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Overview | Ticket
Prices | Spectators | Cleanup
| Communication | Placement
| Traffic | Porta Potties |
Theme
On December 4th 1999, we attended the first Burningman 2000 Town
Meeting. The meeting was held at Cell in the Mission District of San
Francisco Attending were the senior staff of Burningman and folks throughout
the community. In addition to San Francisco there were representatives
from Seattle, Austin, Vancouver and Los Angeles. In addition the event was webcast
live across the internet to anyone who wanted to watch, and questions sent in
via email were interspersed with those asked by the crowd. Here is an outline
of our main take-aways, with more details below:
- Ticket Prices: Total cost is going up, and ticket
prices will follow, especially at the end. Prices will start low like
last year and rise more quickly over time. Burningman is currently
selling special $200 tickets as part of a funding drive to subsidize lower
discount ticket prices.
- Spectators: Higher ticket prices on the weekend
(probably at least double last year's weekend prices) will discourage spectators somewhat. Beyond that it is incumbent on
participants to help educate newcomers on how to contribute to the event.
- Cleanup: Theme camps and blocks will get more
responsibility for organizing cleanup in their area. There are good
ideas for how to reduce burn scars, which were the #1 cleanup problem this
year.
- Communication: We are proposing an
announcements-only radio station to help with communication.
- Placement: Burningman is hoping for a new site
deeper in the playa (farther from Gerlach and the railroad tracks).
This will likely improve traffic and reduce wind.
- Traffic: There are several proposals for improving
traffic that sound likely to improve things significantly.
- Porta-potties: The ratio of
Porta-potties to people will increase significantly next year, and they may be
dispersed more flexibly throughout the city.
- Theme: Larry Harvey briefly described the anticipated
theme for next year's burn: a body. The city will be laid out as a semi-circle
within which art will be laid out in the shape of the burningman logo.
There are three pieces of news here:
- The BLM is raising the fees for use of the black rock desert.
In addition to the current cost recovery fees, BLM policy (set by Congress and
the Department of the Interior) now mandates a charge of $4 per person per
day. This would have increased the 1999 cost by 21% or $16 dollars per
ticket (assuming an average stay of 4 days per participant). Because
of this, maximum ticket prices will rise. Burningman is now selling a
special advanced ticket for $200 to help offset the cost for those less able
to pay. Sometime in the new year discount tickets will be available.
- Ticket Prices will start low and rise more quickly than last year.
Burningman still wants to attract individuals who may not have much
money. For this reason and also to put the brakes on impulse
attendance by those who may not contribute to the event, Burningman 2000
will have a progressively rising cost of tickets like last year. The cost will start
low many months in advance and will go up to a higher maximum cost at the
end of the week than last year. Last year tickets were $65 dollars
months in advance, rose to $100 at the door on the first day, and went up by
$5 a day thereafter, to a max of $135. Expect higher prices at the
door and over the weekend. On Friday and Saturday tickets may cost
twice as much as last year or more. If cost is an issue for you, buy tickets online as soon as the
discount ticket price is announced.
- Burningman 2000 tickets are available, contrary to what the website currently says.
The cost is $200 each and is aimed at those for whom ticket cost
is only a small part of their Burning Man expenditures. The more of these tickets that
are sold, the lower the discount ticket price will be. If anybody is interested in purchasing
one of these special tickets contact us or
Roger or somebody
on the Burningman staff. We brought home a number of extra newsletters that include
forms for purchasing these tickets.
There was much discussion of eliminating at-the-door ticket sales either for
the weekend or for the entire week. We learned, however, that funds raised from at-the-door ticket sales constitute a vital part of
Burningman's yearly revenue and are necessary to keep the event running.
We also learned that Burningman is committed to growing and including more and
more people, though there will also be steps taken to slow the rate of
growth.
Net, it's pretty unlikely that door ticket sales will totally go away this
year, even over the weekend. Instead, two things were proposed as
potential ways to enculture first time attendees and encourage them to
participate and contribute to the event, rather than merely spectate or
otherwise detract from the event.
- As mentioned above, ticket prices will rise more steeply, up to a
max of more than twice last year's prices, so last
minute decisions to attend will be more costly.
- Many individuals (staff and attendee alike) pointed out the importance of educating
attendees, especially first time attendees, on how to participate.
Specific ideas discussed included
- More content on the web (especially aimed at first time attendees who
may not be putting together a theme camp)
- Ritualizing the process of entering Black Rock City, and using that to
enculture people with a polite, participatory attitude. This would expand on
the greeters' current mission.
- More leadership from those of us who have already participated in
educating those around us. More positive slogans:
"Participate!" "Create!" "Interact!"
"Help!" "Share!" "Play!" (Many see the
current slogans "No Spectators" and "Leave no trace" as too
negative and unproductive.)
The DPW described their cleanup effort as such:
- Phase 1 is removal of large items such as furniture, structures, and
lumber. This takes 1 - 3 weeks depending on weather. This year
several camps left unburned couches (among other things) behind, leading to a
slogan of "Leave No Couch".
- Phase 2 is cleanup of burn scars and the majority of the trash. Burn scars must have all ashes
removed, small bits of metal, glass, and plastic picked up by hand (except
metal which is picked up by magnet), and the earth broken and turned
over. Phase 2 takes another 2-3 weeks.
- Phase 3 this year (for the first time), was a thorough walkthrough of the
entire 4 square mile city, picking up small debris such as construction
materials, costume materials and cigarette butts. This year Phase 3
took 2 weeks with more than 30 people (hired by Burningman) working on it.
The DPW described small debris and burn scars as being the
biggest cleanup issues which
others can help with.
There were numerous good thoughts and suggestions on cleanup:
- Larry Harvey discussed giving cleanup responsibility to theme camps and
blocks. Each theme camp and each block would be responsible for
doing a walkthrough of their entire area to pick up even the smallest
debris. This would shorten Phase 3, above.
- A philosophy of don't let it hit the ground will be encouraged to
eliminate small debris before it even exists.
- Ritualizing the cleanup process was discussed as a way to excite
and encourage participants to clean up. Both daily (nightly) cleanup
rituals and a weekend cleanup event were discussed as options.
- Burn blankets were mentioned by an attendee as a great way to
eliminate burn scars altogether. A burn blanket is a flat, flexible,
non-flammable layer placed below soil that is beneath the fire.
Corrugated tin was suggested as a viable material for larger fires. Campfire sized burn
blankets are sold at camping-supply stores.
We suggested an announcements-only radio station which would play a
short continuous loop of:
- A welcoming message to new burningman arrivals, helping to enculture them.
- Any emergency messages, storm warnings, and other special bulletins.
- A list of events for the day in the what / where / when.
There was some excitement about this idea, though it will require
resources. CoM may choose to contribute to this endeavor.
Site selection is currently underway. The site we have our eyes on this
year is deeper into the open playa. This site will be farther from
Gerlach and farther from the railroad tracks. One possible consequence of
a more open site is reduced wind. Of course, no one can predict the weather
perfectly, but the narrow site of 99 acted as a funnel which the wind howled
through at high speed. A more wide open area tends to have less wind.
We learned about several things being planned which are likely to help traffic
next year:
- The new site we are looking at has better road access, which will increase
the speed that large vehicles can travel at when leaving.
- There are discussions underway about using both lanes for outbound traffic
on the last days.
- Some professional traffic planners who attend burning man will be
assisting in coordinating the outgoing traffic.
- The Highway Patrol is expected to help direct traffic leaving the event site.
(They were expected in 99 but failed to show up.)
- Larry Harvey mentioned an anticipated three-fold increase in road capacity.
The National Portable Sanitation Industry recommends a ratio of 150 people per porta-pottie in
recreational camping areas. Last year Burningman met this ratio with the
porta-potties on Jupiter (approximately 170 of them) and provided an additional
few dozen porta potties at specific sites like the gate, medical, by the man,
first camp, etc..
Next year:
- Burningman will increase per-capita porta-potties by 50% by changing the ratio to
100 people per porta-pottie.
- The Health Department is considering giving Burningman more flexibility
in porta-pottie placement. In 1999 there was a plan to place
porta-potties in the villages but which was overruled by the Health
Department, who mandates that porta-potties be placed in large banks.
This year it sounds like they will allow Burningman to experiment more with
placement.
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The theme for next year's burn will focus on the human body. Somebody jokingly
suggested to Larry "I know what to do for next year's theme -- a giant man!" and
the idea stuck.
The city will be laid out just like the BRC bumper stickers which have a man in the
middle of a circle.
The city will be along the outer edge of the circle covering most of a full circle. Artwork will be in the playa in the middle
and organized according to the part of the body it is on. The physical man will be in the center of the arc, at the
navel.
Artwork slightly lower will be at the groin while that near the top (where 12:00 was last year) would be in the head. The
idea is still being formed, but it has a lot of potential!
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