A friend and I volunteered with PEERS this past burn and had a special encounter with someone from that camp. We would love to connect with the individual we had a drink with while waiting for his camp lead..

Thanks!

If you can read a 990, you can easily calculate we each need to contribute $.666 per day to save Burning Man.

It's time to get back to basics, cacophony basics. It's time to return to just one basic rave camp in the deep playa. We don't need lasers and giant speakers.

~1990 Zone Trip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9KyeWZIFHg (see Stalker 1979 by Tarkovsky, you may not find what you are looking for)

1992 Burning Man rave camp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5e3_9FI1IY

1996 Helco, Cacophony, sell your soul to Larry! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi-vId7VZRA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxaKvbx7jQE

1997 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXjJjPxOg1s

If your basics is 40 stages of EDC for one low price to spectate...

As someone deeply impacted by Burning Man, I want to share my concerns about the direction the event is taking. While I appreciate the growth and the passion behind the cultural movement, I believe that the focus should be on preserving the heart and soul of what Burning Man was meant to be. Marian’s recent message to the community emphasized expanding Burning Man’s influence globally, but I fear this expansion is overshadowing the core values that make Black Rock City special. Burning Man has always been about radical self-reliance, immediacy, and creating a truly communal experience in the desert, not a worldwide institution.

The time has come to cut back, simplify, and return to the basics that once defined the playa. By focusing on external goals and fundraising initiatives, we risk diluting the unique culture of Black Rock City and losing sight of what makes it irreplaceable. Burning Man doesn’t need turn-key camps, luxury conveniences, or a global cultural footprint; it needs to go back to being a raw, authentic, and participant-driven experience. Rather than stretching resources toward global influence, we should concentrate on maintaining Black Rock City as a place where everyone can come together to create, build, and contribute equally. Let’s return to the way things were — a community that exists and comes together for a few weeks, without corporate influences or outside agendas.

Burning Man has the power to remain a cultural landmark without sacrificing its core identity. I urge the leadership to listen to those of us who believe passionately in preserving Black Rock City by focusing on what makes it unique: the temporary, self-sustaining community we create together on the playa.

So many burners are from the small working class. Coming to an environment where a lot of people have excess wealth. A lot of us are trying to stay on our feet and make art, make a living. Is anyone looking to support poor working class individuals that are living paycheck to paycheck.

The biggest first world problem. Went and was taken advantage of to the full extent. This camp was upset anytime we left the camp, esplanade camp pushed any work they could on us. I was apart of a much smaller camp the year prior but was genuinely guilted if we didn’t pick up the slack of older members. Older members were not kind, unhappy and overall just upset with the young people. I saw that as a pattern. If anyone is looking for a young hard working burner to work for them I am your person. I am not a victim. I just see some taking advantage of young people and then hating them for being aware of the more “woke” principles.

That's a hefty salary for an org of 120 people--most of whom are seasonal workers.
Bad weather has always been an issue, and burners dealt with it. I'm all for things changing over time, but haven't been interested in going the last few years as they seem to have lost their mission about radical self-reliance which now means all of the turn-key ick and "influencers." Declining ticket sales is largely Marian's fault for guiding the direction to appeal to and support those who have closed camps and private chefs. She should give back $150k of her salary and take some responsibility.

https://sfstandard.com/2024/10/30/burning-man-is-desperate-for-cash/

She sent this via email a bit ago. Just copying it here for anyone who didn't get it (though I'd imagine most people who have been to BM, at least, got the email).

--------

Hi,

If you’re getting this email it’s because you've probably had a ticket to Burning Man in the last 20 years. 

Either Burning Man is still a huge part of your life, you F **#$% ing hate Burning Man, or maybe you’re ambivalent. Wherever you land, it’s probably been just as impactful for you as it has been for many of us. 

What started for me in 1995 at the edge of a dry lakebed — where a tall man wearing a bedsheet and holding a plastic flamingo  told me to "drive 12 miles to a black mountain and then left until you see five pointy things" — has evolved from a bunch of weirdos with guns into a global institution reimagining and reinventing what the world could be like if we did things a little bit differently.

Burning Man now is a worldwide cultural phenomenon that, since 1986, has been built and experienced by nearly a million people, both in Black Rock City and at more than 80 annual official events around the world. You may be one of those people. Whether or not you come to Black Rock City regularly, you are part of the community and we value the ways you have contributed to make Burning Man happen. Thank you.

It’s a little-known fact that revenue from tickets does not support the cultural movement that Burning Man has become. We do not want to raise ticket prices. In the name of Radical Inclusion, we actually prefer to lower them. But, the fact of the matter is that the cost to produce Black Rock City in 2023 was $749 per participant while the main sale ticket price was $575. You can read more about this inflection point and the reduced ticket sales in 2024 and how this has forced a much larger fundraising goal to keep operations going. Or explore the summary financial information going back 10 years to see how the higher-priced tickets have been subsidizing the event for some time, and how the drop in those sales threatens Burning Man.

The plan for 2025 and beyond is to flip the script. It’s time to think about the most Burning Man way to close this gap. 

No, we won't go towards corporate sponsorship, additional RV fees or merchandise sales. Instead, we will turn to the community and invite participation and support to help fill the gap. Yes, we have reduced the number of regular year-round employees on staff, and we’re diving into the budget to trim what is already a lean and tight Black Rock City infrastructure and nonprofit management. But that alone isn’t enough.

Now is the time to ensure that Burning Man can persist into the future — not just as an annual event in the desert, but as a cultural institution that will be here decades from now, empowering future generations to reimagine the world they live in. 

I would certainly prefer that our focus be solely on pushing the edge, rather than having to raise money all the time. But as we continue to provide containers for the future to be prototyped, we operate in the context of the default world, and that requires ongoing charitable support year after year to keep this thing going.

You already know we're not a normal nonprofit — we never wanted to be “normal.” But we are a nonprofit and to keep doing what we do, we need your help.

F-*&$ commercial sponsorship! \<>/ 

Contribute today so we can:

• Prototype new ways of living, working and being together
• Support art and artists through grants
• Get Black Rock City off fossil fuels
• Nurture Burning Man culture around the world
• Capture the DNA of what we are doing to hand off to the next generation
• Get funky and bring more cacophony of chaos

We are moments away from announcing the Black Rock City 2025 theme — one that’s rich with creative possibilities! Simultaneously, community-led Temple and art teams hopeful for an art grant are hard at work on their proposals for the 2025 event. We urgently need your support to finish 2024 and prepare for 2025 and beyond. 

If your friendships, community, family, or personal life have benefited or could benefit from the magic, creativity, and inspiration of Burning Man, I urge you to please support the movement with a gift today. 

How much would you pay to keep corporate sponsorship out of Burning Man? 

Listen, I am happy to fundraise — it’s an important part of who we are and what we need to do. But, let’s not get so tangled up in that part of the process that we lose sight of what my colleagues and I are driven to do with you. We’re facilitating the building of a massive city on a dry lakebed. Our relationships and friendships with 1,000 temporary seasonal employees help further drive and facilitate 10,000 volunteers directly related to the city infrastructure, who in turn are in service to the 75,000 participant creators of one hell of a magical Brigadoon appearing and disappearing in the middle of the desert. And then THAT brings collaboration, communication, empowerment, resilience, self-reflection and joy back to the world.

I don't want to raise ticket prices. I wish we could offer Black Rock City as a gift for free. I want more art. I want ephemeral pop-up cities around the world thriving with life and possibility. We are not in service to consumption. We are in service to social interaction. Let’s realize the cultural impact that the experiences we have at Burning Man events can have in the cities and towns we all live our day-to-day lives in. This is the long game toward a cultural shift, and I believe strongly that Burning Man has a role to play. 

As our dear friend and OG Burner Larry Harvey once said:

“We think Burning Man has great application to the world, but a larger iteration can only occur as people incorporate the essential ethos of it. The Ten Principles are meant to describe that ethos, that way of life; and then, by their own inspiration and by collaboration with others in the everyday world, people will find applications that are as various as the many gifts they bring to it. It has to be culturally transmitted that way.”

He also spoke about money not “being inherently good,” nor “irretrievably bad,” and that money can be made “to serve non-monetary values in a way that’s self-sustaining” to the culture.

“If there is a moral here, it is that money isn’t moral. It is not inherently good, it is not irretrievably bad; it is like water as it tumbles in its pell-mell progress through our world. But money can be canalized by culture; it can be made to serve non-monetary values in a way that’s self-sustaining.”

It is with these words in my heart that I ask you to join me as I am turning my annual donation into a recurring monthly donation. 

Whether or not you regularly attend Burning Man, I hope you’ll join all of us in supporting Burning Man in Black Rock City and in the cultural work that we do out in the world. 

Stick with us as we unfold the story together. \<>/     

Thank you,

Marian 

P.S. Why aren’t we all covering the logos on our trucks like we used to? Let’s make that a thing again. )*( 

Seems like if you dont donate $20/month RIGHT NOW Marian is going to commodify the event so that the board can keep their photo book staff on the payroll.

SO who should be the official corporate sponsors of Burning Man?! There are so many good partnership opportunities here.

• Official zip tie of Burning Man - Sorry sir we cant let this art car past gate I see you used zip ties from Alibaba instead of the Official Zip Tie of Burning Man 3M Zips!
• Official wet wipe - Porto inspectors will be checking to make sure you wipe with only the Official Burning Man Wet Wipe from Charmin....to support the culture you know.
• Official handle - Stocking your bar with Costco brand handles of vodka left in your container from who knows what year? NO! You must be serving those dusty cocktails with only Segrams Brand Bottom Shelf The Official Sponsor of This Years Burn!
• Official tutu - Showing up on Tuesday without your official Rave Wonderland Tutu? Get out of here! Only logo'ed Tutu's allowed on the dance floors.
• Official goggles - Robot Heart Goggles obvs.

What are some more ideas for official branded products or services? Common people WE NEED THE FUCKING MONEY.

What do yall think it’ll be… ;)

What is Bureau of Land Management and how did they end up in charge of large parts of the west?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qARQV3WDv4o

You can do it online here if you have not already!

https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7840417/2024-Black-Rock-City-Census

https://preview.redd.it/j353n5vzvxxd1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=1d22d46bf17dccf46bfe865e65496d6eabb0996f

I just broke up with the woman of my dreams. I just couldn’t grow into my potential and I felt my progress wouldn’t make her happy. It was so discouraging to hear her talk about our future and our present effort to earn the future worth dreaming of. So I pulled the plug, “ripped off the bandaid” as she put it.

But I am struggling. The friends I have told think I did the right thing, even her best friend said they were proud of me for making a choice to give myself a future. But it’s feels like I did the wrong thing and I miss her.

Ughhhhh no one wants to hear how I miss her. So I’m just writing this into the ethers of Reddit…

It was 1996.

All y’all who think that putting “rave camp” a mile away from “main camp” maybe should consider that two people were run over while sleeping in their tent that year.

It’s not going to fix it.

Also, at the much celebrated renegade burn, some asshole drove over a (fortunately unoccupied) tent.

That’s not going to fix it either.

Cocktail party at Center Camp!!!

I was volunteering for DPW and at dawn on temple burn I was drugged with scopolamine. Emergency services were very unhelpful. I heard this year there was a lot of this going on. I want to make a plan and raise some money to prevent this happening in future years because I love BRC. I will be working with EMS and hopefully Zendo. If you had an experience, or have any ideas how to help solve this issue please post! If you don’t feel comfortable sharing here please message me!!! #metoo

EDIT : I AM NOT CURRENTLY RAISING MONEY FOR THIS PROJECT! I AM SEEKING DATA AND SOLUTION PROPOSALS!!!!!!! my current plan doesn’t need money raised but if it did…I could easily do that, it’s part of my job.

Instead of using the Black Rock City staple saying of "fuck ur burn".

Can we all use "Burn your Burn"? So my precious feelings don't get hurt. Thanks.

If you’re looking into going to burning man for the first time or returning after a long hiatus, don’t let them convince you that the magic is gone. After years of attending regionals, my partner and I attended the big burn for the first time this year. Here’s what we saw:

Yeah, it seems like there’s issues with the org. There were definitely people there just to take and not contribute. There was fancy plug and play camps. There were bike thieves. There were hippies on drugs. There were influencers a plenty. There was, obviously, a fuckton of dust on and in everything and every crack and crevice. And it was indeed fucking hard (though the weather was about as nice as it possibly could have been and for that, we were grateful).

What we saw more than anything else was overwhelming kindness from strangers, a welcoming community, and people of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds being their authentic selves. Of course, we did our research. We read the guides, expected hardship, asked our camp mates a bunch of questions, and approached it with openness. This was paramount to our success. Of course, we didn’t get everything right because it’s impossible to on your first go around.

It was uncanny, every time we had a situation where we thought we were totally fucked and in for a bad time, we were saved by total strangers or else the extra journey ended up being totally worth it. Every time we went out with a plan, it failed spectacularly. When we went out and just let burning man happen to us, it was beautiful and pure magic. It was somehow both similar and entirely different than the many regionals we had attended before it.

Maybe it WAS better 5, 10, 15 years ago, I can’t speak to that. One thing I know to be true is that people on the internet love to complain (I find the burning man Facebook pages to be pretty full of negativity and largely unhelpful, Reddit was better for planning, figuring out what to expect, and asking questions). Don’t let the negative Nancy’s of the internet tell you it isn’t worth going anymore or that it’s ruined forever by sparkleponies. I promise you the magic is still there, if you’re looking for it. If you’re open to it. If you’re willing to put in the work.

(Edited to add paragraphs for easier reading)

My first burn was this year, and it was absolutely amazing.

However I did have a weird interaction at the greeter station that set my burn off to a weird start. I knew the tradition of virgin burners rolling in the dust and ringing the bell, so was totally prepared for that. While waiting in line, some people in front of us were getting naked to do so, but some weren't. That's cool for them!

But when I pulled up, our greeter (a man) told me (a woman) that we were supposed to get naked if it was our first burn. I was kind of hesitant -- I wasn't prepared for this being expected, and I don't really love getting naked in front of people. It was broad daylight.

I told the greeter I was okay, that I'd preferred to stay clothed. He then gave me almost a lecture about it - he kept pushing for me to get naked and literally said "it's a lesson that you're not the main character of the story, and no one cares what you do". The more he pushed me, the worse I started to feel. And any 5% possibility of me getting naked in front of this man quickly went down to 0%.

My friend did it and rang the bell, and the greeter didn't have me roll in the dust OR ring the bell (said we only could if we were naked, which was clearly not the case in most of the other lines that I could see). I left the greeter station feeling like I was in a bit of a funk and uncomfortable, and I started to be worried that this whole burn was going to be people trying to pressure me into doing things I wasn't comfortable with. Obviously that wasn't my experience at all and I had an amazing time after that interaction. Even had a full-circle moment when I felt comfortable enough to get naked during the man burning!

But I was just wondering, was this a typical experience with the greeters?

Edit: thanks so much everyone for your replies! Someone gave me the contact for the greeters, so I'm going to draft an email to them recounting my experience. Also wanted to add another tidbit I remembered -- I even asked if it was okay if I just left my underwear on, and he said no, that I had to go completely naked.

For me Burning Man remains of a magical place where anything can happen. As we say you get the burn that you need.

I had so many incredible experience there, on my first burn ever and my first ever time on the playa, it was already 6am when we arrived, and people were dancing to the sunrise in front of the art cars, some were vibing so deep to the music and the moment, when I turned my head, people appeared, running a marathon and wearing numbers, when they past in front of the art car, the crowd congratulated them, and every body was weaving at each other embracing the reality of the other, I found that incredible!!

Have you ever that weird feeling, when you come back from the club and meet the guy, who’s fresh doing his morning Jogg, and the vibe is just awful? For me that moment at burning man defied the standards of what we think our society is. We can enjoy opposites and yet acknowledge each other and appreciate it!!

Your turn now!!

I think a lot of us are thinking the same thing, but no one is taking about it. Let’s talk about it. Elon, a long-time burner, has explicitly violated many of the principles that we claim to hold dear. Just a few examples below, feel free to add more.

Radical inclusion - Elon has repeatedly perpetuated and amplified lies about illegal immigrants.

Civic responsibility - Elon has been aiding Russia in their war in Ukraine via allowing starlink use on their drones and troops. He’s also been talking regularly with Putin.

LNT - Elon is being sued by the creators of Cards Against Humanity for dumping trash on a piece of land they own next to the spacex facility in Texas.

In the spirit of immediacy, wtf do we do about this? I believe in Burning Man as a force for good in the world. At the very least, I hope the community wants it to be more than a playground for rich shitheads.

Thoughts welcome.

Now that the open letter craze has mostly died down, there's space for 10 point plans to infiltrate the sub again. u/Fyburn posted a list a couple weeks ago with some suggestions. I've spent the time since then taking some really heroic doses and going deep, the better to really get at the core of Burning Man's problem and come up with innovative solutions that have a reasonable chance of getting buy-in from the community.

Dr. Yes's 10 Point Plan To Fix What Ails Burning Man

1. Move the BM offices to Burundi. Land is exceptionally cheap there, as is the cost of living.
2. Cut exec pay by 140%. If they aren't paying to be execs, let's find people who will work for literally less than nothing and thereby contribute to the bottom line. The more we hire of these folks the better.
3. Raise ticket prices to raise revenue.
4. Ah hah, but also lower ticket prices to boost demand. It's a classic Alabama squeeze down on Alabama street.
5. Franchise out the Dust City Diner.
6. Get the BRC subway running more reliably and double the price. I'm sick of it frequently being 5-10 minutes off schedule. I'll happily pay double for on-time transport so I'm not late for the manifesting mustard lecture series again.
7. Get rid of gate operations. Burners can be trusted to be on the honor system I'm sure.
8. Create a series of smaller burns around the world, like one for each region, and just watch the money roll in.
9. Start taking a piece of the action from camps. Every time they serve a drink, every time they serve food, Burning Man should wet its beak. Camps should also pay for their square footage, and let's also require a separate permit for hosting dancing, where they pay by the max simultaneous # of dancers allowed in their camp at any one time. MVs too.
10. One word: Juggalos.

So as you can see, with these 10 simple steps we can restore Burning Man to solid ground and the open letters can cease forever, or at least until someone writes another one.