The Temple of Juno, by David Best

This year, a record 349 applicants submitted grant proposals seeking almost $5 million in total funding. The grant committee did the difficult work to winnow down this list to 47 projects, awarding more than $700,000 – the most ever, and a $100,000 increase over last year. This year’s list of artists includes many returning artists, as well as some new blood. We’re also very excited to announce that David Best — Burning Man’s original Temple builder — will return after a three-year hiatus to build the Temple of Juno this year.

Thank you to all who submitted grant proposals, and congratulations to this year’s honorarium artists … we’re very excited by this year’s artistic offering. Here’s the full list of the honorarium art projects for 2012: Read more »

"Ouroboros", Photo by Ales Prikryl

Burning Man is not your typical festival … not by a longshot.  If you’re a first timer, you honestly don’t have any idea what you’re really in for — and just how great (or miserable) your Burning Man experience will be is directly proportional to how well you’ve prepared. Lucky for you, there are a LOT of veteran Burners who are eager to share their expertise with you to get you oriented so that you’re ready to take this incredible experience head-on and rock it.  They’re gifting their time and talents to help the greater community … because that’s what we do (Gifting and Communal Effort are two of the Ten Principles, after all).  Read on, and find one in your local area (they’re in no particular order). Also, you’re encouraged to hook up with your local Regional Network group and get connected. Read more »

Photo by Ales Prikryl

We recently posted about Plug and Play camping to start a dialog about this new form of camping we’ve seen happening more frequently in Black Rock City. The Burning Man organization genuinely wants to know what our community members are seeing, what they care about, and what good ideas are out there around this to create the best outcome for the community.

There have been no new decisions made about how to respond to Plug and Play camps thus far. We have neither sanctioned them (and now “welcome them with open arms” as some have suggested), nor have we decided to ban them altogether. Your input on the blogs and forums, when civil, has been welcomed and appreciated, and is being incorporated into this decision-making process.

In order to facilitate this ongoing dialog, we would like to address a few key areas of confusion, so everybody’s on the same page: Read more »

Why doesn’t Burning Man just provide the Internet to participants? Why doesn’t Burning Man encourage Cellular coverage? Why doesn’t Burning Man have an Official App?

Heather “CameraGirl” Gallagher, Burning Man’s Technology Dominatrix (or “director”, in default-world parlance) will be speaking on technology and Burning Man at the MLOVE ConFestival in Monterey, CA, April 24-26, 2012.  MLOVE invites 200 thought leaders and innovators to discuss the powerful and inspiring potential of mobile as a catalyst for change and opportunity. Heather will be speaking about technology in Black Rock City, as well as how technology is utilized to facilitate Burning Man’s year-round production efforts.

Fresh off her well-received (and lightning-speed) talk about Burning Man at The Economist’s Ideas Economy forum, we’re excited that Andie Grace is now representing Burning Man at the Conference on World Affairs, taking place this week at The University of Colorado, Boulder.

Andie will be speaking on several interesting panels, but the most pertinent to Burners is the “Burning Man Women” panel with Burner/scientist Kiki Sanford this Friday at noon. The event is free and open to public … if you’re in the vicinity, head over there!

Here’s more information about the conference (which Roger Ebert called “the conference on Everything Conceivable.”), and a video that’ll give you an idea of what it’s about: