The Burn.Life Blog

Burning Man's Culture Is In Danger - Tales from the Global Leadership Conference

4/1/2017

I was at Burning Man's Global Leadership Conference yesterday - a gathering held to bring together leaders of regional Burns from around the world to the Bay for 3 days of sharing wisdom and knowledge - and I wanted to talk about one session in particular - Operation Citizenship (known internally in the Org as Operation Acculturation until a week or two ago). This session was premised on the fact that we're seeing a weakening Burning Man culture, and was led by Charlie Dolman - BM's Operations Manager - and Jim Graham - a key member of its communications team.

Charlie opened by talking about how things they'd been seeing the last few years really came to a head last year, including:

A marked increase in consumerism vs. participation. Basically, people expecting things to be provided for them and to be taken care of. One way they've objectively measured this is in increased visits to Rampart (emergency services) for things that are laughable. One person this last year literally showed up looking for a band-aid for a paper cut. Not a joke.
Volunteerism is in trouble, and it's not just at Burning Man itself. Some regionals are having a major problem getting people to volunteer as well. This probably has a two-fold cause: First, you've got the festies/ravers coming in who treat a burn like it's just another version of EDC or something. Second, that entitlement culture, where they expect they'll be taken care of while not giving much back, ends up making hard-working existing volunteers feel unappreciated. Why work so hard to give back to people who don't appear to really care?
There's a significant uptick in vandalism. I covered this in the 2016 entry of my Burning Man History. A lot of people heard about the incidents at White Ocean, but that was just disgruntled insiders taking revenge on the assholes who run that camp. What less people seem to have heard about is how the Iron Monkeys' (a Seattle-based metal-working collective) entire forge setup at the base of the Man, where they were teaching people how to forge, was vandalized. Stuff kicked over, peed on, etc. It was very intentional, and nobody seems to know why it happened. These weren't the only incidents either.
The rise of people - often popular Instagrammers - treating the Burn as a fashion show, wearing elaborate outfits made by designers that they model in on the playa, post to Instagram, and tagging the designers of the outfits in order to promote them. Gross, right? (If you're one of the people Instagramming yourself or Facebook Living yourself or whatever while you're actually on the playa....please just stop.)
They're hearing an increasing number of comments along the lines of, "This doesn't feel like my family any more."
There's an uptick in moop, and this is an existential issue for Burning Man. It can't survive bad moop problems.

Now, none of this is new to anyone paying attention - it's pretty obvious the culture is in trouble. Charlie (the BM Operations Manager) said that when they came back from Burning Man this year they realized that what their #1 focus this year has to be isn't anything to do with improving gate operations, or whatever: It has to be addressing the slow dissolution of the culture that made Burning Man what it is, or was. I was really shocked - pleasantly - to hear this, as it was the first time I'd heard the Org so forthrightly admit that there's something slowly going rotten in the culture.

Ultimately, the worst case scenario is that we end up with an event dominated by idiots like this (not sure where this was taken or who took it, but it's not at BM....yet.)

What is the Org going to do to combat this?

Recognizing there's a problem is the easy part though. Doing something about it is much more difficult, and let's not kid ourselves - this is a very tough nut to crack. Once Burning Man started entering the mainstream consciousness (around 2011, the first year it sold out), the problems we're seeing were, I believe, inevitable in the absence of action to address it. Six years on, that mainstream, touristy, consumer-y influence has gathered a fair amount of momentum and I think we're coming near a tipping point, where the culture could rather rapidly head south.

Jim Graham, of the Org's Communications Team.

The good news is the Org has clearly put a lot of thought into this, and correctly, I believe, it's a diverse, multi-faceted approach.

To begin with, they've got four high-level areas of focus:

Encouraging people to be nice to others and themselves. They're starting a "You're doing it right" campaign, for instance.
Focusing on pushing back against the moop increase since this is, as I mentioned earlier, an existential problem for Burning Man.
Self-reliance. A decrease in self-reliance ultimately spills over onto the Org's volunteer services, and this, combined with the aforementioned volunteerism issues, is bad news.
A push to get people to think of themselves as citizens of BRC rather than "people at a festival."

Ultimately, most of what they're going to do boils down to communication and education, focusing on about 75 different ways they have to reach individuals, and getting better at boiling down their messages into short, digestible chunks.

For example:

They're going to (or already are) start highlighting cool homemade outfits for Burning Man, in response to the Instagrammers and their commercial fashion show. They want to show people that the spirit of Burning Man is more about DIY expressiveness.
They're going to insert mini-messages into ticketing communications, as they know ticketing communications actually get read by a lot of people.
They're finding ways to segment Burners and target different segments with different messages. For instance, people who acquired tickets in the DGS sale are, on average, considerably more experienced than the average person getting a ticket in the main sale, and so the latter might need more in the way of education around the culture.
Along those lines, they're going to start targeting Burner Air Express passengers with Burning Man Culture 101 info, down to even potentially putting info in the seatbacks on the planes.
They've started doing reddit AMAs, including a recent very-successful one with the ticketing department, and will be doing more. For instance, they may do one to help de-mystify gate operations and explain why gate seems inefficient to some people.
They want to put together high-level "top 10" lists that are helpful. Top 10 reasons NOT to go to Rampart, for instance, or top 10 ways to help a birgin acculturate.
They're creating 'acculturation in a box'. Presentations on the Burning Man culture that camps can use to help educate birgins.

Individually, all these (and they're just some of the tactics that will be used) probably don't seem that impressive, but there's no silver bullet here. This has to be a communication and education war waged on as many fronts as possible, because we're ultimately talking about influencing peoples' attitudes. We can't force people to give a shit about our culture, but I do think that most birgins would, if they understood what the culture is, enthusiastically participate. There'll always be some we can't reach, but we shouldn't let perfect by the enemy of good. Let's do what we can!

What Can We Do?

Correctly, Charlie and Jim also pointed out that this isn't just the Org's problem. It's the problem of everyone who doesn't want to see Burning Man's culture further deteriorate, meaning we veterans. How can we help? Some ideas from the session included:

Theme camps can appoint culture ambassadors to make sure birgins and non-birgins both understand the culture.
One thing some camps have tried that was successful was 'assigning' a birgin to someone in a theme camp who they weren't previously friends with, so they get exposed more to the culture. It's sometimes easier for someone who isn't your close friend to educate you here.
Camps can and should take care of their own. Why is someone going to Rampart for a paper cut? Why is their camp not taking care of them? Burning Man is a do-ocracy, not a takecareofme-ocracy.

I'm hoping the Org provides some suggested action items for individual Burners to take too, as I think there's a not-insignificant population that would respond to that with passionate action.

I'm really happy to see the Org taking this growing threat to the culture of Burning Man seriously, and I hope that as they start to get the message out to the veteran Burner community, we respond by, collectively, enthusiastically joining in the fight to save our culture. I also hope this is only the beginning of action by the Org, because this will not be enough.

So...are you with us?

242 Comments

Neon

4/1/2017 08:10:23 pm

Instead of making tickets more expensive make it cheaper for camps who provide back to the playa. Also allow them to buy more tickets. the last few years Ive heard from several camps that they barley got enough people tickets to be able to provide what they wanted to provide.

Tomas

4/2/2017 05:12:49 pm

Exactly! Don't sell tickets to douche bags! This can be done effectively and will solve many issues. I know TONS of veterans that cannot get tickets every year. THIS IS A HUGE PROBLEM. In turn a lot of these people are saying fuck BM and attending other festivals. So to me it looks like ticketing is one of the main culprits.

Prince aka Sweet Baby Ray

4/3/2017 07:05:32 pm

I think the single most important issue to address that I believe changed the culture at BM was cellphone getting coverage on the playa. Every year coverage gets better & better & I see people communicating while on plays with the outside world which prevents them from fully becoming immersed in the culture and ways of the playa. Outside of departments in essential public services needing internet like the police, EMT's, BM org, cellphone service should suck. It should be like the old days where you had to go Playa Info to gain wifi access or use the wifi. Get people's head out of the phones, help people disconnect not encourage it. People can post pictures when they return home. This simple yet profound change along with everything else mentioned regarding education and getting the word out will set things back on track I feel.

bryan

4/5/2017 07:36:43 pm

I am part of 2 theme camps, 1 of the camps didn't get any tickets in the general sale and the other camp scraped up only a few. Why can't theme camps get more DGS tickets? We know if the camps have a surplus those tickets will be sold at face value or even gifted to people who are more likely to be real burners and not instgramming douche types....

Highway

4/6/2017 01:30:53 am

Loads of issues with this comment, but possibly some truth there.

Firstly, How? Check this box if you're not a douche?

Second. Radical inclusion. At my second burn (2013) this completely douchey looking guy came up to the camp site on the last Sunday and I was thinking: "Here we go, what does this douche want". Sure enough, he came and gifted us a bunch of these little supplement bags. Douchey, yes, but he at least got the message and was trying in his own way to give something back and it stuck with me that I judged him too soon.

Third. Our crew has been going every year since 2011 all the way from London. So we're not veterans by any stretch of the imagination and we don't have a massive circle of burners around us. Not once have we not got tickets. Through STEP, through connections we've made each year, whatever, we've managed to pull the tickets together and not once have we paid more than face value for tickets. If you WANT to go, you'll find a way.

Having said that, I do think that ticketing should make it easier for regulars to attend. They should try and allocate a huge number of tickets for people who've attended 10+ times, then 5+ times and make a small number available for first timers. I was stunned last year by the number of first timers, it was nice in a way, because sharing a first experience with someone is great, but it did feel like fewer regulars.

One suggestion I have is to regulate the plug and play camps. Don't ban them, but maybe they should force "volunteering" for members of PnP camps?

Another is close the airport. Seriously, getting there is half the journey, flying yourself in and rolling into your pre-setup RV, nope.

Voo-Doo

4/30/2017 10:48:38 am

Tomas "So to me it looks like ticketing is one of the main culprits".

Yup. Ticketing IS one of the main culprits.
I'm desperate for a ticket (again). But I can't click on that $1200 ticket button. I just can't. The Playa is pretty big, why can't BMORG change $1200 tickets into 3 times as many regular priced tickets?
I hate to think BMORG is scalping their own tickets and actually feel bad for printing that here, but they have to know what limiting $425 tickets and selling $1200 tickets is going to do.

Rodney Fontenot

4/30/2017 09:36:38 pm

I was part of a camp called The Necklace Factory. Generally I helped with a lot of other camps as well. My gift was making runs to the dumpsters, in Featherly, mid-week- bringing the garbage of several camps with me. I was an annual participant and then the recession hit and I lost my job. I did not want to unnecessarily burden anyone, so I stopped attending. When my finances recovered, I found it impossible to obtain a ticket. I would love to return and gift my labor and talents, but obtaining a ticket has become nearly impossible for sincere participants.

Samantha ceora link

4/3/2017 08:55:56 pm

I have the solution!
Burning man training camp.
In order to buy a ticket you must complete a burner certification course.
For example;
The four agreements
How to set up camp in a dust storm
Tests on the ten principles
As essay stating how they contribute to society in general with references
Art creation training
Etc
Bronze certification can be one ticket price
Silver and gold could be different prices as well.
Depending on your history and certification status; your ticket price and sponsors for art projects etc would differ

Problem solved

Kevin Wanamaker

4/3/2017 11:10:16 pm

Not a bad idea in the gist.
There must be a test that is challengable in writen firm. Perhaps also by years attended.

Austin Grant

4/4/2017 11:31:39 pm

Love that! Great idea!

Jay

4/5/2017 11:48:52 am

I think the biggest thing is about the connection of fly-in people generally to plug and play camps. By far the worst offender is White Ocean, but there are at least half a dozen big camps like Monkey Love who are in the same boat. I really don't understand why these guys are allowed back year after year. I'm a 4 time burner and every year it's the same with them but worse. They have a huge crew wasting ticket allocations for people who should be contributing and experiencing not cleaning up after douches.

Most of them fly in, or drive in, to an already set up camp and do NOTHING about from MOOP and take drugs, then disappear at the end without tidying up.

Finally - they definitely subsidize hot "models" to attend. Either free tickets and/or free RVs. They're just there for eye candy and have terrible attitudes. The rich older guys pay 5-10k per spot, and the girls come free.

A great start to all the issues would be banning White Ocean, Monkey Love, etc. Theit AC'd food halls, with slaves going around serving drinks and cleaning up after douche bags needs moving on.

Dante link

4/7/2017 09:35:11 am

The 10 principles are (in my mind) much like the Bill of Rights: Noble in their intentions, often open to interpretation, and (increasingly and sadly) a shield to dregs who would use them to insulate themselves from responsibility for their actions.

Radical inclusion sounds noble and wonderful on paper until you realize it is inherently false. It is false because humanity needs it to be.

"Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community."

By default, anyone who is a danger to themselves or the the community is expelled. The Rangers and the Org don't like doing it, but they need to for the good of the whole. Once you allow exclusion based on common sense and the aforementioned danger to self or others, then there is nothing really radical about 'Radical Inclusion'.

I do not say this to support the inclusion of the irresponsible element. I say this because there likely needs to be some clarification on the language of inclusion if we are going to weed out the radically self--entitled, the plug-n-play campers, and the toxic festival culture that (I feel) are damaging any potential longevity or positive contributions that the Burn has left.

FWIW, I feel the following things would encourage a smaller but more committed community for the Burn:

1) RVs should be treated like handicapped vehicles. (i.e. you should have a documented physical need otherwise NO)

2) A much stronger limitation on sound camps and sound cars. Sorry folks, I don't feel any of them are unique (no matter what named primadonna celebrity or psuedocelebrity they have performing there), they rarely contribute beyond their own borders, and (in my experience) they have often hid behind the principal of radical self-expression when faced with this lack of responsibility.

3) Volunteering and staffing should be like jury duty. If you have attended X number of burns, you should be required to put forth some kind of effort to the less glamorous but very necessary volunteer work that keeps BRC going.

Unpopular opinions to be certain, but they are my opinions. Discuss as you wish.

GIOVANNI POLLO

4/5/2017 11:48:48 am

more camp tickets and hold the camps accountable for the people living in them...

Mermaid

4/5/2017 09:24:42 pm

I aged with Neon. How can a culture be passed on, when the people to pass it on... Do not get tickets? A few years ago, for the first time more people who wanted tickets then tickets. That year, I felt and noticed the change. A lot of wonderful people who planned their year around small projects for the burn did not get tickets. Starting that year, there seemed to be as many newcomers as repeat burners. Radical inclusion at the burn is something my camp takes very seriously. But, in terms of ticketing, radical inclusion has not been a physical possibility for several years now. Acknowledging that, when it comes to ticketing, some people will be left out, the question I think is most important is- How do we get tickets to the people who contribute positively to the culture of volenteerism, giving, and self reliance ( including cleaning up after themselves.) A good start would be to make tickets cheaper and get a lot more of them to those who will set up a theme camp or art car giving something.

Giu link

4/9/2017 07:04:50 pm

Let Burning Man Go.... Let it go folks....

Ale

7/30/2018 01:48:34 pm

Same! I applied to low income ticket and I did not get it. I know a person who owns two Tesla and beach house and got a low income ticket and they are decided not attending. I am disappointed from both sides, attendants and organizers

Kirk link

4/1/2017 08:31:26 pm

Single prop planes only or no airport. No "circling the wagons" large enclosed camps that only offer a popsicle and a bar as their interaction. How about organised Radical Ridiculing? More Cockaphony and less Piddiplo.

Adam

4/2/2017 08:51:59 am

I'll support the Radical Ridicule. Strangely enough, the moment I fell in love with BM was when I was walking down the street and some dude with a megaphone was standing on the corner making fun of EVERYONE. More of that!

Niko

4/3/2017 09:02:47 am

Definitely agree. Turns out also, if you've got a lotta beer, and you heckle people with a megaphone, they'll come and drink it. I don't know how this works, but trust me, it's a universal law.

Tug Spano

4/3/2017 10:37:42 am

NO AIRPORT.

Alyce Lawrence

4/5/2017 01:58:26 am

I like the NO PHONE idea, TOO! Disconnect is important for a lifestyle-thinking change. I loved B'Man...before!

KellY

4/1/2017 08:35:13 pm

There are plenty of things the Org could do to fight against this, and it doesn't sound like they want to do any of them. Want more volunteerism? Try offering tickets to past volunteers first. Don't want a bunch of entitled tourists? Stop selling tickets to cam that the org KNOWS will turn around and resell as part of a package vacation deal at a huge profit.

Education and enculturation are fine and have a place, but they will only get you so far. until the Org is wiling to make some real effort and possibly cut into their profit margin, nothing will change. not for the better, anyway.

Kenabis

4/2/2017 01:55:06 pm

Some body put HER in charge!

Beth

4/3/2017 03:47:42 am

I second that emotion

Billbo

4/3/2017 10:03:58 am

At some point the Org needs to step up. Taking the "this is my circus but don't expect me to control the monkeys" approach is a bit lame.

Nic

4/2/2017 02:54:02 pm

There is a "profit margin" for the "organization" "behind" burningman and maybe we should direct the lens of scrutiny there considering this is supposed to be a decommodified event

Franzia Spritzer

4/2/2017 04:51:20 pm

Perhaps moving HQ out of the 2nd most expensive city in the country would help to lower operational costs. The staff overhead and property costs could be RADICALLY SLASHED by moving to Reno.

Gpmp

4/3/2017 10:47:08 am

'The staff overhead and property costs could be RADICALLY SLASHED by moving to Reno'

Or at least to Sacramento.

Todd Gardiner

4/3/2017 01:37:31 pm

The event was turned over to a non-profit organization years ago. There is no "profit margin". The transition from Black Rock LLC to the non-profit Burning Man Project was completed in 2014.

Are you talking abut the licensing scheme they set up with Decommodification LLC, the entity the owns the IP?

Now, the idea that the expenses could be reduced is a good one. Although Franzia's suggestion about moving to Reno misses the fact that the Burning Man Project has a year-round mission, in addition to running the event. That year-round mission is not served by moving to Reno.

Fun Size

4/1/2017 09:54:09 pm

In response to the Burner Air Express idea: it may be helpful to go audio rather than written regarding the 101 lesson considering the Pavlovian habit of plane passengers not reading things in front of them. Something that encourages discussion would be beneficial, and definitely DEFINITELY tell them to TAKE THEIR OWN SUITCASES when they get off the plane. Thanks. <3

Punkyme

4/2/2017 11:33:00 pm

hard to read the things in front of you while you're taking selfies.

Kevin J White

4/1/2017 10:23:13 pm

I said several years ago; that as the gates opened to try to be more inclusive to a larger segment of the population, the more 'watered down' the original culture would become. My thought back then was to somehow have a vetting process where in order to get a ticket(s); you would have to have veteran burners vouch for you.

This way the culture would be shared to those getting tickets before arriving. Keeping the growth to about 30% newbies. And the other 70% taking them under their custodial wing and guidance. And done in that way; the educated can share their knowledge to the next set of newbies.
I personally was introduced by a veteran in 2001 and didn't show up for 2 years (until 2003) because I was advised to learn as much as I could BEFORE coming out. The hardships of environment, the radical SELF-RELIANCE, the culture of sharing and the reverence of the playa itself.
The horse may be out of the barn at this point and there's no turning back. But in this new culture of social shaming; maybe posting pictures and stories of how NOT to do it might be the educational tool use.
It was a good time for awhile and hope to hold on for a few more years; but it's getting more difficult in many ways to tolerate the ticketing process, the entitled element, the law enforcement gauntlet, the large theme camp appropriation of property and placement, the lack of rv services due to "prearranged contracts" to the afore mentioned camps and I guess the list goes on..... See you out there, maybe.

Sammy kaykes link

4/3/2017 08:13:03 am

Yes! I have been saying this exactly! Verbatim 100% my first year (1999) felt like ppl were almost discouraged to come to the playa... This made you for check about the culture beforehand...its was always 'changing' but at least the percentage of counterculture prevailed. Its already tipped. The culture it was good founded on is now thw minority out there just like in the home cities.....

Big John

4/4/2017 07:05:21 pm

The thoughts written above are on point!! Couldn't have said it better brethren! Brilliant!

Catnip

4/6/2017 02:36:07 pm

Exactly!! The faster a culture expands the harder for the culture to be transmitted to the newer folks (who already bring their own culture with them). My first year was 2003 with maybe 22,000 folks or so. When the population took off is when I started having to lock my bike and be more on guard. Plus I think the cell phone point is also right on. When you stay connected to the default world, it's harder to be a fully engaged BRC citizen. I also think there might be some incentives for folks that volunteer. Once you volunteer, it really changes your experience (in a good way for me). A pain in the butt to establish and enforce, but with computers, not so hard. It sucks to have to make more rules, but a larger population always needs more rules.

Bubbapuddle

4/11/2017 09:42:37 am

Yes, ditch the cell phone coverage.

capnjoe

9/9/2017 10:13:43 am

No cell phones!!! I remember when you had to take the bus out to Gerlach to get cell service.

Deckard

4/1/2017 10:23:24 pm

You can fix most of these problems by requiring first time burners to attend a regional or participating in a significant way to a project before being allowed to purchase a ticket to the Black Rock event.

4/1/2017 10:25:46 pm

Exactly!

4/2/2017 01:07:06 am

Cheers to that

Yeah right

4/2/2017 03:12:32 am

That is fucking stupid.

4/3/2017 10:07:03 am

Well, here in New England you may think running the Boston Marathon is a birthright, but you actually have to prove you are capable before getting issued a number. See http://www.baa.org/Races/Boston-Marathon/Participant-Information/Qualifying.aspx

Gustaf Josefsson

4/2/2017 03:25:35 am

I'd rather limit international Burner tourists with 10 years of experience to coming to our regional. Our local virgins are participating above and beyond. The burnerlite who do 5 or 10 burns per year, not so much.

4/2/2017 09:50:29 am

I'm with you on that. I know I've changed my focus over time to bring involved with my local community way, way more than caring about getting to the playa. There really wasn't an organized community I could jump into when I first went to brc, and I really wish there had been.
Because the main event has gotten so large since I first started, there is a substantial difference in the quality and impersonal feeling the Black Rock event has.
The future is really in local events.

alyce

4/5/2017 02:09:19 am

I agree, Deckard, I have BurningMan@Home every year now! Sooo fun!

piper

4/2/2017 10:04:07 am

you hit the proverbial rebar on the head

Jessica pearson

4/2/2017 06:28:45 pm

Wonderful idea!!!! Please take note❤️

Cam

4/8/2017 10:31:08 am

Make a majority of the tickets only available thru the theme camps. I have not gone since 09 because it has become to commercial and frat party ish. Theme camps would provide teaching and weeding out the spoilers

Bob C

4/1/2017 10:58:59 pm

Here are a few ideas...

- Enough with the plugin n play camps and Burner airlines which both do nothing but to encourage tourists. Require everyone to be responsible for their own situation; but then we know you probably would not get all of the corporate CEOs, celebrities and the wealthy to show up.
- Use the Burner profile data to prioritize veterans over virgins; especially those associated with well know camps. It is clear that evangelizing the Burner experience for 30% virgin ticket allocations goals for example, does nothing but encourage more of the outside influences to affect the Burner community.
- Limit the size and number of ginormous sound camps. We get that the BMOrg is paid huge sums of money by the people that put them on, but all it does is breed festival and rave behavior. Garbage in always equals garbage out.
- Stop selling so much stuff on the playa. If people had to be more self reliant, well it would not be as appealing.
- Make the event more about art and less about the sound camps. - Stop running a modern day plantation of artists and let them sell their work so that they can make money and compete with all of the club owners and oligarchs that are currently monopolizing the Burning Man experience.

Life is about priorities. If you want to encourage a specifically different experience, then you have to stop pretending to be different while in reality being the same as every other damn music/EDM festival.

The greed of the BMOrg and their desire to evangelize/"sell" a packaged experience is what is killing what used to be an incredibly unique experience. Nothing more.

Kimric

4/2/2017 10:44:35 pm

Lot's of good points here.

Wraith

4/3/2017 10:45:45 pm

Lot of really good stuff there.

Salman

4/2/2017 12:21:51 am

None of this is going to work. What needs to happen is that newcomers are only allowed in if 'sponsored' by an established theme camp or a certain number of veteran Burners. Radical inclusion does NOT mean including people who will destroy what Burning Man is

Tiki

4/2/2017 11:16:30 am

Playing devil's advocate here... Isn't that exactly what the RADICAL INCLUSION means? Radically including everyone?

Chiña

4/3/2017 05:28:30 pm

You can include people and still have basic house 'rules' or way things are done. You do it in your home, why is it different at Home

Cristina

4/4/2017 11:23:57 am

Radical inclusion should not self destruction.

Wilma

4/5/2017 03:31:05 am

Radical Inclusion is not the same as Universal Inclusion.

mournlight

4/5/2017 07:32:16 pm

I was a newcomer once. I didn't know a soul there. There was no regional near me (not even in an adjacent state.) I knew I needed to be at BM and that I would fit in. Here I am, ten years later, and I work my ass off (volunteering.) And I think that's something that would help. Require EVERY ticket holder to volunteer SoMEWHERE. Regardless of where they are camped. I think this would go a long ways to making things more equitable and weeding out those who wouldn't dare do volunteer work.

Jon

9/25/2017 07:52:38 pm

That's a tough requirement, because it requires that you break into an established and potentially insular community.

This was my first burn. I came solo (didn't know a soul), set up my camp solo, and had enough water and food to get myself through from Monday - Second Tuesday. The only assistance I ended up accepting was some nice folks from the Utah regional took my trash out, partially because I was trying to figure out how to pack out discarded trash from campsites around me. I definitely would have made it work, but it was freaking hot and I was struggling with the onset of what turned out to be pneumonia (damned dust, plus lack of sleep). Not every birgin is a hapless drain on BRC resources.

I think the other comments about limiting the tourists flying in and severely limiting RVs and PnP resort camps are spot on, but don't turn BRC into the equivalent of a college frat where you have to be sponsored and part of the "in crowd" before you're allowed to participate. The culture won't continue to be diluted, true, but it will likely stagnate and turn toxic instead.

JuneBug Ochiai

4/2/2017 01:20:43 am

Agree.

I think we better change the name of the event from Burning Man to "Black Rock City" or "The Bad Week at Black Rock".

Burning Man does sounds like a big party to burn the man-statue and all these "Crazy picts / Movies" on SNS or Internet give wrong impression to the people in the default world.

I Care

4/3/2017 12:33:28 am

The portrayal in the default world of the goings-on on the playa are a problem. They are inviting a douche-bag spring-break culture to come, and the random assignment of tickets ensures that the more of them that decide to come, the more of them that get in. Cameras and videos should be banned. Immediacy is one of the principles - a reason that video'ing and taking selfies should be banned, going home and "looking back" is not immediate at all, and leads to posting and objectifying on-playa experiences as a "show-off" experience and "one-upmanship" you are talking about in your article - ie the Fashion shows). Bmorg won't be able to stop it entirely but the community can shame people easily who they see with go-pros and cameras/phones out. No different than shaming someone you see dropping their empty beer cans onto the playa at White Ocean (which I am seeing so much more of now).

Virgins should be limited to 10% maximum of entry tickets. And tickets should be assigned based on seniority, with core theme camps continuing to get DGS, but also adding 7 year and over burners to DGS automatically, and assigning higher access to 3-6 year burners, slightly lower to 2-5 year burners, and only 10% to virgins. This is an existential issue, a real one, for our Burning man culture. Radical inclusion does not mean opening the gates to every uneducated spring-break yahoo who wants a to guzzle beer and bang chicks to a dub-step beat. There are many long-time burners who bring their self-expression to the playa anx who come in all shapes and sizes with their own art in tow - we have plenty of people to radically include in our daily activities and into just being on the playa, which is the most sacred part of our time there and which should be protected and celebrated by virtue of the radical inclusion principle - it should not mean anything but.

Lastly - education I agree is key. You will not educate effectively 6 months before the actual experience of hitting the playa. People forget, and virgins, with the sensory over-load most feel when they hit the playa for the 1st time, are very likely to forget. Leaflets in seat backs on playa planes will not work at all. They are not highly visible or likely to be read. I have always liked those small white sign-posts on the far right of gate-road. No one reads them though, and those who do get bored after the 1st few. You want to remind people coming in of the core ethos of burning man? how to treat the playa AND WHY? How to treat each other AND WHY? How to radically self-rely and to participate and not merely observe? Etc? Put the signs up and put them up BIG and lit up at night - don't be shy, hammer them with it on the way in. Reduce plane travel in - Burning man has a captive audience often with hours of time to be educated - on Gate Road waiting to get in!!! Immediacy, right there as the excitement of actually getting on the playa is at it's peak. Make the messages into art on the playa as well - have the artists pick their favourite Bman ethos and make it into art as a condition of getting an art project approved, and erect that art throughout the playa. Porta-potty signs also. And, force short videos into the ticket-buying process. Like an Internet ad you can't skip. I have always loved those little videos about safety on the playa etc that are done by bmorg - make more, make them about bman ethos and force the ticket-buyer to watch them at various stages of ticket purchase and burningman.org website visits.

Also, stop focusing on righting the ship by focusing on people's income and whether they are billionaire burners or not as I am seeing so many of the comments go towards. That is not the problem - Burning man is a mindset, it is a value set, and it can be shared and extolled by all who get it, regardless of who they are in the default world. To those of you who don't see that, wake the fuck up.

Salvage

4/4/2017 04:16:34 pm

+1...whole heartedly agree!

Mike

4/2/2017 03:09:55 am

Then let the people earn the partisipation by buying the Tickets and crawl through 100 Meter mud and rubbisch insted of a slap. Sounds like army yes but the bonding Faktor is higher.

Jake

4/2/2017 04:22:39 am

1. Ticket distribution is tiered - theme camps, regional attendees, and volunteers first.

2. Genuine crackdown on plug and play.

3. Reduce the size and scope of sound camps.

4. The most radical and useful idea - take 1-2 year hiatus and encourage growth of regional events. Let the playa breath. This will ensure other EDM Events pop up, and reduce the hype.

4/2/2017 09:41:54 am

In a way they already give preference to theme camps and some volunteers for tickets.

Starrrrbooty

4/2/2017 03:26:03 pm

5. Limit first burn year tickets to 10,000.

I care

4/3/2017 04:52:46 am

Love that idea - the break. And also prioritizing tickets to core camps, volunteers, and long-time burners, with max 5-10,000 to virgins.

Madeleine

4/2/2017 04:26:05 am

It's going to be difficult to control the culture change because even Burning Man wants to be inclusive. After the main sale was over, there were already jacked up tickets being sold on Craigslist and Stubhub. The people who buy those tickets are most likely not "burners". Burning Man is now a bragging right as opposed to a unique experience and unless they take back control of who attends, it'll just turn into just another "festival".

Violet

4/2/2017 11:32:58 am

Jacked up tickets are not allowed. The BMOrg will cancel them out right before allowing scalpers to profit. Anyone trying to buy these kinds of tickets should be aware that they may not get in at all. ...

H.G.Crosby

4/2/2017 04:48:26 am

"we will teach them to wear the reeeeeebon"

Shakes

4/2/2017 07:13:49 am

Limiting large sound camps will limit the amount of "internationally renowned djs" which will limit the number of people buying tickets to the "Burningman Dance Festival"

4/2/2017 07:14:56 am

It is good to see the Org finally admitting that it has a problem.

Argyre

4/2/2017 07:54:24 am

Kill (with extreme prejudice) plug & play camps.
No commercial flights in and out.
Limit the ridiculous giant EDM camps.

Scott Kelley

4/2/2017 08:51:33 pm

how about 'no amplified music' ?

silent disco or die!

4/2/2017 08:51:46 pm

uh no

4/3/2017 12:35:37 pm

headphones dont let you feel the bass in your chest, unless you had that backpack thats a sub (the activator it was called)

4/3/2017 02:05:33 pm

I don't care about silent disco or whatever, but to your point about not feeling the bass, I can only say, so what? You want a rave, go to any number of EDM festivals. I love dancing on the playa, but I'd gladly give that up if it reduced the number of people there ONLY for the rave/party aspect.

FuriousGreg

4/2/2017 08:20:37 am

Eliminate the current system of ticket resale instead start doing what some regionals are doing: Tickets are tied to an individual and only that individual and cannot be transferred and you are required to have a matching id at the gate. If you cannot or choose not to attend your ticket is placed back into the system and is sold to the next person on a waiting list where upon you get reimbursed minus a small fee to cover

4/2/2017 08:27:59 am

Oops, some how cut off the last but :P

... fee to cover the transaction cost.

By eliminating resale outside of BM you even the playing field and it become harder for Plug & Play to guarantee business.

ROBERT NADEL link

4/3/2017 03:56:15 pm

EXACTLY!!!!!

bbb

4/13/2017 05:03:31 pm

I can only imagine how much longer the gate line will be if everyone has to present an ID that matches a ticket. Not realistic. Besides, people's plans change, life happens. Why should people be prevented from choosing who to sell their ticket to? Sure, some will jack up the price. Many don't. Buying a late ticket on the open market sorts out the people who really really want to go, and make it happen, from those who give up after one try. Tenacious burners.

Jason

4/2/2017 08:36:34 am

How about every first year ticket buyer is automatically enrolled in a volunteer role. Sure, some will just flake, but many will learn first hand how much work goes into running things. Plug and play camps have no reason to exist. And the charters at the airport are only serving the glamorous crowd that fly in for a few days of partying. The org has to decide if they want rich, glamorous crowds, or to keep the culture alive and sustainable.

Margaret

4/2/2017 11:22:20 am

I like this idea a lot! I think it could encourage a sense of responsibility to the community at large, as well as help folks (like me in 2010) feel less anxious about how to participate in a meaningful way

Tayln Lang

4/2/2017 09:08:45 am

I took last year off, for the first time since I started going thirteen years ago. Decided to come back this year and take both of my significant others and my mother in law, but since I decided to camp slate from my theme camp I couldn't get directed group sales, and then didn't get tickets in the main sale. Don't know if I'll be back out on the playa this year now. Tickets probably got snatched up by some EDC bros looking for their next rave. This is one of the biggest contributors to the watering down of burner culture. The percentage of first time burners has been increasing and veterans like myself can't seem to get back. Without veteran burners to keep the culture of what the burn is(or was, at this point) virgins are just going to treat BM like any other festival. The org should consider how many years a potential city inhabitant has gone and give them some sort of preferential ticketing. There really aren't that many of us left, and fewer go every year, so this shouldn't be a big problem. I fear it something like this isn't done the culture will be simply wanted away by the steady stream of virgins washing the culture down more and more each year.

Bexx

4/2/2017 10:40:36 am

A problem with this, however, is that involved regional burners (like myself), who would REALLY like to finally make it out to the big burn, would have a hard time getting a ticket. I TCO for a regional theme camp, volunteer every burn, and give back to the community. I'd like to bring this spirit to TTITD, but trouble with ticket sales (and general costs) are a huge factor in not being able to attend!

Starrbooty

4/2/2017 03:21:30 pm

Maybe instead limited direct ticket sales we could have a limited birgin ticket sale?

Jen

4/3/2017 08:38:22 am

I hear you. Our camp has all but dissolved. We had theme camps, we had an art car, we volunteered. And then we started not getting enough tickets. And then a few of us skipped a year and then practically ALL of us skipped last year and now I just can't see us going back any time soon... Nice that org is acknowledging the problem, but frankly, it's too little too late.

hihoreno

4/4/2017 09:44:47 am

The weather takes care of a lot. As a 22 year burner who does my own non registered theme camp it has been a trip seeing the evolution. Fly in camps create no self reliance just a party. What do you expect? It will continue to be the best experience of my life. I would like to have priority to get tickets but do not expect things to change. Yes I have volunteered and it was ok. However I do not go to work. I go to play and am radically self reliant and help whoever needs help as I have been helped. Burn on and enjoy. Stop trying to control something that cannot be controlled

Dr Eye

4/2/2017 09:30:12 am

Thanks for this. Maybe I'll write something more substantial later.

Dolman incurs increased department costs and BLM problems from the culture problem. Graham has a valuable history with the event but primarily has public relations responsibilities.

Did the founders announce at the opening of the BMGLC that this was a concern? Did Larry and Marian open the Operation Citizenship session?

If not both, therein lies the problem.

burnersxxx link

4/7/2017 11:35:07 am

well said

4/2/2017 09:32:56 am

Get rid of the social media presence. All official FB groups, Twitters, Instagrams, Google+, or any and all of that. We all found BM once upon a time without it, and those who want to find it could do the same. Word of mouth will never be the same thing it once was, but I think lessening the popular presence of BM could do some good.

nncoco

4/2/2017 10:26:45 am

Last year was the first time I saw full cell phone access on the Playa, We are never going back to the way it was. If anything, this development will increase the numbers of people who never came before for fear of bot being connected to their default life 24/7.

4/3/2017 05:00:10 am

100%. Cell coverage is a HUGE change and adds to the existential threat. The 1st thing I would do is kill that coverage entirely if possible

Jason Silverio

4/3/2017 09:26:33 am

Cell phone connectivity and messaging ability kill all spontenaity and happenstance experiences on the Playa.

Sure, keep a small area where citizens can check in with the outside world if needed, but otherwise phone use on Playa should be considered as horrible of an act as it would be seeing someone just throwing handfuls of glitter around your camp.

Citrus

4/5/2017 09:10:48 am

I was honestly blown away last year when I went to put my cell phone in my glove box come Monday when connectivity usually drops and found I still had signal.
I put my phone away for the week anyway because that's the fucking point.

4/5/2017 09:48:36 am

You're a goddess, this list is amazing. 6 years in and I *still* always forget something. Totally using this. <3

Joe

4/2/2017 10:49:26 am

I believe that there should be more ticket allocations prioritized to long standing and responsible camps that best display the ideas & ideals of BM culture. Filtering tickets through these proven camps let's them be responsible for upholding values and their reputations first - less work on BMorg directly. Next would be to have a required online workshop or tutorial for newbs (or everyone), quiz at the end sort if deal - pretty pictures, ugly pictures, things that will make them think and be aware. Once Tix are bought, the confirmation page should have a sign up list for volunteering across any & all BM related tasks, camps, etc.

Starbooty

4/2/2017 03:16:56 pm

Maybe instead of 10-20k direct sale tickets, we could have only 10-20k birgin tickets?

Nick

4/2/2017 11:27:31 am

One main big thing the Burning Man Project can and hopefully will do for its part is no longer contract and permit with RV and other lodging/package vendors to deliver and set up lodging within BRC. This can only help reduce the creep of plug and play camps, principally by forcing camps/individuals to experience the 10 principles more first-hand. If you don't have to set up your lodging/camp, then you're missing out on a critical part of the playa and BRC experience. No amount of money or donations can substitute for this.

I do believe that charter air and bus transportation services - along with carpooling - are a necessity, however, from a safety, logistics, and environmental perspective.

sam

4/2/2017 11:47:20 am

Perhaps it's time to shut down the temporary festival. Local burns haven't all been taken over by bro-culture and that's where the edge of culture and that family feeling still exists.

Pipki

4/2/2017 12:02:27 pm

Yes...we are with you.

Gustav

4/2/2017 12:02:48 pm

Google is catfishing people, that don't want to be at the burn! Just give them a proper chance to not show up!

Self selection is important. Give ticket holders regular access to information and immediately pair that with access to STEP so birgins can pull the rip cord when they realize they were completely wrong about the burn.

Many people who have tickets, don't have the slightest clue what they are getting into. One of the most eye opening things I've seen, is sending someone the packing list, and emphasizing the second column is accurate. After they scroll a few times and it keeps going, and going, and going; they reliably freak out about how little they know. People can understand a packing list. But once they realize how far off they were, just on packing, they are both scared and actually thinking about how little they know about what Burning Man is. They have no idea it isn't anything. They see pictures, they know EDM festival. This packing list is a hammer that completely crushes that fallacy.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t2KvCRFsTvoLiFeo9ewsCgPUFzfgo0Re3AgDq05AdlU/pub?output=html

There is a really simple web page step to make sure people get the information. Basically a captcha

A super simple question, a link to the packing list or other core burning man knowledge, and a text box(or multiple choice questions could be hilarious).

On which is line is item X of the packing list?

Booom that simple. They click link to list to get the number, completely freak out. Then are presented with STEP.

This packing info-captcha could be deployed simply and widely; access your burner profile, tickets info ect.

Right or wrong you get to pass to where you were headed. But there is a pause and think step. Followed by a big button that directs to STEP and small button to proceed to where you are going.

How many completely unprepared birgins would opt to get their ticket money back if they realize they have to do prep work and get all that stuff to the playa? Isn't it crazy how many thousands of people would self select to GTFO when they say 'Oh this isn't what I thought it was' BEFORE showing up.

Google is catfishing people, that don't want to be at the burn! Just give them a proper chance to not show up!

4/2/2017 01:19:28 pm

Wasn't going to weigh in but frankly surprised this main issue got press. But its at least 6 years overdue. Too little too late. You think Reddit AMA is going to save the event? Here's a dare: delete plug-n-play and get rid of the airport. Limit the sound camps.
Of course you won't because thats a huge part of your donor base.
So... you made your beds. I'm not coming back. Even if I did, doubtful I could get a ticket and have more self respect than to wait in line for 12 hours at the gate just to endure hard labor setting up camp upon arrival. Done n' dusted.

Bbb

4/13/2017 05:36:33 pm

How you get there is less important than what you do while you are there. The airport is an integral part of burning man. Not everyone arrives by car or truck. It's like saying "ban all sedans, four-door people are not welcome because they don't get it." Not everyone stepping on/off a plane is a rich, entitled a-hole. The point is to leave behind preconceived notions for a spell. Fresh eyes for jaded souls. Having a few comforts from home while in a strange land will not spoil the immersion entirely. There are areas for everyone. Sound camps are positioned at 2 & 10 o'clock so people can camp (relatively) undisturbed. I think the experience people want to have varies from person to person. This whole notion of burning man purity is a bit absurd. Burning man is people. We make it what we make it. We shape the environment with RVs and airplanes and lots and lots of sound. That IS burning man.

Randy George

4/2/2017 02:02:52 pm

I'm surprised at how upset people are about the big boogyman the plug n play camps. If you don't like them, then stay out of the burbs. The Playa is REALLY big. Find somewhere else to be. I feel sorry for them because they are walled off from all the fun in a lot of cases, and they probably aren't doing a very good job of having a meaningful burn.. But banning them is just going to make BM less inclusive because ticket prices will have to be raised for everyone else. And I am very sorry to hear that BMorg plans to reduce their focus on their annual fiascos like the gate and the police state situation. I think that the loss of control we feel when we have to wait 7 or 10 hours to have someone search our ice chest for stowaways at the gate, or because we get a speeding ticket for going 7 miles an hour in a 5 mile an hour zone are much bigger threats to our empowerment and ability to maintain the culture than a sound camp we don't like.

kimric

4/3/2017 12:49:14 am

At one point this was a valid argument, but there is not anyplace you can go to get away from the noise. This also has a negative effect on art pieces that try to create a soundscape for the particular piece.

Neeewt

4/4/2017 12:22:03 pm

Exactly, even deep deep Playa where I spent most of my time at night last year it was impossible to escape the big sound camps and the Mayan Warrior's sound system.

While I still found some genuine burning man magic out there, I got the feeling that magic is more and more being marginalized for generic EDM festival atmosphere. And it's getting harder and harder to escape from it.

Shemling Preffler

4/2/2017 02:29:00 pm

All of the "fixes" being floated by the BMorg are just a smokescreen. The real problem with Burning Man is all the money going under the table that created the plug 'n play culture in the first place.

The participants have not created this problem. The corruption of Burning Man flows down from the creators, and poisons the roots.

Burning Man will eventually die by it's own hand. We're just a few years away, folks. Enjoy it while you can!

Magnum

4/2/2017 02:35:08 pm

One of the principals of burning man is radical inclusion. All are welcome. So that means everyone, frat douches and the like.

4/2/2017 08:50:13 pm

yeah, but you can still have policies that incentivize the behaviors you wish to see and discourage those you don't.

radical inclusion is something you guys throw around when you don't feel like addressing the issue

4/7/2017 11:37:23 am

even non-ravers are welcome!

bcbob

4/2/2017 02:46:02 pm

As I read these comments they sound eerily similar to the calls for border patrol for the United States, and I quote . . .

"I said several years ago; that as the gates opened to try to be more inclusive to a larger segment of the population, the more 'watered down' the original culture would become. My thought back then was to somehow have a vetting process where in order to get a ticket(s); you would have to have veteran burners vouch for you. "

"None of this is going to work. What needs to happen is that newcomers are only allowed in if 'sponsored' by an established theme camp or a certain number of veteran Burners. Radical inclusion does NOT mean including people who will destroy what Burning Man is."

Its seems to me that you are suggesting inclusion but . . . only if you are part of the club . . . .

Nathan

4/3/2017 12:37:14 pm

I thought I was the only one. I think it's hilarious that the people pissed off about plug and play and airplanes want to create a VIP tier.

Chi

4/3/2017 05:49:57 pm

The club is existing contributing citizens, of a volunteer made city. Anyone can get in the club if they're down the basic principles and a PAL system or sponsorship by a veteran's part of it. If the principles of the city are what holds it together, then some frat boy being a jackass or plug and play walking themselves off... you the person are included, every time, but that shit you're doing don't float

ifellfromthesky

4/2/2017 03:03:30 pm

The culture of "participants" is not the only part of B-Man that is in trouble , just ask some long term DPW how far south that crew is going...
whatevs , lake lahontan is back...

4/2/2017 03:06:54 pm

One thing that's been noticeably harder every year is getting a ticket, which for people traveling from far away makes it hard to plan ahead, if you don't get a ticket in the main sale or direct sale. It would be really helpful if bmorg did not send out an email to everyone the day before tickets go on sale that tickets are going on sale the next day. All that does is increase demand for a very limited supply of available tickets. And demand far outways the supply at the moment, so what's the point of that?

4/3/2017 05:08:31 am

Great comment. Agree - what of radical self-reliance if you can't even rely on yourself to check the site and know when tickets go on sale without constant email reminders from Bmorg?

Disa Lindquist

4/2/2017 03:20:14 pm

Radical inclusion sounds cool, but it's impossible to implement in reality. As an attendee of both the 2001 and 2011 burns, I thought that most of the elements I loved was still there ten years later, but as a mostly shy, sensitive, artistic type, the crowds were overwhelming, and the inclusion of the kind of people who bullied and derided me in my teens doesn't help. Also, I liked the lack of privelege, or appearance of equality under the raw elements. If I want to feel safe for conversations on the fringe, there has to be empty spaces, not just noise and ego. My two cents. Radical inclusion needs to be seen for what it is and what it will become. Introverts, curious loners, crowd-phobic artists, autistics - how do you plan to radically reinclude us?

grace womack

4/2/2017 03:58:42 pm

If, I can manage to buy a ticket, this will be my 4th Burn...with a camp of experienced Burners, who made certain I knew the expectations, in camp, around town and on the playa...
Most of it common sense...
2016, I did notice quite a lot of disrespect going around. Perhaps mandatory "class" for all newbies...and expulsion if necessary...

David s

4/2/2017 04:47:13 pm

Why aren't burners fighting for their culture? 'in danger is an understatement. Rise up and fight for your culture or perish!

Twilight

4/2/2017 05:35:23 pm

When Burning Man was growing slowly - say 20% newbies each year -- the passionate ones built the theme camps, art, and infrastructure, and were then able to acculturate the newcomers. It was part of the mission, and it was achievable.

Once the ticket lottery went into place, those for whom the culture was a religion and who lived to contribute were kicked to the curb in favor of "fairness" to everyone. Many left, never to return. Why all this change? We're not encouraging those who contribute by making enough tickets available to them.

If the Org is serious about culture and acculturation, there has to be a sustainable growth rate for newbies, which means swinging the pendulum of directed ticketing towards those who actually work hard to contribute. Without including those who truly make the city happen -- call it communal effort, civic responsibility and participation -- radical inclusion is meaningless.

4/2/2017 10:40:31 pm

The event grew much faster than that, when I first attended it was 200 people. The number almost doubled each year. You could figure that not all the people from the previous yer would return so it was safe to assume that at lest half the people had not been there before.

4/7/2017 11:39:50 am

It's an important lesson from this radical experiment against capitalism. The idea of "let's be fair to everyone and welcome everyone" leads to the complete destruction of culture.

Great article Dr Yes BTW

Dr. Yes

4/30/2017 11:25:39 am

Thanks!

4/2/2017 05:35:55 pm

Don't have ticket sales at all, just let anyone in who shows up. We don't want/need walls, and we shouldn't limit who attends. And who is to say BM culture is better than any other culture. Appreciate diversity, celebrate it.

Dr. Yes link

4/2/2017 05:38:01 pm

That's not possible, alas. Burning Man's population cap is set by the US Government's Bureau of Land Management, as the Black Rock Desert is public land managed by them on behalf of the public.

There are many, many factors that go into the current population cap, especially the limited capacity of the 2 lane road leading in and out.

4/2/2017 06:27:02 pm

My camp (Mudskippers) holds a mandatory orientation call with slideshow. It discusses moop, self-reliance, etc. we also require everyone bringing a birgin to be their mentor and we really do hold them both accountable. It works! People really are open to learning the culture.

Frogbeater

4/2/2017 06:36:06 pm

One element that I sense is the EDC/Coachella-ing of BM. The music festival elements of the event could be limited... As long as there are clubs that emulate coachella stages we will have coachella crowds. I love loud music, but to me the key is returning BM to it's rightful and unique place as an Art Festival.

Jessie Newburn link

4/2/2017 07:00:07 pm

Share my packing list with virgins. It should wake them up a bit. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TngAudqHerT9UdfDVEhTrig9BuJCktsdcgRET4jzcck/edit#gid=20

Ray

11/13/2018 11:24:25 am

THE most comprehensive packing list I've ever come across in my 20+ years of burning. Absolutely AWESOME!!

F-yerburn

4/2/2017 08:13:53 pm

I say only offer tickets to virgins and we all take a year off. See what they come up with,

adam

4/2/2017 10:12:56 pm

Distribute tickets via regional events.

If I want tobplay in the NHL, there is a pipeline called the minor hockey leagues. It ensures that players with a proven track record of the qualities the NHL is looking for can be found. If you want certain people in Gerlach, you know where they are, they are at regionals.

BM always gives a wishy washy advice after the lottery sale; "go to regionals and maybe youll get a ticket." Sorry but the ENTIRETY of my local regional committee failed to get tickets in the main sale.

Regional leaders are perfectly capable of vetting and educating people during the year. What they are ibcapable of doing is getting tickets for said educated, artistic, and 10-principles minded burners.

Support the regionals with more than just wishy washy feelings.

If BM want the right people, then they need to build a pipeline. Luckily one already exists. But it is not supported with tickets.

Taking 10k tickets out of the lottery sale and devoting them to people who practice the 10 principles at least one other time, as getted by the reguonal reps at the Global Leadership Conference would solve this problem real fast.

The leaders have been trained. Time to award them some responsibility and some trust.

Aaron Cutchin link

4/2/2017 10:32:58 pm

The problem with Burning Man Culture is that the leaders are so full of themselves that they host things like a "Global Leadership Conference". Since when is Burning Man about "Global Leadership"? Are we a branch of the UN now?

When you fly around the world persuading "influencers" (i.e., rich people) to attend and promoting Burning Man like an evangelical religion, then you no longer have a crazy, uninhibited, radical art party full of inspired and connected people. You have an "organization" with a "purpose", which is fundamentally a very different thing than a community of friends. You have to curate the event, the community, and it's evolution according to your lofty principles. The leaders themselves have productized Burning Man as some sort of transformative philosophy, like Landmark Forum or Scientology.

I have been profoundly inspired by Burning Man, and have created several art projects, some of which were very popular and appreciated. Want to know why? Not to enlighten or inspire anyone. Not to promote art or world peace or awareness or consciousness through naked yoga or vegetarianism or the transformative power of psychedelic drugs or any other hippie crap. I created because I found inspiration to create, and a community that would support me in creating. Any effect my art has had on awareness or connectedness can ONLY have been incidental. If I were to focus on such a heady goal or concept, I would be creating from a place of ego, rather than inspiration, and my art would suffer.

Certainly, I made art to share, and I know many people in my immediate community and beyond have found joy and inspiration through my art, because they have told me so repeatedly. However, I have never entertained any loftier ideals than just the crazy obsession to make something beautiful with a group of friends and go share it with a larger group of friends.

The Bmorg are leading Burning Man in a much different direction, and seem to be blind that in the process they have sacrificed the raw anarchy, the true radicalism, the original source of the event's magic. I think that Burning Man and the community would have a much more profound influence on the world at large if we did not try to define or produce such influence. Can't we just make and share our art and performance and inspiration with each other and forget about all this "Global Leadership" crap?

4/2/2017 10:45:18 pm

It's just a conference bringing together leaders of Regional Burns to share knowledge...

4/2/2017 11:27:28 pm

This article is not really about regional burns. It's about the general issue, and is focused on the main event. My comment is about the subject of this article.

D DeLong

4/3/2017 11:54:51 am

I'm not a burner but I live in SF and have many burner friends. Seems like there are literally thousands of people burning up (pardon the expression) a whole lot of time and energy on how and what and why etc. - look how many comments on this article. Aaron's post seems to resonate most clearly, and I appreciate reading his point of view. I wish you all the best. Peace, D

4/3/2017 01:04:05 pm

Very well put. The event is no longer a free-for-all where a bunch of people are thrown together just to see what happens. Now it has a purpose. It wants to preach a message. It also, like any organization, has special interest groups like theme camps. The SIGs all feel they deserve special treatment of some sort. The org does it's best to compromise competing interests.

What I would like to see: the org do LESS curation. No directed sales. No special treatment for your camp that's been around for 20 years. Maybe the event ends up being shit, maybe it ends up being smaller, maybe it ends up better in ways that can't be predicted. I don't know. But it would be interesting to see.

4/2/2017 10:35:25 pm

Interesting , but I don't see them addressing the Plug and Play which is where these detached party people are catered to in a way that allows them to treat BM like any other music festival they might attend.

4/2/2017 11:51:01 pm

Plug & Play has been addressed by the org and they have decided that if it's done "right" it will expose and possibly change people who camp at the P&Ps from entitled consumers to active participants of the community. They do bring in a lot of money for the org and the event both directly at the event, and indirectly, in the way of hosting wealthy potential contributors. I don't think we're going to see P&Ps going away. Biting the hand that might feed & all.

4/3/2017 12:36:40 am

This is the problem, is has become about money, and not really about art anymore. Not sure why people did not think this would happen.

Misha

4/3/2017 08:25:05 am

Everything has to still be there, as exclusion goes against the main intention. Holding space for the experience to co-create with you, is the magic. Creating a safe space, where that original intention, and all of the blossoming out that has occurred, is key to BM's survival as a catalyst. Meditate on where the entropy is, and you will find your answer. Change that rule. When you organize a concert, you only let your crew backstage. You have no backstage, so may I suggest the ideal of "encircle." <3 ~Misha

NorthernStarr

4/2/2017 11:51:25 pm

4/3/2017 12:34:17 am

One has to maintain the greater #. The environment is held together by the surrounding vibration. There has to be a way to keep a certain number of loyal Burners, who can and will uphold the intention of the experience, in key positions. <3 ~ A question to the main crew - from the Cacophony Society ~ Do you feel you should maintain some sort of parameters? On your creation? If you see it leading to a harmful place, do you stop it?

4/3/2017 12:43:22 am

We tried.
BORG 2 was the last serious attempt to change the direction the event was going. It was met with strong resistance by the BORG. It had some effect but it tapered off as the event got larger and more complex and it became more difficult to figure out who was making decisions.

HoldZ

4/3/2017 03:10:07 am

I don't think any of those measures will make the slightest difference!!

The simple answer I think is for BMorg to start controlling ticket sales to make sure that a decent percentage go to veteran burners who understand BM's ethos & contribute & reduce the number of 'bucket listers'. Maybe even allocate more tickets to camps in the DSG who could ensure participation.

I'm not suggesting to not allow newbies at all but with the tickets selling out so fast lots of veterans don't get to go & therefore their contribution is lost.

Jason1969

4/3/2017 03:15:24 am

I agree with many of the points made here, especially the idea of first year participants having to do a volunteer shift and also have to be invited by a trusted burner. The problem with that is it sets up a cliquish "Burnier than thou" situation. Sure, that idea challenges the radical inclusion principle, I think radical inclusion can have rules at the point of entry. "Radical inclusion of people interested in joining a specific community and understand and can prove what that means," is how I see it more clearly defined.

I think the move to curb large sound size and volume are a good thing. I love dancing on the Playa, but Burning Man is not a music festival. I hate to generalize but it's always around the sound camps on the "big name DJ" nights that I see the most careless moop offenses. The worst is the amount of cans and bottles found in the nearest bank of port-a-potties to the corners. It's gotten really bad in just the last 4-5 years. I think the idea of the big corner DJ camp with promise of a well paid headliner is something Burning Man needs to change.

I also think the event needs to take a year off. It really is up against the wall as an art event. The roads in our going to get any wider, tickets are always going to sell out. Can The event extend to having two different burns with a week inbetween like Coachella? Can there be two events one in the spring one in the fall? I don't think any of these ideas can work. So it can't really be much different as an art event then it is right now. And it shows. Fertility 3.0? What would happen if there was no Burn in the Black rock Desert for one year? Would people still go to the player on Labor Day weekend? With the attend regional events in larger numbers? Would Persing and Washoe County suffer? Would someone else apply to throw an event there? Seriously, when will be the first year that there is not a burn on that Playa on Labor Day weekend?

4/3/2017 09:32:12 am

Sorry for the typos

*the roads in are not going to get any wider ...

James Holdsworth

4/3/2017 03:54:38 am

Maybe hold BM at the same time as Coachella!!

4/3/2017 02:39:33 pm

This is actually the most brilliant idea on here.

The BMorg should sponsor a massive EDM festival somewhere near San Francisco at the same time as Burning Man, bringing in tons of top-tier DJs and featuring massive sound systems. Participants would have to decide where they want to go... Burning Man or this other festival. I think Burning Man would look different immediately.

Also, they could charge a goodly fee at the gate for this new Festival, rake in the cash, and funnel that $$ back to arts funding for the playa.

The ravers get the music they want without the inconveniences of the playa, Burning Man culture becomes less entitled and better-funded -- everybody wins!

generic name

4/3/2017 02:53:58 pm

That's a really neat idea.

Carbon Buildup

4/5/2017 02:49:55 pm

Wow! This is a great idea! I can't see any conflicts with Burning Man culture hear, except for the pseudo-profit aspect. They would have to be transparent about what they were going to do with the earnings.

Badger

5/2/2018 12:27:42 pm

That's an inspired idea!

Rice 916

4/3/2017 08:13:21 am

What if you made small test on all the serious info and you have to complete the test before you can even be put in to a sale. It would make it so scalpers would have to actually read and answer questions before they can buy. It will also help people read all the info they might have missed.

doctoriknow

4/4/2017 06:55:49 am

Yes: a test as one registers for the General Sale! I've done the Cali DMV online traffic school, and it will teach you page after page of info. At the end, you take a test. There is no way to go back to a previous web page and get the answer. You can take the test over as many times as it takes to get a high percentage correct. This should be very do-able!

2000-2005 burner

4/3/2017 08:28:35 am

seems to me that if they want to bring back more of the old burner ethics, they should try to bring back some of the burners from years ago. i.e., "this batch if tickets, at this price, will be available to only people who were on the playa from '19xx-20xx' years. we know who you are, so don't apply unless this name was associated with a ticket sale for those years." you might even through something out to test what an audience response would be to this.

another thing that i would find attractive, would be to block all internet access on the playa. this sense of isolation was one of the greatest community building tools back then. yes, there would be a lot of logistics to pull this off, but worth discussing, in my opinion.

4/3/2017 09:51:37 am

I think blocking internet access would be a great idea. No Insta posting might mean fewer fashion tourists and networkers. I don't know how this would be accomplished technically but totally down. I really miss those days when on playa was off grid.

4/3/2017 09:46:50 am

Communications are great, and needed but will have no effect on the type of people and behavior the Org is trying to curb. Give me a break, that just eggs them on. 4 simple fixes:
1. No more burning man air - the traffic and driving there is part screening process
2. No internet
3. Sell the bulk of the tickets to camps with a straightforward screening process - this is obviously the hardest and would require a lot of thought as to not just reward big camps with huge budgets but would bring back the community.
4. Each camp has to 'volunteer' a certain amount of hours

XJswaG_EDM link

4/3/2017 10:03:51 am

I pay my money, I get to come do WHATEVER I want. Fuck your hippie shit, if you aint here to RAGE get the FUCK OUT MY FACE.

#removealloldhippies2018

My crew finna be running your shit!

obvious troll is obvious

4/3/2017 02:53:07 pm

and boring. zzz.

11/13/2018 11:28:31 am

XJswaG_EDM, yours was a truly snore-worthy post. Excuse me now while I yawn....

4/3/2017 10:52:04 am

So I am seeing placement as being really important. Make a Yin Yang. Embrace the darkness and light, and put them accordingly - and make a neutral zone where they meet. And as I have stated ~EnCircle~ the Event. Better planning for next year, super huge moves for this one. Offer an Essay contest for a large Number of people, and have the write about this very thing. You will know who is representing Heart - and then bring them into a camp as Volunteers, Vibe Squad, Prayerformers and wandering Shaman to keep the light space you set forward. Not sure how far you are in with the camp maps - Feel free to Email me (ground crew).

Terbo Ted link

4/3/2017 11:34:03 am

I'm buying me shirts like that to wear on the playa this year. Maybe some to gift too. Already found half that stuff online, all of it less than $10 each.

MARMADUKE THE DESTOYER

4/3/2017 11:37:23 am

Thank you for writing this. This is such an unspoken problem. I have built many things, only to see someone buy something better, and feel like I completely wasted my time and money.

I'm not a tour guide, nor do I want to be an attraction. I just want to make great things.

MARMADUKE THE DESTROYER

4/3/2017 12:04:02 pm

A strategy for acculturation:

Make volunteering more accessible and more rewarded.

A possible strategy for that: Create an even more tiered ticket sale. Ideally, after all the tickets that are related to contributions are gone, there might not be so many tickets left for people who do not want to be part of the culture.

Return Burners and Regional Contributors:
By volunteering at a during or post – burn job for a minimum number of hours, or volunteering at regionals, a person gets a code, which allows them access to ticket sales in an earlier tier. These might be jobs like DPW, Gate, Moop… There might be two tiers, one which is for leaders and people who put in many hours doing hard work, and people who did a 4 hour parking shift. These tickets would be single use, but never expire.

People who do not build huge art projects, but contribute in other ways, can write / submit pictures / evidence of previous contributions to self-nominate.

(also, existing camps always get the early tickets sales.)

Newer Burners:
Problem:
Imagine someone who doesn’t know burners, wants to join us, but has no way of knowing us because they don’t know anyone. It’s a pretty cyclic fail, and how my first burn went. I tried (for months) to meet people from facebook and the burners online group (which is mostly trolls) and found myself with no on playa project. I didn’t go the first year I could have gone because of this... and the second year, I just jumped. I asked many people on playa if I could help them, but nobody would accept help. Imagine coming from a place where the regional culture is not strong, and you don’t have ways to get plugged in.

Possible Solution:
Create an open volunteer depot, which includes early entry tickets. If a person wants to go but knows nobody, they can buy a ticket that allows them to come in a whole week early… and know that someone will place them with some project being built. As a rule, they HAVE TO work that week, and sign something saying they will. Maybe they will meet a camp and not have to camp alone. Maybe they can be connected pre-playa, so they can go to builds or review meetings online.
***It is very important to specify that the required skills isn’t just power tool related, groups also need people to cook and child care, etc…***

4/3/2017 12:14:09 pm

ONE MORE THING! Make it rough and the tourists will think twice.

End: Open internet at center camp, phone, internet in general. It was better without general connectivity.

Filter: Rampart

Reduce the appeal of RV's and generators because that is the easiest plug and play...
Force RV's to only be parkable in non-preferred areas... like 8 and X-ray... it will probably help everyone else respect storms a bit more.
Require a permit for a generator or wind turbine, so that people using them to contribute tesla coils can do that... but people who want personal AC can't.

Jeffrey

4/3/2017 12:31:48 pm

I am a third time burner launching a camp with a massive investment to give back to the community, and I find a few things comical. Our group has 6 tickets and we need 22 (the operational side of this is equal to the biggest camps).

I find it very interesting that there is no support to help camps succeed in getting the right people in who I consider are ambassadors to BM.

Off Subject, last why is nobody talking about the place being under water???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ztMYJyW6I0

I have a background in soils science, and unless it gets real windy that water is going nowhere fast. If BM is purposely not saying something that is not good as we loose all the ticket cost (if I am understanding correctly) if BM is cancelled. I am hopping they are just sliding the location further up to avoid this issue of water retention - it is cool though to see the video (I am a kitesurfer so we get excited over large masses of water, especially new ones - lol).

Your article brings up excellent points and I will make extra sure to share this with our group so we can continue to service and promote positive stewardship to the others! Thank you for this insight.

4/3/2017 06:17:53 pm

So take in 18 new camp members from the people who did get tickets? Have such a clear inclusive and principle savvy culture that they become ambassadors of your great camp. You'll fill it. #inclusion And you may not need support and hand holding to succeed, big camp man. You got this #selfreliant

4/4/2017 10:42:08 pm

Water on the playa this time of year is normal. If it's still standing water into late June then you should start to worry. :)

4/5/2017 02:55:41 pm

No worries about the water. Black Rock is a playa lake, it was formed by water anyway. It's a huge evaporite basin that dries up every year. The water will infiltrate into the ground and evaporate soon enough.

Richard

4/3/2017 12:54:29 pm

1. No plug and play.
2. No RV services on playa
3. No bulk ticket sales of anykind. Individuals only with ID.
4. Closed to entry Wednesday at midnight.
5. Some type of registration to tie ticket holders to camp location. BLM could follow up with littering citations for excess moop. Borg could tie violations to future ticket sales.

The more primative the environment, the more self reliance required and the longer the stay will be somewhat self selecting as to participants.

4/3/2017 02:59:28 pm

I have thought of something similar to closing gate on Wednesday, but it would be really hard to enforce in reality.

I also agree with the idea to not allow airport entry.

Amit

4/3/2017 01:25:53 pm

A similar phenomenon was noticed at Afrikaburn. In my inquiry, I found that the principles of the burn were not being embodied by participants. When brought to the "town hall" meetings, I discovered that there was confusion around the interpretation of the burn principles. They were believed to be in conflict.
A deeper contemplation, led me to these insights:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/amit-prag/afrikaburn-11-explorations-of-the-12th-principle/10156836765455403

I hope they offer something to the wider burn community.

Josh Def link

4/3/2017 01:49:49 pm

Here's a suggestion from the world of 24 hour racing. It features similar environments (Moab Utah in September, for example) and a similar need for all to stay in one piece amid mind blurring activites: Require 1 in 6 at each camp to work 8 hr volunteer shifts. At such events, I have been a course martial with frankly no prior experience. But, it worked, because I knew I had to be it for my team to be there. And, I eanted a fair and safe race as bad as anyone else there. BTW, the injured (my status at the time) make excellent (if stationary) volunteers.

Retired "Local Leader"

4/3/2017 02:12:09 pm

They started empowering PnP Camps (Jimmy Tanenbaum anyone? sherpas?) while asking us who were running local community efforts to do even more for absolutely nothing. On top of that local leaders get all the liability - so OF COURSE people aren't volunteering to throw local burner-raves as much.

Why throw your time away making someone else money by spreading their message?

To the Org and anyone who bothered to read this far - Handing out a few fliers and asking your volunteers to do even more volunteering as 'ambassadors' won't solve the problem until you reduce the amount of commodification that happens on play *and the Org's part in being complicit to those efforts with things like special point 1 access and having an RV corral pre-event*.

Lip service solves nothing. You must take actual action. End the DGS. Stop selling high priced tickets in big bunches. Stop giving special access to the monied.

oops

4/3/2017 02:49:59 pm

oops accidentally unsubscribed from notifications

Alex S

4/3/2017 03:12:48 pm

Make it a 2 week event. The first week can be for all of the veteran burners that spend all year planning + birgins that have been sponsored by veteran burners. The second week can be for unsponsored birgins and plug and play camps. This way it's still radically inclusive, just staggered a bit.

This could only need to happen once. It would become immediately clear if birgins are ruining the event, and if so, we could maintain veteran burners and sponsored newbs only. If not, return it to how things have always been. Odds also are that the 2nd week group would have a TERRIBLE time and tell all their friends about how terrible Burning Man is, and kill off the incentive for people to want to go.

Chuck

4/3/2017 03:37:26 pm

The rot comes from the head down. The organizers have sold out and shown they're primarily interested in money and fame. They're the ones that have courted rich assholes and broke apart the community.

Every time I see one of them at another fucking ted talk acting like they think they are some kind of prophet or social visionary I want to puke.

Keith Trader

4/8/2017 02:27:06 pm

Chuck has nailed it! The problem is with the leadership and their prostitution of artists. The art is the aura of the playa, not Larry or Marianne or any of the elite who do not build their own camps, or art or anything. Artists and participants from all over the globe go broke to entertain each other while the org get paid to pretend that they create the aura. I reached out to Marianne, in particular, before I went to Japan to organize a team of artists for 2016. Her only response was, "I just don't know how to respond."
This is the reality. Burning man as a social movement died when it became a cash cow for the "First Camp" Elites.

4/3/2017 03:47:04 pm

I don't think we need to necessarily be prohibitive, but the expectations that are set should be reinforced. Even if they're chaotic and imperfect. Encouraging the DIY aspect, encouraging people to ask themselves "what am I bringing to the burn for others?" (and encouraging them to figure out an answer to that), showing people ways to give, especially for first-timers, encouraging people to take care of themselves, and maybe printing "NO SPECTATORS" in huge print right on the front of the ticket lol. And maybe un-inviting groups and people who explicitly commercialize the event, though I think BMOrg does that already to an extent. Definitely hard to draw any lines there. Personally, pushing volunteerism would be good too. There are a lot of options for sure. :) Also, I dunno. I'd be ok if sound camps were not allowed to put up a set schedule or distribute them. Some of my best music moments were spontaneous there. "Special Guest" is good enough. Maybe returning a little more spontaneity wouldn't be a bad thing. There's not easy way to draw that line, but tbh, musicians are kind of their own brands, an unfortunate crossover of default,and maybe they need to leave that identity at the gate? I dunno. maybe not. arguably many musicians aren't big on being a "brand" as a consequence of a name either. But it's something to consider.

ChefDaddy

4/3/2017 03:48:48 pm

This should not come as a surprise. The community had a collective fit when BORG started allowing/supporting Plug-n-Play camps. They violate the principle of Radical Self-Reliance by their very nature... It is natural that more people with come to the event and be unable and unwilling to take care of themselves.

PNP camps make too it easy to Burn... Myself and my friends spend weeks and months preparing for the playa... Naturally we are invested in the event, the culture of BRC, and making the experience amazing for ourselves and others. We do the hard work, and then get the joy of seeing it to fruition.

With PnP, there's no work and no personal investment - it's just another interesting vacation.

The airport is only a problem because it makes it easy for PnP burners to arrive. take away the camps, and then those that fly in have to take care of themselves like the rest of us.

Radical Inclusion doesn't mean BORG should make it *easy* to come to BM...

BergleBear

4/3/2017 04:23:06 pm

Regarding focus area 4, "to get people to think of themselves as citizens of BRC rather than people at a festival," my suggestion for the Org would be to consider not selling 'tickets', but having people 'apply for a temporary visa' through the lottery. I am by no means suggesting an approval/vetting process. Only that the simple word change could act as a valuable spearhead atop a campaign to drive the desired awareness.

Wizard

4/3/2017 04:55:26 pm

I think this is a very intriguing idea. Simple framing changes can have a powerful effect on perception and behavior. The queue would still randomly select you, but for the opportunity to purchase a "visa" rather than a "ticket." This contributes to the treatment of Black Rock City as a community rather than a festival, without changing anything about the fairness (or unfairness) of the existing Main Sale process.

Dr G

4/3/2017 06:19:16 pm

STOP blaming it all of the newbies, the birgins those that were not there the days before Burning Man tickets were always available. It is always easier to point the finger out and not IN.

The cheese has moved my fellow burners and either you can 1) realize and adapt or 2) keep bitching. Everything in life is fluid and dynamic. FOR THE RECORD... it will never be like it was back in 1997 or before the big plug and play camps. IN fact stop living in the past with suggestions of seniority (That is entitlement). We are guaranteed of nothing so stop expecting.

What can WE do as a community? Embrace change and help mold change by living by example in our daily lives. This bullshit about coming HOME...HOME is where you lay your head every night. Try to live the 10 principles in your daily life. Like attracts like.

IS there problems, YES. I am not a fan of cell reception at burning man I think it stands against all of burning man should be BUT that is my filter and every person's burn is different FOR THEM. I see the issue being greater than the sum of all virgins, plug and play and the rich who are the typical escape goats. The problem is concrete expectations.

Solutions...be inclusive not exclusive. Be kind with gentle reminders about MOOP, give HUGS not criticisms, if you do not like electronic music stay away from amplified camps and compliment each other it is powerful.

Double Dutch

4/6/2017 06:57:41 pm

Turn off the fucking cell service and Internet for everyone except the critical staff. Make it fucking scary for panty waist pussies to venture into the unknown and for fuck sake make it a person-to-person network to attract the adventurous people that created the God damned burning man spirit in the first place! I didn't use enough expletives but maybe the message will get through 😜

Barely Housebroken

4/7/2017 07:53:08 pm

AMEN.

Steyo

4/3/2017 06:43:25 pm

As an event producer, I feel like there is growing commercialism on the Organisation side as well.
Banning exclusive corporate camps for example would be a good start since it goes against the whole idea of BM in the first place.
Give special price offers for burners who attended 10 years ago. Don't make the criteria for attending a thick wallet but their attendance history for example.
Make having theme camps mandatory with a prior submission of what they intend to do or provide and share. Have higher prices for corporation camps that still have to be open to the public.
This would be a good way to drive out commercialism and to bring back the spirit of BM.

sWitch

4/3/2017 09:38:08 pm

The Org has exacerbated the problem by their own policies. They give established theme camps / mutants access to less tickets every year, apparently preferring to make those tickets available to the masses, i.e. a lot of virgins. No culture can survive an overwhelming number of newcomers and keep their culture strong, it becomes diluted by newcomer values. When the Chinese invaded Tibet they could not defeat the locals strong Buddhist culture so they simply imported enough Chinese to overwhelm it, quite successfully unfortunately. The Org does not choose to take care of their long timers, who have a proven track record of loving giving to their City, by making sure they remain the preponderance of the city's denizens. You don't 'read' and learn how to acculturate, experienced burners actually teach/show you..

Zora

4/3/2017 11:07:03 pm

As to the "decline in volunteerism," the prices are going up, the market scarcity means dedicated burners can't get in, and with board members propping up outrageous plug and play exclusive camps, it gets more and more offensive that they primarily rely on volunteers to produce this epic art experience, and ask poor artists to labor in the desert for weeks with minimal to no compensation. They are making a lot of money for a few Borg members, there's enough there that they could afford to pay their staff.

4/4/2017 06:29:57 am

Exactly. As more money flows in, how can anyone ethically volunteer for hard labor? So a rich asshole can import his hookers and post on Instagram? Anyone who volunteers for this event has to take a long hard look in the mirror. It wasn't always like this. It was never perfect, but its pathetic now.

Burnt Out

4/4/2017 04:05:09 pm

I stopped volunteering for this reason years ago. We were "Changing the World" per the GLC - the same year Jimmy T ran the most expensive PnP camp ever noticed. Fucker was making money off of my personal volunteer investment to support the event and culture - and the org wouldn't address it afterward. Not Ok. No freebies anymore.

Tom

4/4/2017 06:17:37 am

Propaganda will only get you so far... ticketing, airport, plug-n-play camps, and cell phones are the keys.

More tickets for veterans / volunteers. Identity based ticketing, requiring all resales go through STEP.

Shut down the airport Thurs - Sat. No weekend warriors

More crackdowns on plug-n-play camps, huge RV camps, etc.

Eliminate cell phone coverage. It destroys immediacy and enables the Instagrammers.

panda monium

4/4/2017 01:54:28 pm

Unfortunately, there is very little that “we” can do about this. We cannot contain the symptoms when BORG refuses to address the cause. This one is on BORG and our philosophical leadership. They dropped a massive ball here. They failed to appreciate both the paradox of inclusivity and the threat of consumerism.

No radically inclusive culture can survive the inclusion of the exclusive. We are radically inclusive. We are not, and can never be, absolutely inclusive.

Perversely, it is us seasoned burners who have been exclusive in our toleration of service consumption. We have tolerated behaviour that is both incoherent to our culture and irreconcilable with our principles. Our misconceived toleration has led to the exclusion of these new consumers from an authentic Playa experience. We have excluded them from our culture and created a consumerist Playa culture in competition to our own that has divided our community. Many of these new consumers are celebrated figures; some are even BORG board members. They are all influential. The example that they set was always going to be imitated. It was inevitable. Once it got a foothold, consumerism spread.

Consumerism is now everywhere. Pay to play(a) is an alternative economic model on the Playa. Service consumption has brought with it the attitudes and cultural norms of consumerism, these are well illustrated by the complaints of this article. Consumerism is now corrupting and crowding out the gift economy that is the essential economic context for our culture. Consumerist norms have eaten away at the connections of altruism that formerly bound us; they have undermined the “love” that made BM feel like family and home.
“We” cannot fight economic forces. Culture issues from context. Only BORG can regulate the context. We have all been conditioned by consumerist norms from the day we were born, if there is an option of consumption vs participation, of course people will default to the former. The idea that we can communicate and educate an alternative in this context is rather naïve. Quite simply, it is irrational to give what others now sell. Burners now sell their time and skills across the playa. The gift economy, the altruistic alternative has been commodified and devalued. In their misguided toleration of rampant consumption, BORG has facilitated the commodification of our community’s love. That was a mistake.

4/4/2017 01:59:19 pm

How consumerism corrupts and crowds out our culture is best illustrated by an example. One innocuous payment for a service (the consumption of that service) has cascading consequence that can be seen to confound all our principles. Let us take paid for catering (I use cooking, but the same could be said of building, cleaning, MOOPing or any other form of participation).

The preparation of meals for camp mates or strangers was a common form of “Gifting”. It was a gift of time, energy and love. Payment for a meal is irreconcilable with a gift. There is no difference between payments in advance or at the point of service (such as at a Quiznos counter). No difference.

The interaction around the preparation and sharing of food is now mediated by a commercial transaction. The gift has become a paid service; it has been commodified. Our aspirations for “Decommodification” have been wholly defeated.

The parties to the new transaction are now contractor and spectator. Both were potential participants. Both have been deprived of the opportunity for deeply personal “Participation”, which we believe, is the only medium through which transformative change can occur.

The payments also act to frustrate the promotion of “Communal Effort”. Creative cooperation and collaboration are replaced by command and control. Payments have imported power to the playa. Services are commissioned and consumed to whim. The communal approach of “shall we do this” is replaced by “I want this, I paid for it”.

When food is planned, purchased, transported, stored, prepared and served on behalf of another, each stage creates a dependency. These dependencies are not offset through gift relationships or communal effort but by commercial transactions. The radical reliance is on the power of the payment. There is not even a pretence of “Radical Self-Reliance”.

All of these discrete effects combine to impede the “Radical Self-Expression” of the individual. The commodification of the gift, the deprivation of participation, the creation of dependencies, and the corrosion of communal mentalities create conditions of alienation for both the spectator and the contractor. The potential for both individuals to explore their self-expression has been radically constrained by the imported norms of consumerism.

The personal alienation is compounded by alienation from the wider community; these consumers live by different customs in a different context. The toleration of this behaviour has left little room for our culture. Both spectator and contractor have effectively been excluded. So much for “Radical Inclusion”.

Our culture is irreconcilable with consumerism. There is no room for accommodation or potential synthesis. In the face of existential threats such as the rise of MOOP it will probably be our downfall.

Impressed Reader

4/4/2017 04:02:10 pm

I 100% agree with your point, and wanted to mention that I really enjoyed your clean and interesting writing style.

4/5/2017 03:06:36 pm

What you are describing fits with a reacurring playa anxiety dream I have. I dream that I'm delayed getting to the playa, but when I finally arrive suddenly it's surrounded by a suburb, and every camp has a booth they're selling things from. I play in a marching band, but suddenly my band is spread out all over the place and too lazy to go out and march. I think your post finally explained to me why I've had this dream so often (and I'm a 15 year veteran Burner).

B00ga

4/4/2017 02:04:27 pm

As a numerous regional burn attendee who is hoping to make this year my first experience at TTiTD, I would suggest to the Borg to actually feel as if your community were in danger. Kick on survival mode. Make those tough decisions that put the ten principles before the "good feelings" that attendees want to have, and when people get upset or feel like you're un-including them, tell them they're wrong.

This event having 10 principles is what makes it different from a music festival. So make the principles be as important as the word "principle" demands. Plug and play camps goes against radical-self reliance. Discourage it. Anyone can plug and play anywhere the heck else. Cell phone service everywhere promotes selfie and livestreaming culture, which goes against immediacy. People can tag themselves anywhere the heck else. Lose it. Make volunteers have to sign in for a shift with a copy of their I.d. so there's a record of their actions. If they don't volunteer, make it more difficult for them to get a ticket in the future. They're still radically included, but mathematically less likely to get a ticket.

Stop making the big burn be more accomodating to people who don't know what the culture means, by making it more and more like any number of other well known established events. Why is "radical" used in the principles when the event is becoming ever more similar to festival party #12529?? Does Coachella and Bonnaroo or EDC have principles? If they do, were those principles part of the creation of that culture?

Burning Man is different. Quit making it cater to crowds who can do their thing at any other time and place, just under the guise of being more "Radically Inclusive". Include people, in an event that happens to have 10 principles that make it unlike the everyday, or that cool bomb-ass party. If something about those principles and the way they are implemented deters folks, so be it. But if something about those principles and the way they are implemented attracts folks, your culture will survive just fine.

4/4/2017 03:03:36 pm

Wow, so many good comments here already. And I agree with many. Increased wi-fi and cell phone coverage has caused a major problem by reducing interactivity. And plug&play camps really don't add to the culture. BMORG will have to make some hard decisions and clamp down on both these problems, no matter how much they want to court rich friends.

Another indicator I gathered from the Census data was birgins make up 35-38% of the population. Really, that's too many. Of course we end up with cultural dilution when nearly 40% of the people have no experience. Even though I hate the idea of building in a type of exclusivity, maybe restricting ticket sales to only 15-20% birgins would be appropriate.

Rae

4/4/2017 03:06:17 pm

The whole 'radical inclusion' has been an abysmal failure. The turnkey camps, the catered to snowflakes, the entitled 1%ers, the tiered ticket pricing scheme, the throw-the-doors-open-to-everyone and yes, the innumerable sound camps have all contributed the the decline and the Coachellafication of the event. That's certainly not to say that there weren't issues before the morphing of the event into a social caste system but by and large that which the BORG wishes (belatedly) to change cannot and will not change until they re-evaluate their vision of what they want the event to be. The wish to have their cake and eat it as well is, in all actuality, a hypocritical and hopeless treatise that's better described as a let-them-eat-cake organizational mind set.

4/4/2017 03:15:02 pm

I mean really. WTF??

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/disgusted-burners-slam-wealthy-sparkle-ponies-who-are-taking-luxury-helicopter-rides-to-burning-man/

notsmartphone

4/4/2017 10:34:57 pm

I think it was 1999 I stood in line for a phone. You could call anywhere. There was an egg timer, with a sign saying "3 minutes max" and everyone in line obeyed that. You could hear the calls, and there was nothing frivolous about them. Passage of years, and then I see someone walking and texting on a phone. I thought "OK, this is it, get out now, make this your last burn as it's clear where it's headed." It did head that way, but I still go. I thought BMOG invented the regionals so they could personally get away from the yearly near impossibility of bringing this logistic and clerically intense monster to the desert. But no, they are like old prize fighters wanting to make a comeback...good luck with that. Best idea I've seen in this thread is to HALT this thing for 2018. Larry and BMOG step back and get humble. We don't buy this new humbleness. Back up your cry for help and shut down the office for a year and figure out, without pressure, what to do next.

Filter

4/4/2017 11:02:25 pm

I'm also concerned at the property bought by BM leadership...what is up with that?

AndyDaniel

4/5/2017 09:34:08 am

This is definitely a tough issue, because Radical Inclusion is one of our principles. I haven't personally experiences too much in the way of problems from those who choose to spectate rather than participate, the builders of the city (like our theme camp) do get bigger and more elaborate each year. But it's a big issue that participants have to fight for tickets with spectators and worse, scalpers. I've long advocated that each ticket be sold with a name that has to match your ID, and if you change your mind you sell it back to the org at face minus a tiny fee (like shipping). Another option might be to close the gates to new arrivals earlier, perhaps Wednesday.

Michael Robertson

4/5/2017 11:09:42 am

We were placed near a camp that had dropped tons of little prefab units with a/c's hanging out the side and zero decoration, flair, style or anything that suggested they were giving back to the community in any way. Why is this prefab village of clearly 'pay your way there' allowed? When blocks of houses looking like a fema camp start showing up you know that someone is making a profit from housing those people and clearly they don't give a rats ass about burner culture. BM needs to crack down on the non self sufficiency crowd of profiteers or this just becomes a week long EDM. I think a lot of us are pondering if hanging out with frat bros and entitled rich are really what we want to invest our time and energy into in an age where there are so many festival choices closer to home and with more intact cultural values.

David Naylor

4/5/2017 01:36:15 pm

In Australia we have a festival similar to BM that's been running for 40 years - "Confest" - much smaller and more grass-roots. One of its big secrets is to PROHIBIT ALL AMPLIFIED SOUND (except mini PA's for small workshops).

This could be a radical idea to reset BM back to its initial values. Even just for one year to try it out!

What's radical about it, is that music still happens. People create their own music and entertainment.....and creativity is through the roof!

Big sound amplification creates a passive culture because so much of the energetic space is being filled with such dominating sound and vibrations.

To ban all amplification would really send a strong message out to the BM community.

Just an idea from down under!

Marlboro Man

4/5/2017 02:43:27 pm

Great read! Thx! The BORG cannot and should not be responsible to police 70,000 people. They must police the theme camps (leaders). The camps in change police there own. There will always be parasites. Grow the camps Growes the community.Hence more DSG tickets.

Huggable

4/5/2017 06:54:16 pm

Imagine how vibrant and full of art the Regionals would be if Black Rock City went on hiatus for a year, and we were forced to put all our creativity into our own backyards. Not to mention the cross-fertilization of ideas, with people flying all over the world to attend different Regionals.

4/5/2017 07:04:51 pm

Unfortunately, it's not possible for the Org to effectively decide to bring in no money for a year. They actually need to throw the Burning Man event or they'd be in serious financial peril.

4/6/2017 02:54:58 am

Tell that to the folks who run the Glastonbury event in England. Their numbers approach 150,000+ people yet they find a way to not have the event every fourth year.

Mojo

4/5/2017 08:12:17 pm

For an event that does a lot of chest pounding about "decommodification", there are certainly a lot of vendors providing goods and services on playa that everyone is supposed to be self reliant enough to provide for themselves. I was shocked to see many large shipping containers dropped off pre-event last year, rented by camps to haul and store their stuff and delivered to just the right spot days before they arrived. It was a nearly empty playa dotted with many ugly shipping containers.

It is not true that just ice and coffee are sold on playa. People have potable water delivered in giant rented tanks and their RV's pumped out by the always-present sewage trucks. RV's, trailers, yurts, and even modular living units are delivered and set up by vendors. How can we say no to plug and play camps when we are guilty of allowing all the vendors in the first place?

4/6/2017 04:51:19 am

Good point!

The ability to flag a truck down and have your RV serviced for cash certainly is a violation of decommodification and self-reliance. It's run rampant over the years to where its is pretty normal to see even at smaller camps.

But the shipping container usage is a bit different. A lot of larger camps, I know many from the East Coast, store big parts of camp structure in them over the years, makes sense to not haul gear back to other side of country only to be brought back the following year. And, every year people rent a container to be shared by east coast participants that are flying in to Reno or Bay Area for all their personal art and bikes and bulky stuff. I'm sure many other state groups that travel a distance do the same.

John

4/6/2017 04:41:26 am

I think the biggest reason for the weakening of the Burning man culture is the tickets sales. The San Francisco and Reno/Tahoe area have always played such a huge part. Now the people mainly responsible for creating that culture are losing faith in being able to obtain tickets every year.

4/8/2017 01:30:28 pm

A most salient point that bears repeating over and over until such a time as the ORG not only hears it but decides to actually address it rather than paying lip service to it.

Joel

4/6/2017 02:36:53 pm

All these comments make me want to sell my ticket and never look back. This will be my 10th burn since 1997. Starting to reconsider.

Mark

4/7/2017 01:07:04 pm

It's too late. Half measures will not avail. BM has jumped the shark and it can never go back. Fuck it.

AleXander link

4/7/2017 01:50:52 pm

The Org seems afraid of stepping on the silicon-painted toes of the wealthy / legends-in-their-own-minds. Seems quite obvious that the culture around the airport, PnP camps that are RV-walled to keep out immigrants, and the ticket sales that allow those to thrive (to the detriment of veterans) need to be short-circuited, but those kinds of daring and innovative controls in the interest of the culture are not likely to be forthcoming.
Like most politicians who rise on ideals, the Org seems to progressively more and more serve the e$tabli$ment, as they now have become a part of.

Dakota

4/7/2017 01:52:06 pm

I have been attending consistently since 2000. As a newbie I was taught the principles and my camp insisted on sticking to them. Such as; Every single person should do a "moop patrol" of the entire camp before even thinking of leaving. That is a solid must do. Every camp, every person. Period. Our camp is always green because if it. We think it is important.

I saw a huge change in the culture when the loud EDM camps came and the big booming music art cars arrived. I know that's not popular to say. Sorry. That was when I saw a huge change. It became a dance party instead of an experiential event. Some parts, anyway. And it continues every year. That is what needs to be curtailed. Huge dance camps and art cars; if you don't build them, they won't come. They brought a decline in the culture of responsibility and accountability and general kindness.

Having said that, it is still amazing and filled with love and joy.

Just my observations.

Felicious

4/7/2017 02:45:57 pm

One of my favorite ideas is to create a 2nd much smaller Bmaaaan complete with portapotties, sound camps, theme camps, volunteer corps etc, required to take a volunteer position -- and let the folks at the gate determine where this Burner should go. When met by an official Gate greeter that says Hi .. welcome to Burning Man.. they say.. Hi... Im so happy to be here.. overflowing with excitement and bliss to help create and experience Burning Man together. .then the gate folks.. show them the road to take to the real and epic Burning Man.. And when the Gate Greeters are met with .. Duuuuuuude.. this is so awesome.!!!!. I am soo looking forward to s---x d----gs and rock n roll.. aka trance / techno, didn't bring enough water, no tent, an EZ-UP and patio furniture --then they get shown the road to Bmaaaan ( Bman Training Event ) and we filter out the Frats and acculturation them with a little required volunteerism...and community participation in their very own smaller more easily cleaned event....Just saying... ..

Corvus

4/15/2017 09:45:35 am

I like it!

Dochumie

5/3/2017 07:40:04 am

Come to AfrikaBurn...still very basic, quite hard to get to, relative preservation of burn culture!

tahoe joe link

4/7/2017 08:15:28 pm

i don't know what to think i have been burring for over a decade i have seen a lot of thing change it might just to burn the hole thing down what i mean is start having a burn every other year spread out find out who really believe in the dream not just some party every year but the life we have created

4/8/2017 01:32:20 pm

Step away from the typewriter Joe. At least until you sober up.

Silver b

4/7/2017 09:44:41 pm

We should end:
1- plug and play
2- rv delivery service
3- airport

Once it's less simple to be comfortable, the less creative won't attend.

Velvet

4/8/2017 10:29:01 am

Great to see the BORG talking about this! They move slowly and thoughtfully but do respond.

CLOSE THE GATE THURSDAY NIGHT. Then everyone who goes has to take at least some time to acclimate and become citizens. It all but eliminates the tourists who are the vast majority of the problem.

Limit WIFI coverage to BM Staff.

4/8/2017 01:37:27 pm

Velvet, please give us a specific example where (within the last ten years) that the ORG has responded to an issue by directly inserting itself into a pressing problem or issue rather than sending it 'bid' by getting some other group of folks - usually volunteers - to take on the task at hand. Oh, and to be fair, let's give them the ORG credit for dealing with the Earth stopping issue of pen lasers.

4/11/2017 09:40:11 am

Here is a simple idea that would eliminate all the Instagramming and live posting: go back to the days of no cell phone coverage. It would also improve immediacy and interaction and honestly we don't need it.

Sammy

4/11/2017 03:50:44 pm

Build a wall around the burn and make the default world pay for it!

Tim

4/14/2017 12:09:09 pm

The shot:

"They're going to (or already are) start highlighting cool homemade outfits for Burning Man, in response to the Instagrammers and their commercial fashion show. They want to show people that the spirit of Burning Man is more about DIY expressiveness."

The chaser (from a few days ago):

https://www.instagram.com/p/BS1aKhohjes/?taken-by=burningman

Click through to her instagram and you'll see she's promoting herself as an instagram celebrity, and the commercial creators of all her costumes:

"I am so honored to be featured at the official @burningman account for that very special day of mine. 💛✨ Thank you so much ❤
Image by @tomerperetzart
Dress by @emanuelbridal
Headpiece @ronitportal
Got married to My @yoavschverd"

Sounds like BMORG is talking out of both sides of their mouth.

4/14/2017 12:28:01 pm

Holy shit. What...the...fuck. Thanks for pointing that out. Incredible.

4/14/2017 12:44:52 pm

They've told me they're going to take it down, but no explanation was given as to why it's up there to begin with given that they told us not two weeks ago that they have these new priorities re: the culture.

Stuart Mangrum link

4/16/2017 02:54:51 pm

Where do I buy one of those awesome t-shirts?

adebow alechidike

5/23/2017 07:30:44 pm

Burning man is changing to reflect modern ideas and people. When burning man was created collectivism was the "in" thing.But in the past 30 years Burning man has grown up and it's attendees reflect the modern capitalist society that America has become.The best thing that you can do to keep the patient alive at this point is to allow concessionaires on the playa in true capitalist spirit.

Ambrose

9/6/2017 06:37:19 pm

After my first burn this year I'm curious how walled off secure camps set up for dot com billionaires and other rich douchebags are considered radical inclusion? I loved gifting the inclusion and the radical self reliance and self expression seemingly devoid from some camps. I live way off grid where these values are inherent to our community but in some instances we're totally ignored by some. Is it not possible to eliminate those who refuse real honest and genuine participation like the bigots from google. They don't even believe in free speech much less radical inclusion. Much love however to the many people who showed taught included and gifted their time energy effort love and my first tutu.

9/26/2017 08:52:15 am

You knew you were going to lose control this year, you felt it. Hence this topic. The only way to maintain control of the energy is to make sure you have the majority.

Two del Fuego

12/15/2017 11:06:49 am

Solutions: 1) close the Gate on Wednesday to cut down on the weekend warriors; 2) curtail the ginormous sound camps that attract DJ chasers; 3) single prop airplanes only at the airport.

The Rev. link

7/12/2018 07:42:45 pm

I think you've been hitting too may saucey dabs. If you have to call it a "culture" then you clearly don't know what Burning Man is all about. Better stop or else you'll go blind!

7/12/2018 10:01:55 pm

Haha, I don't know what 'saucey' means in reference to dabs, but I love it.

I think Burning Man does have a culture, particularly among those people who build the city. You can't be there during build week and not feel it. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're saying though?

The Rev

7/12/2018 10:08:10 pm

Sauce is a new form of THC concentrate. Mind blowing. Anyways. BM is first and foremost a community so to call it “a” culture is like saying that america has one culture. Many cultures exist within any one community. The beauty of BM is that there are so many to explore. Why worry over one? Try another!

Biff

7/30/2018 12:58:19 pm

First of all the org should stop selling drinks at centercamp. It takes away from the radical self reliance principal, prior to cc selling coffee we made it in camp, we'd have coffee percolating every morning (and still do). And now there are places to dump what you dont drink and stab your cup on the rebar. Pack it in and pack it out! CC is now like a starbucks with live entertainment.

Sam DNA Dehne link

8/2/2018 03:15:47 pm

Burning Man REPORT -

Where’s Sam DNA Dehne, the Man Who Saved Burning Man?

1. Reno's Sam DNA Dehne was the person who almost single-handedly saved Burning Man
when Washoe County, Nevada, was one vote away from shutting it down in 2003. He was
the only citizen who went to Public Comment podiums and adamantly said, explained, and
exclaimed, NO! The bureaucrats obeyed Sam and changed their vote.
2. Sam epitomizes much of what BM claims to stand for. Why? How? For too many
reasons to fit on the internet.
2a. Sam is the person who DOES what BM talks about doing.
3. Look at a few of his myriad dedicated Youtube Channels showing him in action ubiquitously challenging media and bureaucrats and you will KNOW. (here is just one Mystical Magic Miracle - (click) https://www.youtube.com/user/samsrawrah/videos )
4. Sam has publicly defended BM at govt meetings more than any other citizen.
5. The point here being: unless and until Sam DNA Dehne gets the Acknowledgment
from BM for his Award-Worthy Achievements he will no longer be able to support BM.
5a. And in fact might have to begin challenging them for being hypocrites.
Signed
Sam DNA Dehne - http://www.renocitizen.com/
PS
How to Honor Sam DNA Dehne? Sam is THE Idea Man. Here is one. In your quest to build BM’s Monolithic Structures - create a "monument" dedicated to Sam DNA and his lifelong defense of America with his Air Force B-52 Bomber. (minus the bombs)

--
e-mail courtesy of:
Sam DNA Dehne, editor, The Reno Citizen Magazine (775) 825-1398
(click to read) http://www.renocitizen.com
Lt Col, USAF (Ret)

8/2/2018 03:20:26 pm

Picture of Pilot Sam DNA's Air Force B-52 Bomber at top of this website.
http://www.renocitizen.com/movies.htm

Mahalie Monize link

9/11/2018 11:01:06 pm

Seems silly to reply - is anyone still reading...but I wanted to chime in with a 'first impressions' report from a birgin. I attended for the first time in 2018 with a lovely camp of experienced burners.

I have been to a lot of festivals and it was the burners I knew exhibited the core BM ethos in their everyday life and are rad activated humans that made me want to check out this thing they love.

So much of festival culture today has clearly spawned from Burning Man and the culture is better for it IMO. I see art, live art, interactive and immersive experiences that were surely inspired by BM. It was great to see the source, the big pond, where original and crazy things are born...the komboucha mother ;)

I loved my experience, the fun, the hard, the dusty, the work, the teamwork, the mooping, etc. Amazing art, amazing offerings. But I saw too, what looked like wilting, perhaps disease, on a once thriving organism of creativity and originality.

I started calling the Esplanade the Vegas Strip almost immediately. The sound camps are so big and flashy, as are the numerous giant art cars. I get that they're beautiful and amazingly detailed and built...but really it seems (to me) like a shit show pissing match of producers with a lot of money showing off to each other.

The sound and light, especially at night, overshadowed the art and the opportunities to discover unique experiences and social immediacy. The uniformly radically expressed party-dressed and well-drugged flocked in huge droves to the mindless 4 on the floor club beats that abounded.

Who am I to judge? To each his own...I guess. It seems sad to me, that something so rich and beautiful is being slowly eaten by mainstream escapist party culture (and I love to party). A lot of opportunities for minds to open and connections to be made turned into yet another Insta selfie and a blurry night grindings to familiar beats.

The saddest to me were the many quiet inner streets of the city...a few passers by all desperately called out to by camps trying to offer something, to participate to a disinterested thinned our audience...while folks flocked to giant clubs. I visited some amazing and intricate frontages - a museum of hybrid future antiquities, a secret club with a hidden door, that drew a few very lucky visitors. What fuck ton of effort for a small audience, what a heart pouring endeavor...so many pearls before so many swine.

I'm contemplating an art project, but I really have to weigh whether that effort would be better placed at a regional event where more people are excited to see art...or do I join the grizzled OGs and hold a little light in dark for the few that will find it and join this fight for culture at this stage?

Hearing the culture is being protected and the ORG is doing something about it would make the decision a lot easier. I'm a fighter, but I'm not going to fight for damsel in distress that keeps running naked and into the thieves forest. Get a grip lady...

Fuck the big sound camps. Take your fancy shit back to LA and Vegas.

Gimme some ghetto party any day.

9/12/2018 12:04:42 am

What a great response. The sound camps have been a problem for awhile and have slowly gotten more oppressive over time. Glad you had a generally good time and got to see some of the smaller and more interesting things.
There is little will to change things now.
When I spoke to Larry last year he said he was working on doing a canned music and blinky free event on Whualapai playa for a more personal sort of burn. Not sure this will happen now.

Joy

9/12/2018 08:57:41 am

Hi there !

I speak as a quite new burner (2 regional burns) but a real one in soul, and I feel very concerned by these community issues.

I felt from the day I discovered it that there is a problem concerning consumerism in burning man culture. I totally agree with Dante who said that the principles (especially the principle of inclusion) has to be adapted to our times and new issues. My instinct tells me that we have to take a big turn if we don't want to see BM taken very soon by consumerism and stupid partying spirit. I mean, we have to do something stronger than just communication campains....
We know that technology and new ways of communication make changes go VERY FAST, and we know changes have already began, so let's anticipate !

I feel that we don't have to be afraid about setting more strict rules (good or bad ideas : obligation to make at least one shift as a volunteer, limitation of the camp budgets as each one is equal and has to deal with constraints and creativity..... so many possibilities !) because these rules will just naturally make the ones who aren't interested in this spirit go away.

Please let's not just die because of "freedom" ! It would be too stupid.
We know what real freedom is, and we know that our actual version of radical inclusion will kill it.

For my part if I don't see any change in the policy on B M, then I'm not interested in taking part to it. I prefer really small regional burns - and for me the risk is that the "real ones" will have the same attitude and leave Burning Man slowly but surely.

Thank you for reading, I feel better now :)
See you soon !

The Blog That Burns

Burning Man's Culture Is In Danger - Tales from the Global Leadership Conference

What is the Org going to do to combat this?

What Can We Do?

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