benefits of Waymo and AI. The contrast sitting right next to each other, unresolved, honest. That is what SxSW does. It puts these conversations in the same room and lets you figure out where you stand.

Marine Tanguy, Global Art leader - as well as amazing human & mother of three, and head of world renown MT Agency, said something that has stayed with me - that creativity is resistance and art is a form of social activism. If WE choose to make it that. Impact isn't always measured in dollars but through human connection.

Melanie Lenz, curator of digital art for the V&A, put it simply - art preserves culture. Patrick Moore and Molly Gochman confirmed the same thought. "Art has an impact you cannot put a price on." And in a festival that could so easily have felt like a glossy tech conference with a cultural veneer, that message landed hard.

What I was not expecting... The people. The ideas exchanged in corridors and panel rooms and even speaking with attendees between an overpriced coffee. The feeling that human connection does truly exist in the digital space - that it is not lost, not flattened, and will never be replaced. The support for podcasters, musicians, actors, the screenings, the panels, the sheer breadth of what is happening under one roof.

There are also speeches on the transformative benefits of AI for healthcare - One can't help but wonder who exactly those benefits will reach first. The conflicts of class and techno feudalism are not lost on me. And panels on alien life and polyamory - because why not ?! - and did you know they found life in ICE CAPs and now can sequence the genomes?! Well now you do.

The one true surprise though is that sustainability, featured in the past, does not seem to feature heavily this year - and perhaps that silence is telling in itself.

Are there still huge problems? Yes. The tickets are wildly expensive. There are lines and costs and panels I fundamentally don't agree with.

I'm looking at you Todd Boehly - owner of the Dodgers, Chelsea Football Club, Dick Clark Productions and probably 10,000 other businesses - coming out with some fairly cutthroat business practices and declaring that NBA Africa won't work until they have proper infrastructure. Some of it was unintentionally funny, as he is obviously somewhat out of touch. But he owns several trillion dollar companies so perhaps it wasn't as controversial as it could have been.

Either way, am I seeking out those panels anyway, sitting in rooms with people I disagree with, trying to see both sides? Also yes. That feels important.

My mind is both sharp and overwhelmed by the true breadth and beauty of what this world is becoming. I came in, drinking the Kool-Aid reluctantly. Now I am parched & pouring myself another glass - not because of the free gifts or the cushy seats at film screenings, but because of the people I have met here and the quiet, stubborn feeling that there is still hope for humanity after all.