Yowza! Money tree.

On December 13, 2011, the Burning Man Special Events Team hosted a free workshop about fundraising for art projects, conducted by yours truly, wearing my art curator / maker / facilitator / supporter hat for the evening.  We’re happy to say that it was well-attended, both in house at Burning Man HQ and online via live webcast.

We recorded the audio from the workshop and uploaded the accompanying PowerPoint presentation so those of you who couldn’t attend can still benefit from the information presented. Feel free to share this around, of course … the more people learning how to raise funds for art projects the better.  Here’s the workshop description:

Want to create something awe inspiring — on playa or off — and wondering how to cover the costs? If so, this workshop on fundraising might be just for you! If you want to create a medium- or large-scale art project, you’re likely going to need money to realize your vision … and unless you’re independently wealthy, this will require fundraising of some kind. This workshop will cover fundraising strategies, tips and techniques to help maximize your effort whether you’re looking for help from your immediate community or a broader audience of donors. (Note: this workshop will NOT cover grants or grantwriting. It will instead focus more on on-line crowd-sourcing options and similar direct fundraising efforts.)

If you’re interested in learning specifically about applying for Burning Man Art Grants, there’s a workshop coming up soon on that topic … stay tuned for more information.

Whether you can twiddle it, tweak it or twirl it, Burning Man art oftentimes requires the viewer to somehow complete the piece through their engagement with it.  With interactive art, the viewer becomes an active part of the experience, rather than a passive observer. They become a participant.

Fish car, entrapped

And an awesome corollary to this is the unexpected combinatorial whimsy that spontaneously happens in what is essentially a community of 50,000+ performance artists spending a week in a giant dusty idea factory.  Here’s a place where you’ve got fish, and you’ve got fishermen.  You’ve got maids, and you’ve got dirty people.  You’ve got folks running around in animal costumes, and you’ve got Animal Control officers.  You’ve got platforms, and you’ve got performers.  And you’ve got an appreciative audience that might just get involved, given the opportunity.

This, of course, makes for a fabulous melting pot to brew up those magic playa moments … those serendipitous vignettes you stumble across and find yourself uttering “Oh my God … only at Burning Man” before chuckling, shaking your head, and smiling as you head off to the next adventure. Yes, if Burning Man offers us one thing, it’s the permission to rediscover our inner child … to be spontaneous, and PLAY.

So here you go … here’s a quick collection of some great ones that were caught on film.  If you know of others, pop a link to them in the comments, and tell us the story! Read more »

The Bay Lights, artist rendering

Internationally renowned artist Leo Villareal has been attending Burning Man continuously since 1994 … in fact, he got his start creating LED and illuminated sculptures for the playa, and is a founder of Disorient. He’s gone on to have his light sculpture and installations presented at museums around the world, including the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo. Today, Leo sits on the Burning Man Project Board of Directors and The Black Rock Arts Foundation Advisory Board.

We’re excited to tell you about Leo’s next (and most ambitious) project …

The Bay Bridge, which links San Francisco and Oakland, celebrates its 75th Diamond Anniversary in 2012. To commemorate this auspicious occasion, Leo will create an installation that will turn the bridge into a light sculpture of epic proportions: The Bay Lights Project.

The plan is for Leo and his team to secure arrays of 25,000 energy-efficient white LED lights to the vertical cables of the west span of the bridge, and create elaborate computer-controlled light animations to delight visitors and locals alike.

This amazing sculpture will be in place for two years, including during the America’s Cup yacht races, which are slated to draw an unprecedentedly large international audience to the Bay Area — and we fully support such a grand opportunity to show off San Francisco as a world-class city for the arts.

To learn more and see a video simulation of the project in action, visit www.thebaylights.org. To support the project, please visit www.causes.com/thebaylights.

Leo Villareal's Fine Art

Long-time Burner Philippe Glade has completed his new book “Black Rock City, NV: The Ephemeral Architecture of Burning Man“. This photographic encyclopedia contains 196 examples of the various forms of rugged, functional and temporary desert architecture to be found at Burning Man.  Philippe has painstakingly documented these structures over the course of 14 years, from 1996 to 2010.  Even if you’re not (but especially if you are) into architecture porn, this book will make a great addition to your Burning Man library.

Visit his blog at This is Black Rock City.

Late Wednesday morning at the burn I was walked over to an unfamiliar camp.  Told:  “You’ve got to meet these guys.”

I sat down between their RVs.  They gave me a beer.  I don’t remember their names – I wish I did.

“Tell him the story,” one of them said to another.  “He’s going to love it.”

The story he told me went like this:

“So the other night we were passing by Playa Info, maybe around 11, and we realized that all the Playa Info staff leave at 9.  So we walked inside and sat in the staff area, behind the desks, and looked official.  People came in and asked us stuff, even though the hours of operation were clearly posted and there was a sign saying ‘we are not responsible for information you get after 9 p.m..’  Didn’t matter:  tons of people walked right up to us and asked question.   So we answered them.  Our rule was:  if they were asking for medical, rangers, or the bathroom, we sent them to the right place.  Otherwise, we told them whatever we wanted.”

My jaw dropped.  It was so simple … so brilliant.  Why hadn’t anyone thought of this before?

“So all night people would walk in and say ‘Hi, I’m Crystal and I’m looking for my friend John.  Where’s his camp?’  And we’d say:  ‘John’s camp!  Sure!  It’s right at 2 and E.’  Or somebody would ask where they could get their community bike fixed without having to leave it for someone else to take;  we’d say let us take a look at it, and ride off with it.  We made people sing karaoke for us before giving them bad directions … we had a whole line of Japanese tourists, and after the first one sang ‘My Way’ the rest all insisted that they get to sing it too.  it was amazing.  We stayed there all night, and when the real Playa Info came in the next morning and saw what we were doing … they asked if we wanted to be put on the schedule for any other nights during the week.”

Now, I can’t actually confirm that this really happened – but I sure hope so.

I mention this for two reasons.  First, because it’s awesome. Second, so that when I tell you that many of the people I like most at Burning Man are bastards, you’ll have a clear sense of what I mean.

A lot of people talk about Burning Man like it’s an ocean of “positive energy” – a spiritual experience that will take us to a higher level of consciousness if we open ourselves up.  In some ways this is true.

But often these people take the next step and say that “negative energy” and “negative” emotions have no place there.  These things belong in the default world, and it’s a commitment to positive energy and experiences that sets Burning Man apart.

Most years, my response has been “But I prefer hanging out with the bastards.  They’re more fun.” Read more »